Specify sidewaystable placement in Org-mode export

Question

I have an Org-mode document that I am exporting to PDF, and my document contains a table that I would like to rotate on export. I have been able to achieve the rotation with #+ATTR_LATEX: :float sideways. However, this places the table at the very end of the document, whereas I would like it closer to where it appears in the text. One solution I have tried is using #+LATEX: \begin{sidewaystable}[htbp] above the table and #+LATEX: \end{sidewaystable} below it, which is hacky and makes me lose my table caption and the ability to reference the table elsewhere in the text. It does, however, put the table where I want it. Is there a way to specify the location of a sidewaystable when exporting from Org-mode?

Answer 1

Try to use the :placement [H] modifier like in this example:

    #+NAME: tblSideways
    #+CAPTION: A sidewaystable
    #+ATTR_LATEX: :font \footnotesize :float sidewaystable :placement [H]
    | Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 | Column 6 |
    |----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------|
    |        1 |       10 |      100 |     1000 | example  | result   |
    |        2 |       11 |      101 |     1001 | example  | result   |
    |        3 |       12 |      102 |     1002 | example  | result   |
    |        4 |       13 |      103 |     1003 | example  | result   |
    |        5 |       14 |      104 |     1004 | example  | result   |
    |        6 |       15 |      105 |     1005 | example  | result   |
    |        7 |       16 |      106 |     1006 | example  | result   |

Note that this works, even though in the documentation it reads

:placement is ignored for :float sideways tables.

The modifier [H] is observed, as can be confirmed in the resulting LaTeX, as can be seen here:

\begin{sidewaystable}[H]
\caption{\label{tab:orgtable3}
A sidewaystable}
\centering
\footnotesize
\begin{tabular}{rrrrll}
Column 1 & Column 2 & Column 3 & Column 4 & Column 5 & Column 6\\
\hline
1 & 10 & 100 & 1000 & example & result\\
2 & 11 & 101 & 1001 & example & result\\
3 & 12 & 102 & 1002 & example & result\\
4 & 13 & 103 & 1003 & example & result\\
5 & 14 & 104 & 1004 & example & result\\
6 & 15 & 105 & 1005 & example & result\\
7 & 16 & 106 & 1006 & example & result\\
\end{tabular}
\end{sidewaystable}

You can find an example Org file + rendered PDF in my examples at https://github.com/dfeich/org-babel-examples/tree/master/latex

For reference: I am using Emacs version: GNU Emacs 25.1.50.3 and org version: 8.3.3

Cheers, Derek