# Export Guide

**Version**: 1.0.0-rc.4
**Last updated**: 2026-07-20

> This page covers every export route: documents (PDF, Word), presentations
> (reveal.js, Beamer) and books.

---

## Available formats

| Format | Extension | Description |
|--------|-----------|-------------|
| **PDF** | `.pdf` | Typeset document via Pandoc + XeLaTeX |
| **Word** | `.docx` | Microsoft Word document, template support |
| **reveal.js presentation** | `.html` | Web slide deck, online or self-contained |
| **Presentation PDF** | `.pdf` | Printable slide deck |
| **Beamer** | `.pdf` | LaTeX slide deck (presentation projects) |

---

## PDF export

### Requirements

- **Pandoc** installed
- **LaTeX** (XeLaTeX) installed

The export window tells you whether both were found before you start.

### Steps

1. Open **Export** (or `Ctrl/Cmd+E`)
2. Choose **PDF**
3. Set the title, author and output file
4. Click **Export**

### Options

| Option | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| **Scope** | Whole book or a single chapter (book projects only) |
| **CSL style** | Citation style — Chicago (notes-bibliography) or MLA bundled, or bring your own `.csl` |
| **Locale** | Language of the generated citations |
| **Abstract** | Read automatically from `abstract.md` |

---

## Word export

Produces a `.docx` readable by Microsoft Word and LibreOffice.

1. **Export** → **Word**
2. Pick a template (optional)
3. Choose the output file

### Word templates

You can use a custom `.dotx` template:

1. Put the template in the project folder
2. The export detects it
3. Styles or placeholders are applied, depending on whether a bibliography is attached — see the [Word Templates guide](./1.3-Guide-for-Using-Word-Templates.md) for which mechanism you'll actually get.

**Available placeholders** (apply in every case except bibliography + Pandoc + no citation engine requested — see the [Word Templates guide](./1.3-Guide-for-Using-Word-Templates.md) for the full three-condition breakdown): `{title}`, `{author}`, `{date}`, `{content}`,
`{abstract}`.

See the [Word Templates guide](./1.3-Guide-for-Using-Word-Templates.md).

---

## Presentation export

*For presentation projects.*

Three modes, chosen in the export window:

| Mode | Result |
|------|--------|
| **Online** | A light HTML file; reveal.js is loaded from a CDN (needs a connection when presenting) |
| **Offline** | A self-contained HTML file, everything embedded — usable with no network, in a conference room |
| **PDF** | A printable deck |

The **Beamer** route (LaTeX) remains available for a classic academic look;
configure it in the project settings.

### Configuring a deck from its front matter

*New in RC3.* The YAML block at the top of `slides.md` configures the export:

```yaml
---
title: "Danzig, 1919-1939"
author: Frédéric Clavert
theme: night
transition: fade
---
```

These values complete `reveal-config.json`. The title and author typed in
the export window take precedence.

### Speaker notes

A line starting with `Note:` inside a slide becomes a speaker note in the
reveal.js export.

---

## Exporting a book

*New in RC3.* In a book project, the export window offers a **scope**:

- **Whole book** — chapters are assembled in manifest order, with numbered
  chapters, a table of contents, and front and back matter in place;
- **This chapter only** — a working proof, for a re-read or for sending a
  single contribution.

Note style (footnotes, endnotes per chapter, endnotes at the end) and
bibliography placement (one or one per chapter) follow the book settings,
which have had a dialog since RC4 — see
[Books and Chapters](./1.15-Books-and-Chapters.md#book-settings).

Assembly is correct for **PDF** and, since RC4, for **Word** too: a book
exported with a bibliography attached used to come out empty of chapter
content. Note *style* remains PDF/LaTeX only in Word, since it relies on
LaTeX commands a `.docx` cannot express.

---

## Bibliography in exports

### Automatic inclusion

If your document contains citations (`[@citekey]`), the bibliography is:

1. generated at the end of the document (or of each chapter, if you asked
   for that);
2. formatted according to the chosen CSL style;
3. limited to the references actually cited.

### CSL styles

Only two styles are bundled — **Chicago (notes-bibliography)** is the
default:

| Style | Field |
|-------|-------|
| **Chicago (notes-bibliography)** | History, humanities — footnote-style, not author-date |
| **MLA** | Literature, languages |

For anything else — APA, Harvard, IEEE, or a journal-specific style — bring
your own CSL file (see below); ClioDeck isn't limited to the two bundled
ones.

### Custom CSL file

1. Download one from the [Zotero Style Repository](https://www.zotero.org/styles)
2. Put the `.csl` file in the project
3. Select it from the Project panel's CSL settings (`cslPath`)

---

## Troubleshooting

### The PDF export fails

- Pandoc or LaTeX not installed → `brew install pandoc` (macOS), MacTeX or
  TeX Live for LaTeX
- An error in the markdown itself — the export window shows Pandoc's message

### Citations do not appear

- Check the keys (`[@citekey]`) against your bibliography — the **Check
  citations** button lists the missing ones
- Make sure a bibliography is attached to the project

### Images are missing

- Use paths relative to the document
- Check that the image files exist

---

## Keyboard shortcut

| Action | Shortcut |
|--------|----------|
| Export | `Ctrl/Cmd+E` |