50
votes
Accepted
How to externalize TikZ pictures
There are two questions hidden in your post, they have two answers that are basically orthogonal:
Speeding up compilation by using tikzexternalize:
You don't actually have to write them into separate ...
- 3,702
18
votes
Accepted
Error using tikz externalize: can't write md5 file
Your issue occurs because you are using the flag -output-directory=build when running pdflatex.
In order to makes explanations less ambiguous, let's rename folders:
you are using the flag -output-...
- 11.8k
13
votes
Accepted
Cannot run tikz externalize with lualatex but it used to work
You need the shellesc package
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{shellesc}
% main document, called main.tex
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize % activate!
\begin{document}
\...
- 334k
11
votes
Accepted
Problems with tcolorbox and TikZ external
The reason for the problem is that the boxed title is a tcolorbox itself, but with a higher layer number. For this higher layer, the global setting of shield externalize is reset to the default, i.e. ...
- 25.4k
9
votes
Accepted
with tikzexternalize, how to name the images with the current name of the imported file
For this to work, the code for the picture must actually be in an external file. Otherwise, the file name is identical with the name of the main file, which won't work.
You can create such files on-...
- 212k
9
votes
What is the (relevant!) difference between \file_input:n and \input? Or has something else changed?
The approach in expl3 is that each command has clear, defined semantics independent of other code loaded. In contrast, the LaTeX document command \input is (as observed in the question) modified by ...
- 263k
9
votes
How to externalize TikZ pictures
I prefer a manual way to externalize TikZ pictures. This gives you full control and does not require any shell escape huzzle.
Put every TikZ image in a file of its own (good for keeping track of your ...
- 439
8
votes
Accepted
LuaLaTex fails on Tikzexternalize on very easy MWE
No doubt the packages will get updated to current luatex at some point, but until then:
\RequirePackage{luatex85,shellesc}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepgfplotslibrary{...
- 778k
8
votes
Accepted
Tikz package "external" causes an unclosed tikzpicture@tcb@hooked environment
If the externalization library of tikz is used AND externalization is enabled globally AND tcolorbox is used with options like enhanced from its skins library which uses tikz, then the externalization ...
- 25.4k
8
votes
Accepted
How to prevent tikzexternalize to generate files in current directory?
I think the most straightforward way to do this is not to set prefix at all but to instead do two things.
Ensure that --output-directory is passed to the compiler when it is run by the ...
- 212k
7
votes
tikzexternalize only (or not) for flagged graphics
As an alternative to switching TikZ externalization off and on again, I ended up with using
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize % activate!
\tikzset{external/only named=true}
and manually ...
- 368
7
votes
Accepted
Loading tcolorbox with the minted option breaks tikzexternalize and results in compilation error with makeglossaries
The problem can be pulled down to the following example.
\documentclass{book}
\newwrite\blubi
\newwrite\blubii
\newwrite\blubiii
\newwrite\blubiv
\newwrite\blubv
\newwrite\blubvi
\newwrite\blubvii
\...
- 334k
6
votes
Are the TikZ libraries cd and external incompatible with one another?
I had to adjust Marco Varisco's answer, in order to get the figure automatically rebuilt on change. Furthermore, I let the baseline of the artificial tikzpicture be on the height of the tikzcd's ...
- 332
6
votes
Accepted
printindex and tikzexternalize won't create a pdf-file for the tikz-image
The externalize library redefines \makeindex and related commands in a way that's incompatible with imakeidx.
You can fix the wrong definitions by changing them (to be no-op, of course) in the ...
- 1.2m
6
votes
Accepted
About use of \usepgfplotslibrary{external} and \tikzexternalize in Overleaf
The invocation of the standalone package needs to have the option mode=buildnew:
\usepackage[mode=buildnew]{standalone}
Without that option, standalone doesn't actually accomplish the task given in ...
- 11.4k
5
votes
Externalize PGF
I had the same problem, and wrote my own package to deal with it automatically. You can find it here. If you don't want to install the package, you can essentially put this code into your preamble:
\...
- 223
5
votes
Accepted
pgfplots external vs TikZ external
This quote from section 5.6 Image externalization of the pgfplots manual probably answers your question:
The external library has been written by Christian Feuersänger
(author of pgfplots). It ...
- 208k
5
votes
Accepted
AucTeX mistakes Tikz warning as error
Exclamation marks are usually employed to denote errors, rather than warnings. Consider for example this document:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{does-not-exist}
\begin{document}
Hello world!
\...
- 8,526
5
votes
Accepted
Presumed incompatibility between pgfplots-TikZ and pdflscape: externalization fails on all images
It is not a pgfplots problem and also not directly cause by pdflscape. Imho it is a problem of tikzscale.
tikzexternalshared.code.tex calls at the end in \AtBeginDocument (after tikzscale has added ...
- 334k
5
votes
Accepted
Tikz externalize sub-folders
You can use \tikzsetexternalprefix{<file name prefix>} in the middle of document, and it can be used multiple times.
It is documented in pgfmanual v3.1.8, sec. 52.4.2 Customizing the Generated ...
- 27.2k
5
votes
Accepted
tex4ht: using tikzexternalize still includes svg, not png
This is caused by the fact that TeX4ht now uses the pgfsys-dvisvgm4ht.def driver by default. It doesn't support the external library. Here is the version that fixes this issue:
% Copyright 2021 by ...
- 51.8k
5
votes
TikZ-externalizing a PGF image (e.g. from matplotlib)
The error comes from having a pgfpicture environment inside a tikzpicture environment. Luckily, you can circumvent this by defining a node, i.e.
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node {\input{img}};
\end{...
- 51
4
votes
Accepted
Configure vim-latex suite to use treat .tikz files as ordinary .tex files
Add the following lines to the ~/.vimrc file (or create it if doesn't exist):
syntax on
filetype on
au BufNewFile,BufRead *.tikz set filetype=tex
- 2,268
4
votes
Accepted
Errors when including a Tikz figure in a beamer presentation
As requested, I'm posting my comment as an answer.
Some dimensions and coordinates in example.tikz are expressed in terms of the two lengths \figurewidth and \figureheight, but those are not defined ...
- 1,631
4
votes
Accepted
Conflict: TikZ externalisation, local bounding box with empty name, forked edges and multi-line nodes in Forest
Stripping down OP's MWE even further, we see that the following code produces the same error.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{forest}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{scope}[local ...
- 11.9k
4
votes
Disabling main pdf with TikZ externalize
You can call pdflatex with the --draftmode switch.
pdflatex --shell-escape --draftmode mainfile
then no output pdf is produced.
- 334k
4
votes
Accepted
tikzexternalize and includegraphics that containning a standalone file
Since you already include the standalone package in your main file, you can use \includestandalone. It takes the same options as \includegraphics and some additional ones. Most important here is the ...
- 8,704
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible