converting course materials into PreTeXt

[David Austin]

A number of my colleagues are getting interested in using PreTeXt to create documents for their courses.  I know there have been a couple of projects designed to facilitate the approximate conversion of existing LaTeX source to PreTeXt, but I wanted to inquire about the current state of things.  Is there a recommendation for someone who is new to our community and may have a set of handouts for an entire course written in LaTeX and wishes to convert them to PreTeXt?

Thanks,

David

[Mark Fitch]

As one suggestion, I have successfully used Gemini to generate PreTeXt. That was from hand written math not LaTeX, but it also produced LaTeX, so I am guessing it will convert between them for those willing to use it.

The code for both ran fine after inserting in a default (empty) document.

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[Ameya Kolarkar]

I will second Mark's suggestion. I have been using Gemini to convert courses from (years-old) LaTeX to PreTeXt. In training faculty, I ask them to do it section-by-section. (We are also trying to set up the PreTeXt system locally so the faculty do not have to deal with github issues.) Gemini takes care of any obsolete packages and the many personal preferences of multiple faculty who have contributed to the tex files over the years. Gemini also (mostly) successfully converts figures and graphs to Prefigure format - this has been amazing and a massive time-saver! (The Gemini-conversion to prefigure works much better for math courses than physics!) We are working on generating how-to pages for the math and math-like (physics, engineering, economics, ...) faculty - unsure when they will be ready though!

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-support/a0d0fff9-0273-4c4d-90cf-a2440a35140d%40alaska.edu.

[Oscar Levin]

Another option: you can now convert simple latex documents to pretext using https://pretext.plus. 

In fact, a feature we just released today is authoring pretext documents using latex syntax (as long as you restrict yourself to a reasonable and semantic subset of the latex macros and environments).

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-support/CAP1XPmobJV3Yb9Qt3U8bqfVckftegRGjytx%3D-GBjiepmN4RX0w%40mail.gmail.com.

[David Austin]

Thanks for the replies.  I've also had good luck experimenting with Gemini, but I also know what I'm looking for, which means I can give pretty specific prompts.  The pretext.plus feature looks a great tool, especially for people just getting started so I'll pass that on to colleagues.

Thanks again,

David

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-support/CAOU9BaUqF1AQ6hYzubovkFNyLiG_sGoQW1RGV2t2rEu9mYh-Nw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Rob Beezer]

Thanks, Ameya, for the report. I love the idea of package-creep going obsolete,
and personal preferences being resolved. And producing PreFigure diagrams is huge!

Please keep us up-to-date, especially if you gain experience with "prompt
engineering" that would benefit a wider audience.

A while back, I was even more ambitious, using ChatGPT to convert a PDF of a
math research article to PreTeXt, with mixed results. I'm getting great results
using Claude Code for PreTeXt code proper. So maybe I'll get back to document
processing.

Rob

On 4/4/26 10:44, Ameya Kolarkar wrote:
> I will second Mark's suggestion. I have been using Gemini to convert courses
> from (years-old) LaTeX to PreTeXt. In training faculty, I ask them to do it
> section-by-section. (We are also trying to set up the PreTeXt system locally so
> the faculty do not have to deal with github issues.) Gemini takes care of any
> obsolete packages and the many personal preferences of multiple faculty who have
> contributed to the tex files over the years. Gemini also (mostly) successfully
> converts figures and graphs to Prefigure format - this has been amazing and a
> massive time-saver! (The Gemini-conversion to prefigure works much better for
> math courses than physics!) We are working on generating how-to pages for the
> math and math-like (physics, engineering, economics, ...) faculty - unsure when
> they will be ready though!
>

> On Thu, Mar 26, 2026 at 11:51 AM 'Mark Fitch' via PreTeXt support <pretext-
> sup...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pretext...@googlegroups.com>> wrote:
>
> __

>
> As one suggestion, I have successfully used Gemini to generate PreTeXt. That
> was from hand written math not LaTeX, but it also produced LaTeX, so I am
> guessing it will convert between them for those willing to use it.
>
> The code for both ran fine after inserting in a default (empty) document.
>
> On 3/26/2026 4:57 AM, David Austin wrote:
>> A number of my colleagues are getting interested in using PreTeXt to
>> create documents for their courses.  I know there have been a couple of
>> projects designed to facilitate the approximate conversion of existing
>> LaTeX source to PreTeXt, but I wanted to inquire about the current state
>> of things.  Is there a recommendation for someone who is new to our
>> community and may have a set of handouts for an entire course written in
>> LaTeX and wishes to convert them to PreTeXt?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> David
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>> email to pretext-suppo...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pretext-
>> support+u...@googlegroups.com>.

>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-
>> support/
>> CANXmVMBn_amh33pcaEvjhrqDyXL80p1WP7fMdfRxBNMVemwF7w%40mail.gmail.com

>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-support/
>> CANXmVMBn_amh33pcaEvjhrqDyXL80p1WP7fMdfRxBNMVemwF7w%40mail.gmail.com?
>> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

>
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