On 4 December 2022, Vikas Rawal wrote:

> I frequently use orgmode macros -- like {{{M(Year 1998--99)}}} -- in tables
> designed for latex export. I find that the macro syntax occupies many
> character spaces. At the very least, 9 spaces are taken up even if my macro
> shortcut is just one character long. This is very difficult with wide
> tables as often the tables go off the screen just because of this.
>
> I was wondering if there is a simple way of making org display the macros
> differently. That is, use some kind of overlay, and display the above macro
> may be like M:Year 1998--99. Or some special character could be used to
> denote that there is a macro underlying what is visible here.

Is this close enough?

(setq org-hide-macro-markers t)

That hides the {{{macro}}} curly brackets (if there's no leading space).

I also have this to toggle macro visibility in the document so I can see them
when I want to:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(defun wtd/toggle-org-macro-markers ()
   "Toggle visibility of {{{macro}}} markers"
   (interactive)
   (setq org-hide-macro-markers (not org-hide-macro-markers))
   (font-lock-mode)
   (font-lock-mode))
#+end_src

I think there's been some discussion about evaluating the macros and showing the
result, but I don't think that's possible.

Bill

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