Pandoc Export Buttons

An Obsidian plugin with one-click buttons that export the current note to Word, PDF, HTML, EPUB, LaTeX, and any other format Pandoc supports.

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What it does

• Adds a Pandoc export panel in the right sidebar (ribbon icon or command palette): a grid of format buttons. Click one, get the exported file.
• Every format is also a command, so you can bind hotkeys (e.g. ⌘⇧W for Word).
• Transclusions are expanded. ![[Another note]], ![[Note#Heading]], and ![[Note#^block]] embeds are replaced by the embedded content (recursively, cycle-safe), so the export reads like the note does in preview.
• Exports match preview semantics. %%comments%% are removed (they're hidden in Obsidian), while anything inside code blocks or inline code stays exactly as written.
• Images survive. ![[image.png]] embeds, including ones inside embedded notes, are resolved to real paths before conversion.
• Citations just work. Notes using [@key] syntax automatically get --citeproc; point the settings at your .bib file and CSL style once (or declare them in note frontmatter).
• PDF without installing LaTeX. With a LaTeX engine (tectonic, xelatex…) installed you get LaTeX typesetting; without one, the plugin renders the PDF with Obsidian's built-in Chromium, with nothing to install.
• Choose where exports land: next to the note, in a vault folder, or any folder on disk.
• Extra Pandoc arguments (--toc, --number-sections, custom templates…) can be set once and apply to every export.

Formats

Word (docx), PDF, HTML, EPUB, LaTeX, ODT, RTF, PowerPoint (pptx), plain text, GitHub-flavored Markdown, reStructuredText, Org, MediaWiki, DocBook, Jupyter notebook, Typst. Toggle which buttons appear in settings.

Requirements

• Pandoc (brew install pandoc on macOS). The plugin auto-detects it in the usual homebrew/system locations; a custom path can be set in settings.
• Optional, for LaTeX-quality PDF: a PDF engine such as tectonic (brew install tectonic), xelatex, typst, or wkhtmltopdf, all auto-detected. Without one, PDF export falls back to the built-in renderer automatically.

Desktop only (the plugin runs the pandoc executable).

Security and privacy

This plugin needs two capabilities that Obsidian's review process rightly flags, so here is exactly how they are used:

• Process execution (child_process.execFile): the plugin's sole purpose is to run Pandoc. It executes only the Pandoc binary (auto-detected in standard locations, or the path you set) and, for PDF, the PDF engine. Arguments are passed as an array; no shell is invoked, so note names and settings cannot inject commands. Nothing runs except when you click an export button or run an export command.
• Filesystem access (fs): note content is read through Obsidian's vault API, never fs. Direct filesystem access is limited to: writing the exported file where you chose, writing/deleting one temporary HTML file when the built-in PDF renderer is used, creating the output folder if missing, and checking whether the Pandoc/engine binaries exist during auto-detection.
• No network access. The plugin makes no requests, collects nothing, and phones nowhere.

License

MIT © kebl3541