How do I render a file but not include it as a chapter in a book project?

[HarunCelikOtto]

Description

Hello,

I'm wondering if it is possible to have quarto render a qmd file in a book project without it actually being a part of the chapters of the book.

The idea is that as I am developing the book, I want to repurpose some of my writing into another file using the same bib file and images\ directory. I basically want to take advantage of Quarto assigning the project as root directory for files which are part of the project but not going to be rendered with the full book.

Assuming that my project directory and my _quarto.yml file look like the following.

Render-Testing
├── _quarto.yml
├── book-chapters
│   ├── chapter-one
│       └── ch1-sect-1.qmd
├── images
│   ├── chapter-one-imgs
│       └── methods.png
├── index.qmd
├── intro.qmd
├── references.bib
└── references.qmd

project:
  type: book
  render:
    - "/book-chapters/chapter-one/ch1-sect-1.qmd"

book:
  title: "Render-Testing"
  author: "Norah Jones"
  date: "8/19/2024"
  chapters:
    - index.qmd
    - intro.qmd
    - references.qmd

bibliography: references.bib

format:
  html:
    theme: cosmo
  pdf:
    documentclass: scrreprt

I would like to be able to render the contents of book-chapters/chapter-one/ch1-sect-1.qmd, by running the quarto render command. This should include the correct paths to the bib file as well as to the images/. Running quarto render will not render the document, only those indicated in the chapters will render.

Contents of ch1-sect-1.qmd.

---
title: Just Some Testing
---

Testing citations with [@knuth84]

Also some images.

![Test Image](/images/chapter-one-imgs/methods.png)

Output where the qmd file is specified in quarto render.

 quarto render  book-chapters/chapter-one/ch1-sect-1.qmd 
 quarto preview book-chapters/chapter-one/ch1-sect-1.qmd

[mcanouil]

As we cannot use your code, it's hard to reply.

1. Create a book

quarto create project book

2. Remove - summary.qmd from _quarto.yml

3. Render the book quarto render

4. Render the document not referenced quarto render summary.qmd

Everything works fine.

If you expect quarto render to render everything that is not how it works currently.

About project.render (https://quarto.org/docs/websites/#render-targets), I don't know if it is supported at all in books.
CC @cscheid

[jarad]

@HarunCelikOtto I feel like I just ran into this issue as well. In this commit, I needed the macros.qmd file to be rendered, but it never render when using quarto render. If this file was added as a chapter, then the file was rendered. But, like you, I didn't want it included as a chapter.

@mcanouil I was expecting quarto to render every qmd file in the project directory because it says so here. I am realizing now that this is what quarto does for websites and not necessarily for books that both @HarunCelikOtto and I are using. The documentation for books does not include the same section on what we should expect to be rendered. And apparently books do not render all qmd files in the project directory.

This post seems to have workaround. But it would be nice to have something builtin to the structure of quarto books that would allow you to render (in a particular order) files that are not chapters similar to what is available for websites.

[mcanouil]

Sorry, but showing a tree is not a reproducible example.
A reproducible example is something that readers can use.
You can't expect/ask users to build up the directory tree, figure out the content of the files, the command to run and then expect them to see the same thing as you especially without knowing the version of Quarto CLI being used.

[HarunCelikOtto]

Here is a repository of the directory I was talking about.
https://github.com/HarunCelikOtto/Quarto_Book_Test

I am using Quarto CLI version 1.6.40

[mcanouil]

I'm not sure what you expect from quarto render newdir/new.qmd in a book project.
It's like you are asking to compile a single file as a book.

If you want to have independent single files, you should use profiles: https://quarto.org/docs/projects/profiles.html

For example: _quarto-single.yml

project:
  type: default

format:
  html:
    theme: quartz

Then render via:

quarto render newdir/new.qmd --profile single

[jgostick]

Hi @mcanouil, I think I have the same need as the other commenters on this thread, so let me try to ask the question in a different way.

I have a bunch of qmd (and ipynb) files which contain code to generate figures, BUT I do not use the include or embed short-codes since I find this makes it difficult to control the figure sizes in the output (a book fwiw). Instead, the code in the qmd/ipymb saves the figures as png's, which I then insert into the book using ![](media/file.png). So I think what I need is something like a short-code which runs qmd/ipynb files, but does not embed or include the results. Like, is there a way to mimick a short-code like {{< run file.qmd>}}?

[mcanouil]

So I think what I need is something like a short-code which runs qmd/ipynb files, but does not embed or include the results. Like, is there a way to mimick a short-code like {{< run file.qmd>}}?

This is the embed shortcode.
As the size is computed using the parameters from the notebook, the issue with size will be exactly the same. (Stretching a figure does not change the real size.)
The only way for you to compute the proper resolution and physical size for your "main" document is to put the evaluation itself inside it and to set the parameters as you see fit.
Any other method will require of you to set those parameters independently of the main document (either different values or to duplicate the values and keep them in "sync").

If you don't care about stretching/shrinking the image resulting in various type of quality losses, then your approach and setting the output width/height is the way to go.