ERROR: Template partial `C:[DEDACTED]\share\formats\html\templates\_title-meta-author.html` was not found

[odysseu]

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

On my windows enterprise laptop, I installed quarto in a special directory because there are rules that disable any installation the classic way.

Therefore when I create a simple project using quarto CLI, I can't render it because there appear to be a issue with a template file directory (see following steps to reproduce)

I think this issue is similar to : #8103

Steps to reproduce

• 0. Install quarto

But put the binary in a direcotry which contains a ! in its name.
Since I'm on a windows, for me it is located at C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8 so you would have :

$ C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8.27-win> tree /f | head -50

+---bin
?   ?   quarto.cmd
?   ?   quarto.exe          <-- quarto.exe is here 
?   ?   quarto.js
?   ?
?   +---tools
?       ?   pandoc.exe
?       ?
?       +---x86_64
?           ?   deno.exe
?          ...
?
+---share
    ?   COPYING.md
    ?   COPYRIGHT
    ?   version
    ? ...

• 1. Make a new project :

$ quarto --version

Which gives :

1.8.27

$ mkdir foobar
$ cd foobar

• 2. Make a new quarto book, named "Coucou"

$ quarto create

Which gives:

? Create » project
? Type » book
? Directory » .
? Title (book) » Coucou
Creating project at C:\Users\DEDACTED\foobar:
  - Created _quarto.yml
  - Created index.qmd
  - Created intro.qmd
  - Created summary.qmd
  - Created references.qmd
  - Created cover.png
  - Created references.bib

• 3. I render my book :

$ quarto render

Which gives:

[1/4] index.qmd
ERROR: Template partial C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8\share\formats\html\templates\_title-meta-author.html was not found. Please confirm that the path to the file is correct.

Stack trace:
    at file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:79036:13
    at Array.flatMap (<anonymous>)
    at readPartials (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:79030:18)
    at runPandoc (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:113732:26)
    at eventLoopTick (ext:core/01_core.js:178:7)
    at async renderPandoc (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:115282:24)
    at async Object.onRender (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:140305:34)
    at async renderFileInternal (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:123952:9)
    at async renderFiles (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:123681:9)
    at async renderProject (file:///C:/!DEP-USER/DEDACTED/quarto-1.8/bin/quarto.js:124208:23)

Whih is odd, because the fille C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8\share\formats\html\templates\_title-meta-author.html actually exists.

Actual behavior

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Your environment

• Windows 10 or 11
• any terminal

Quarto check output

quarto check

Gives me :

Quarto 1.8.27
[✓] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: /home/onyxia/.cache/quarto
[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.3.1: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.8.27
      Path: /usr/local/lib/quarto-1.8.27/bin

[✓] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: v2026.01
      Chromium: (not installed)

[✓] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Using: TinyTex
      Path: /home/onyxia/.TinyTeX/bin/x86_64-linux
      Version: 2025

[✓] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Chrome:  (not detected)

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.13.11
      Path: /opt/python/bin/python3
      Jupyter: 5.9.1
      Kernels: python3

[✓] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[✓] Checking R installation...........(None)

      Unable to locate an installed version of R.
      Install R from https://cloud.r-project.org/

[cderv]

Is the special character (!) mandatory in the path you use ?

Having such special character can have bad side effect, depending on which context is used. For filepath, it is indeed supported, but then depending on how it is used (passed to another command line tool that may not support it), it can cause issue.

I bet this is related here. Did you confirm that doing the same but in another path without ! it works ?

I'll try to reproduce using this assumption.

On my windows enterprise laptop, I installed quarto in a special directory because there are rules that disable any installation the classic way.

Let me just says that this seems bad practice to go over your IT rule. You should try to make quarto a validated tool. Know also that quarto is available a zip bundle which requires no installation ! You just download, and unzip and you have access to quarto.exe.

Also know that quarto install does provide some other tools (like deno, pandoc, typst, ...) and so they must be allowed on your environment for quarto to run well.

[odysseu]

Yes unfortunately, any .exe out of this directory or the classic one (requiring admin priviledges) will fail.
I agree for the bad IT practice and the fact that quarto should be validated but this is just how it is out here... (sight)

Anyway, I guess the path should be understood as a character variable in the methods so this could be corrected regardless my situation :)

thx for the time taken

[odysseu]

Hi again,
to precise, I did use the zip file and put everything in my amazing !DEP-USER/... directory.
Also, I have many tools "instaled" this way that work just fine, this is why I am insisting on this issue, I am sure there is a small change to make so it works perfectly everywhere 🙏 🙏 🙏

Do you think this could be looked at sometime soon ? thx

[mcanouil]

@odysseu Thank you for the additional context.

I understand your setup works well for other tools, and I appreciate your patience.
With over 1,500 open issues and only a small team of maintainers, the team is doing is best to prioritise critical bugs and features that affect the widest number of users.
If you believe this is a small change, the team would very much welcome a pull request.

Contributing directly would not only help resolve your specific case faster but also benefit others who might have similar setups.

The contribution guidelines are available in the repository to help you get started.
Thanks for your understanding and for considering contributing back to the project.

[odysseu]

By looking at it again, I figured that by commenting out this bit :

quarto-cli/src/format/html/format-html-title.ts

Lines 156 to 157 in f6ecb11

	partials.push("_title-meta-author.html");
	partials.push("title-metadata.html");

and this bit

quarto-cli/src/format/html/format-html-title.ts

Line 165 in f6ecb11

partials.push("title-block.html");

, it is working again !!

If anybody is working near this code chunk ... I guess it would be great to check out if this still usefull or if I happen to have fallen there and this is broken code🤷

May I precise that my .qmd works with this code commented out with this configuration :

---
title: This is my title
author: "UB"
lang: fr
editor: source
format:
  html:
    [...]
---

Do you think this is a good hint ?

[odysseu]

I found the commits for this when it changed of behaviour :

• f847c62
• 6d951b5#diff-e82d573ee791d4e7e7b99bd82e20c09c48cbae04f99293fbb619b67c9910e5f7

Both made by https://github.com/dragonstyle, if I get to (git)blame anyone lol

[cderv]

Thanks @odysseu - we'll look into it. In general, no need to ping anyone - please respect that. Thank you !

[cderv]

Something that would help confirm problem @odysseu

Your quarto check shows linux with /usr/local/lib/quarto-1.8.27/bin but your problem is with windows path C:\!DEP-USER\DEDACTED\quarto-1.8.27-win

Can you clarify the situation please ?

Thank you.

[odysseu]

Currently in a space shuttle, can come back to this immediately when I can, say march 5th.