Cannot export tables to latex in org-mode

Question

I am trying to do the following:

I have an .org file with the following table:

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |  
|---+---+---+---+---|
| a | b | c | d | e |

I get the following error on pressing C-c e d, the key binding to export to LaTeX and process the PDF:

Symbol's function definition is void: org-babel-exp-process-buffer

I am using Org-mode version 7.9.3f on Emacs 24.3.1.

Exporting .org files without tables works smoothly.

Here is a link to my .emacs if anyone needs to have a look.

You are running an outdated version of org-mode. You should try upgrading org-mode via M-x package-install RET org RET and see if the problem persists. — itsjeyd
Strange. I updated the org package as you said, still the org version is 7.9.3f. Is there another host for packages? — shyamupa
I should probably have mentioned that upgrading org-mode from the version built-in to Emacs to a newer version needs to be done "in a session where no .org file has been visited, i.e. where no org built-in functions have been loaded" (as explained here). Start Emacs via emacs -Q and try again. — itsjeyd
That's unfortunate, but you'll need to provide some more information about what's going on. What are the exact steps you followed? How did you determine that the installation did not work? Did you get any error messages? Did you restart Emacs without the -Q option right after the installation or did you check org-version in the same session? — itsjeyd

itsjeyd itsjeyd · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-18T18:49:19

You are running an outdated version of org-mode. You can upgrade to a newer version by doing

M-x package-install RET org RET

Note that if you are upgrading from the built-in version of org-mode, you need to do the installation

in a session where no .org file has been visited, i.e. where no org built-in functions have been loaded.

as explained here. To ensure that this is the case, start Emacs via emacs -Q and then install org as described above.

Taking into account your current configuration, the next step is to move this

(when (>= emacs-major-version 24)
  (require 'package)
  (package-initialize)
  (add-to-list 'package-archives
               '("melpa" . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/") t))

from the bottom to the very top of your .emacs file, and comment out all org-related customizations for now. By moving the call to package-initialize to the top of your .emacs file you are making sure all packages installed via the package manager are loaded before your custom configuration is loaded.

When you restart Emacs (without the -Q option) and do M-x org-version RET, it should now give you something like 8.2.6, and exporting tables should work fine.

As a last step, re-enable your org-related customizations one by one by uncommenting them and evaluating them via C-x C-e. If you get any errors, this means the new org version introduced some changes that are incompatible with what your code is trying to do. _{In that case you might want to ask a separate question.}

Cannot export tables to latex in org-mode

1 Answers