reference-doc in yaml not being picked up by pandoc

[carljoseph]

I have a markdown file with some yaml arguments at the top

---
bibliography: /Users/me/bibliography.bib
csl: /Users/me/chicago-fullnote-bibliography.csl
reference-doc: /Users/me/template.docx
---
# My markdown doc

When I run the following command, it doesn't seem to pick up the reference-doc. But when I mention it explicitly on the command line it works.

Doesn't work

pandoc -s -f markdown --citeproc --to docx --verbose --output temp.docx myinput.md
[INFO] Running filter citeproc
[INFO] Loaded /Users/me/chicago-fullnote-bibliography.csl from /Users/me/chicago-fullnote-bibliography.csl
[INFO] Loaded /Users/me/bibliography.bib from /Users/me/bibliography.bib
[INFO] Completed filter citeproc in 748 ms

Note, the lack of the template.docx above

Works

pandoc -s -f markdown --citeproc --to docx --verbose --reference-doc=/Users/me/template.docx --output temp.docx myinput.md
[INFO] Running filter citeproc
[INFO] Loaded /Users/me/chicago-fullnote-bibliography.csl from /Users/me/chicago-fullnote-bibliography.csl
[INFO] Loaded /Users/me/bibliography.bib from /Users/me/bibliography.bib
[INFO] Completed filter citeproc in 755 ms
[INFO] Loaded /Users/me/template.docx from /Users/me/template.docx

Any ideas?

[fiapps]

I have a markdown file with some yaml arguments at the top

This is actually what pandoc calls a YAML metadata block. The distinction is important, because it can only provide values for metadata, not all arguments. If you want to use YAML to set a reference document, you need to use a defaults file.

[carljoseph]

Thanks for this. Is there a reference of what can / can't be set through the metadata block? Nevermind, I found them here