Why doesn't pdf title reflect title in _quarto.yml? I get "Quarto Basics" unless I use a partial template.

[brittAnderson]

Description

This is the top of my _quarto.yml. When I export to html I get the title I expect, but when I render pdf it uses a title "Quarto Basics" that must come from some template somewhere. Why doesn't quarto use the same title for both? It uses this title for the title of the pdf, but not the title page of the book output in pdf. I had to add a partial template to get the title I wanted.

project:
  type: book
  output-dir: ../docs

book:
  title: "P390"
  author: "Britt Anderson"

[mcanouil]

I cannot reproduce your claim, so with no more information than a partial _quarto.yml, I have to guess the issue lies in your project.

I created a simple project with quarto create project book demo demo, changed title in _quarto.yml and get the proper result:

Note that using the following code means Quarto won't cleanup ../docs, so everything previously rendered and not replaced by new files will remain there until YOU clean up this directory.
Quarto only cleans output-dir if it's inside the project as a safety.

project:
  output-dir: ../docs

[brittAnderson]

Here is the full _quarto.yml. Without the partial template at the end I get "Quarto Basics" in the title field everytime.

project:
  type: book
  output-dir: ../docs

book:
  title: "P390"
  author: "Britt Anderson"
  date: "Winter 2025"
  cover-image: p390cover.png
  sidebar: 
    search: true  
  chapters:
    - index.qmd
    - intro.qmd
    - cCmpResTool.qmd
    - cOpenResearch.qmd
    - cCode.qmd
    - cWriting.qmd
    - cExps.qmd
    - cBiblio.qmd
    - cServer.qmd
    - cLLM.qmd
    - cDatabase.qmd
    - summary.qmd
  appendices:
    - cGit.qmd
    - cOSX.qmd
    - python-venv.qmd


bibliography: references.bib

format:
  html:
    theme: cosmo
  pdf:
    documentclass: book
    template-partials: 
      - title.tex
    
engine: knitr

[mcanouil]

Sorry, but this isn't reproducible (or small). I can't use that to reproduce.

Do as I did, use:

quarto create project book demo demo

and see if you have an issue, if you don't, then you'll have to figure out what is wrong in your project using search feature of your IDE to find where you wrote "Quarto Basics".

Note that using Quarto 1.6.40 does not exhibit the issue either (The screenshot is from the development version).

[brittAnderson]

Actually "Quarto Basics" is not mentioned in any qmd file in that directory (recursively grep'd the whole thing) but IT IS mentioned in a file that I include as demonstration of the compilation of python code pulled from a completely separate file/directory outside the project hierarchy. Specifically, in one of the appendices of that project I include a file that has a yaml header with the title block set to Quarto Basics. Apparently in the rendering process that yaml block overrides (or resets or something) the title information in the _quarto.yml file. The only format block in that included file is html, but it still overrides the pdf title. I don't know if that is expected behavior or not. It surprised me. But I am mostly putting what I found out here in case any one else accidentally trips on this.

I appreciate your quick replies. They led me to the solution.

[mcanouil]

That's expected. There can only be "one"¹ YAML block in a document.
Since include act as a copy/paste of content, the latest YAML value defined wins.

Footnotes

1. the YAML blocks are all merged. ↩