LaTeX letters in Org

LaTeX letters in Org

[William Denton]

I wrote up how to use Org to write letters with the LaTeX letter class. 
Here's the link in case anyone's interested:

https://www.miskatonic.org/2022/01/28/latex-letters-in-org/

Cheers,

Bill

--
William Denton
https://www.miskatonic.org/
Librarian, artist and licensed private investigator.
Toronto, Canada

Re: LaTeX letters in Org

[Michael Eliachevitch]

Hi Bill,

On 2022-01-29 at 12:39 -05, William Denton <wtd@pobox.com> wrote:

> I wrote up how to use Org to write letters with the LaTeX letter class. Here's
> the link in case anyone's interested:
>
> https://www.miskatonic.org/2022/01/28/latex-letters-in-org/

Cool, I'll try to remember this for when I write my next letter. You write

> I found it safest to use the #+latex: way of including LaTeX fragments. It doesn’t mess up the syntax highlight or the exporting.

When I have multiple lines of latex, I prefer including a latex export block over multiple `#+latex` lines, e.g.

    #+begin_export latex
    \closing{Sincerely,}
    \ps{P.S.  I need not tell you this is a secret.  Good-night again.}
    \end{letter}
    #+end_export

If you have `org-src-fontify-natively' to `t', this will even get you latex-syntax highlighting within the block, or if you find that too distracting, you can set that variable to `nil'. Sometimes it's useful to edit the latex-block in your latex major mode via `org-edit-export-block' (<C-c '>).

Currently the number of org export options you need is not too high, but if it grows you can move boilerplate of the letter itself via either `#+setupfile:` or just including a separate latex file. I'm think if there's a way to adapt the latex class

For not using the title, via not set `#+options: title:nil' ?

For this kind of short writing I'm always wondering whether doing it in org-mode is really worth it. I see a trade-of between the convenience of  org-markup (e.g. emphasis markers, itemize lists, links, …), and the inconvience of adding literal latex to org-mode, which is just a bit more cumbersome than doing so in an actual latex file with a latex major mode*. Especiall since you don't use headers anyway. If I do some writing where the transition between notes to the final product is fluid, then it's a no-brainer and I would do so from org immediately. But because I just enjoy writing in org-mode so much more, I would probably also do it like you from now on.

* I can use auctex in latex export blocks, but I don't think latex language servers like digestif (https://github.com/astoff/digestif) work well with them.

Cheers,
Michael

--
Michael Eliachevitch
Public PGP Key: https://keyoxide.org/hkp/546908c782383ad0e7d894ec1b8f95c8125dce31

Re: LaTeX letters in Org

[Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide]

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Michael Eliachevitch <m.eliachevitch@posteo.de> writes:

> For this kind of short writing I'm always wondering whether doing it
> in org-mode is really worth it. I see a trade-of between the
> convenience of org-markup (e.g. emphasis markers, itemize lists,
> links, …), and the inconvience of adding literal latex to org-mode,
> which is just a bit more cumbersome than doing so in an actual latex
> file with a latex major mode*. Especiall since you don't use headers

For my website I added some custom commands so I can use M-x
draketo-software to start an article with a template.

Alternatively add a capture-template that creates a letter. Then M-x
org-capture L (or such) would create a new letter prefilled with
everything you typically need.

Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein,
ohne es zu merken.
draketo.de

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Re: LaTeX letters in Org

[Michael Eliachevitch]

Hi Arne,

> Alternatively add a capture-template that creates a letter. Then M-x
> org-capture L (or such) would create a new letter prefilled with
> everything you typically need.

Thanks, weird I didn't think of it. Capture templates are awesome and powerful. Mostly I use them for some tasks, notes and journalling-type entries, not for long-form writing. But as a letters are usually short and writting in one session, capture-templates seem a good fit.

Cheers, Michael

--
Michael Eliachevitch
Public PGP Key: https://keyoxide.org/hkp/546908c782383ad0e7d894ec1b8f95c8125dce31

Re: LaTeX letters in Org

[Alan E. Davis]

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I had a set of three capture templates for memos, a number of years ago.
It was very convenient.  A letter is usually pretty much the same thing.  I
don't even know whether I have the original templates around anymore; it
should be pretty easy to implement.  IMHO, easier than dealing with all of
the header materials you are describing.  I think, anyway.

Two files were invoked: a header and a tail.  Then there were capture
template interactively filled addressee and whatever else.  One had a
letterhead.  It was, admittedly, a kludge.  A kludge that worked and saved
a lot of time.   For memos it's maybe more sensible, as they are quick
one-offs, for the most part.

Alan Davis

On Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 9:03 AM Michael Eliachevitch <
m.eliachevitch@posteo.de> wrote:

> Hi Arne,
>
> > Alternatively add a capture-template that creates a letter. Then M-x
> > org-capture L (or such) would create a new letter prefilled with
> > everything you typically need.
>
> Thanks, weird I didn't think of it. Capture templates are awesome and
> powerful. Mostly I use them for some tasks, notes and journalling-type
> entries, not for long-form writing. But as a letters are usually short and
> writting in one session, capture-templates seem a good fit.
>
> Cheers, Michael
>
> --
> Michael Eliachevitch
> Public PGP Key:
> https://keyoxide.org/hkp/546908c782383ad0e7d894ec1b8f95c8125dce31
>
>

-- 
      "As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we *should
be glad of an opportunity to serve others* by any invention of ours, and
this we should do freely and generously."   ---Benjamin Franklin

      "This ignorance about the limits of the earth's ability to absorb
       pollutants should be reason enough for caution in the release
       of polluting substances."
                   ---Meadows et al.   1972.  Limits to Growth
<https://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/publishing/meadows/ltg/>.
(p. 81)

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Re: LaTeX letters in Org

[Christian Heinrich]

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FYI, there's also an article on using the scrlttr2 class from KOMA-script (mostly for
European/German usage I guess) for letters:

https://orgmode.org/worg/exporters/koma-letter-export.html

On Sat, 2022-01-29 at 12:39 -0500, William Denton wrote:
> I wrote up how to use Org to write letters with the LaTeX letter class. 
> Here's the link in case anyone's interested:
> 
> https://www.miskatonic.org/2022/01/28/latex-letters-in-org/
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bill
> 
> --
> William Denton
> https://www.miskatonic.org/
> Librarian, artist and licensed private investigator.
> Toronto, Canada
> 

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Re: LaTeX letters in Org

[Michael Eliachevitch]

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On 2022-02-20 at 14:47 +01, Christian Heinrich <com-orgmode-mailinglist@gladbachcity.de> wrote:
> FYI, there's also an article on using the scrlttr2 class from KOMA-script (mostly for
> European/German usage I guess) for letters:
>
> https://orgmode.org/worg/exporters/koma-letter-export.html

Oh nice, should pay more attention to worg. I had to write a letter today and used that (also I live in Germany so Koma-script works fine for me). I was also surprised to see this not in org-contrib but in the main org tree. What was interesting it how it uses special tags as alternative way to set some special export settings via headlines and their contents, which was useful for multi-line settings like the from- and to-adresses, but I haven't seen anything like that that in any other exporters.

Cheers, Michael

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