Is there a way to disable the creation of a YAML header while converting from ipynb to qmd?

[bernardo-cruz]

I am working on a report consists of collection of separate ipynb files. However, once the ipynb document in concluded, I convert the file using cli, quarto convert document.ipynb. The problem is, that this command adds a YAML header to the qmd file and adds the first section of the text (#) in the YAML header as title - see example below.

---
title: First Heading of ipynb
jupyter: python3
---

Is there a way to disable the creation of a YAML header while converting from ipynb to qmd?

[mcanouil]

A quarto document requires a YAML header within (or as a global configuration file _quarto.yml).
Could you elaborate on what's the goal of ipynb -> qmd here? i.e., Quarto can render Jupyter notebook.

[bernardo-cruz]

thx for your answer :)

I have a main file (.qmd). with the yaml header. The main file includes the converted ipynb using the command {{< include converted_from_ipynb.qmd >}}. I have tried to use the {{< include document.ipynb>}}, but I didn't work. As far as I have seen in the documentation, one cannot use include in .qmd from a ipynb source.

For that reason I create each section using ipynb, which is easier to debug etc. and once finished, I convert it to .qmd and add the qmd to the main file using include - see example below:

---
YAML content
---

# Introduction
{{< include converted_from_ipynb.qmd >}}

# Section One
{{< include section_one_converted_from_ipynb.qmd >}}

# Section Two
{{< include section_two_converted_from_ipynb.qmd >}}

...

[mcanouil]

Yes, it is stated in the documentation that the include shortcode does not work for ipynb files, see https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/includes.html#computations.

This being said, maybe you want the embed feature from v1.3, see https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/notebook-embed.html.

If this does not fit your needs, I would suggest to fully embrace Quarto, and directly write your "components" as Quarto documents.

[bernardo-cruz]

Oh I see, I did not know about the embed feature. Thx for the hint!

[bernardo-cruz]

BTW: I just found out that quarto version v1.2.475 does not show this behavior. When converting from ipynb to qmd , no field title is created in the YAML header.

[mcanouil]

@dragonstyle @cscheid do you have any insights on this change between 1.2 and 1.3?

[cscheid]

That change is by design: H1 headings are meant to be "this is the overall title of the document", and are now converted as such when going from ipynb to qmd. That was a 1.2 bug.

The problem here, I think, is that @bernardo-cruz is using the converted file as a subdocument, but that .ipynb has elements that are interpreted as "top-level", such as the title. (This is fundamentally the same problem that happens if you were to call {{< include foo.qmd >}} and foo.qmd had metadata: it will be interpreted as the metadata of the parent document, by design. As we explain in the include documentation, include behaves literally like copying and pasting.)

If you intend to use the result of quarto converting a ipynb file as an include, then it shouldn't have markup that is interpreted as "top-level" information: use ## instead of #. If you're using ## and we're still putting that in the YAML, that's a bug we need to fix.

[mcanouil]

FYI, #5363 for a related issue.