How do I enable the ODT item in the export dispatcher permanently?

Question

I'm using Emacs 24.5.1, and my org-export-dispatch doesn't show "Export to ODT" by default. However, if I use M-x org-odt-export-to-odt, it works fine and the option is shown on the next dispatch.

How can I make the "Export to ODT" option permament without having to call org-odt-export-to-odt first?

Answer 1

The org-export-backends variable contains the backends that should always be available. In Emacs 24/Orgmode 8, it will be (ascii html icalendar latex), which is why the ODT options aren't shown.

You have to customize the variable, e.g. M-x customize-option RET org-export-backends RET:

Org Export Backends:
[X]    ascii       Export buffer to ASCII format
[ ]    beamer      Export buffer to Beamer presentation
[X]    html        Export buffer to HTML format
[X]    icalendar   Export buffer to iCalendar format
[X]    latex       Export buffer to LaTeX format
[ ]    man         Export buffer to MAN format
[ ]    md          Export buffer to Markdown format
[ ]    odt         Export buffer to ODT format                <-----------
[ ]    org         Export buffer to Org format
[ ]    texinfo     Export buffer to Texinfo format
[ ] C  confluence  Export buffer to Confluence Wiki format
[ ] C  deck        Export buffer to deck.js presentations
[ ] C  freemind    Export buffer to Freemind mindmap format
[ ] C  groff       Export buffer to Groff format
[ ] C  koma-letter Export buffer to KOMA Scrlttrl2 format
[ ] C  RSS 2.0     Export buffer to RSS 2.0 format
[ ] C  s5          Export buffer to s5 presentations
[ ] C  taskjuggler Export buffer to TaskJuggler format

Keep in mind that the variable must be known, so you might need to enable org-mode at least once.

Note that Emacs 25 provides ODT as default export. Unless you're stuck on Emacs 24 I recommend you to update your installation.