Installation

Installing apaquarto is not hard, but it takes a bit more effort than installing a standalone program. There are four main steps:

  1. Install Quarto
  2. Install a programming language (e.g., R, Python, Julia)
  3. Install a programming environment (e.g., RStudio, VS Code, Jupyter)
  4. Install apaquarto

Install Quarto

The current stable version of Quarto can be installed here.

If you use a recent version of RStudio, Quarto is already installed. If you are not sure if your version of Quarto is recent enough, there is no harm in re-installing it.

In a terminal, run

Terminal
quarto --version

Install a Programming Language

Your primary options are

  1. R
  2. Python
  3. Julia

If you just want to use apaquarto to make APA-style documents, but do not plan to do any analyses, install R and RStudio. You do not need R for anything, but the Quarto experience will be easier in RStudio with R installed.

Install your programming environment

At the same link for installing Quarto, there are links for selecting an environment for using Quarto. Your options include:

  1. RStudio will probably give the smoothest experience to anyone new to data analysis. It is made by Posit, the same company that makes Quarto.
  2. VS Code works for any language. Some R users really like VS Code.
  3. Jupyter, as its name indicates, works with Julia, Python, and R.
  4. Neovim, a hyperextensible Vim-based text editor
  5. Any text editor will do. Everyone has options—Quarto won’t box you in.

Install apaquarto

What do you wish to do with apaquarto? You can create a new template file in a new project folder, or you can add the apaquarto format to an existing Quarto file.

There are two ways to install Quarto extensions like apaquarto: If you are an R user, you might prefer the R console method. Anyone, including R users, can use the terminal method.

First open the the terminal and navigate to the folder where you want to install apaquarto.

Run this in the terminal:

Terminal
quarto use template wjschne/apaquarto

Run this in the terminal:

Terminal
quarto add wjschne/apaquarto

Entering the command above will prompt a question about whether you trust the author of the extension to not run malicious code. If you answer Yes, you will be prompted to name a new folder where the extension will be installed. Do not enter a complete file path. Just supply a folder name. This folder will be created in the folder you have navigated to.

A terminal is an interface for telling your computer what to do. A terminal can be pulled up on most programming environments. For example, In RStudio, the terminal is in a tab next to the console (see Figure 2). If you cannot see a terminal tab next to the console, use the keyboard shortcut Alt-Shift-R to make a terminal appear (or select Tools → Terminal → New Terminal. in the RStudio menu).

Figure 1: RStudio terminal. It is okay if your console looks different from mine.

Alternatively, you can open a terminal directly on any computer:

  1. Mac: Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Terminal in the search field, then click Terminal.
  2. Windows: Click the Windows Start Icon (or press the key), type cmd, select Command Prompt.
  3. Linux: Press

Suppose there is a folder on your computer at this location:

C:/Users/myname/Documents/MyProject/

The cd command means “change directory.” Thus, entering this command will “navigate” you to your desired folder:

Terminal
cd "C:/Users/myname/Documents/MyProject/"

In many terminals, the “paste” shortcut is different from what you might be used to (i.e., instead of ). If that does not work, try right-clicking and selecting paste. If all else fails, just type the command.

If you are an R user, you can install extensions with the quarto package using the R Console.

  1. Set the working directory to the folder where you want the template to be installed.
  2. In the R console, run this code:
quarto::quarto_use_template("wjschne/apaquarto")
quarto::quarto_add_extension("wjschne/apaquarto")

A prompt will ask if you trust the author not to place malicious code on your machine. To proceed, answer Yes or just Y.

The console is for entering R commands. In RStudio, it is in the lower left pane by default. See Figure 2. It is okay if your console looks different from mine.

Figure 2: RStudio console

To use the console, type a command and press .

The quarto package is not Quarto itself, but it provides convenient functions to interact with Quarto. You will need a recent version of the quarto package (version 1.4 or higher).

If the quarto package is not installed, you can can install it by running this code in the console:

install.packages("quarto")

Alternatively, in RStudio’s lower right pane:

  1. Select the Packages tab.
  2. Click the Install button.
  3. Enter “quarto” in the input box.
  4. Click Install.

Suppose there is a folder on your computer at this location:

C:/Users/myname/Documents/MyProject/

You can set the working directory in the R console with this command

setwd("C:/Users/myname/Documents/MyProject/")

Alternatively, you can set the working directory in the RStudio menu:

  1. Select Session → Set Working Directory → Choose Directory

Set Working Directory Via RStudio Menu

Set Working Directory Via RStudio Menu
  1. Navigate to a folder where you want to create a new folder.

Run the quarto_use_template function with the no_prompt option set to TRUE:

quarto::quarto_use_template("wjschne/apaquarto", no_prompt = TRUE)

The apaquarto source code is in this repository. Installing the extension will install the contents of the _extensions/apaquarto folder. If you install the template, it will install the template.qmd file and rename it to the name of the folder you install the template to. In addition, these files will be installed:

  • bibliography.bib
  • README.md
  • example.qmd

After installing apaquarto

If you made a…

A new file

If you create a new apaquarto file, you will see a template file in the folder you select. The template file will have the same name as the folder you installed the template to and ends with .qmd.

The example.qmd file has most of the options already filled out and explains how and why to change them. It also has a examples of how to use the extension in the text.

It is recommended for RStudio users to use apaquarto inside a project. To create project for an existing directory, see here.

An existing file

Once the extension is installed, you still need to change the output format of your document. You can select one or more of three formats: .docx, .pdf, or .html. You can add all of these formats or any combination of them:

To include all four formats, add this to your .qmd file’s yaml format option:

format:
  apaquarto-docx: default
  apaquarto-html: default
  apaquarto-pdf: default
  apaquarto-typst: default

When writing, I prefer to output to .html, because it renders quickly. Then I switch to .docx or .pdf, depending on where I need to submit the paper.

Here is a minimal example of what the YAML metadata might look like:

---
title: "My Paper's Title: A Full Analysis of Everything"
shorttitle: "My Paper's Title"
author:
  - name: W. Joel Schneider
    corresponding: true
    orcid: 0000-0002-8393-5316
    email: schneider@temple.edu
    affiliations:
      - name: Temple University
        department: College of Education and Human Development
        address: 1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave.
        city: Philadelphia
        region: PA
        postal-code: 19122-6091
abstract: "This is my abstract."
keywords: [keyword1, keyword2]
author-note:
  disclosures:
    conflict of interest: The author has no conflict of interest to declare.
bibliography: mybibfile.bib     
format:
  apaquarto-docx: default
  apaquarto-html: default
  apaquarto-pdf: default
  apaquarto-typst: default
---