For the following example:
\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,external}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\tikzexternalize
\begin{document}
\tikzstyle{every picture}+=[remember picture]
% following doesn't work
% \tikzset{every baseline/.append code={external/export=false}}
% \tikzstyle{every baseline}+=[external/export=false]
% \tikzstyle{every overlay}+=[external/export=false]
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Frame Title}
\begin{itemize}
\item first item with longer sentences
and a \tikz[baseline]{\node[inner xsep=0pt,
anchor=base, fill=red!60](n1){node};}
\item second item with pgf plot: \\
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[width=7cm,height=5cm]
\addplot[color=blue]{sin(deg(x))};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\item third item with \tikz[baseline]{\node[inner xsep=0pt,
anchor=base, fill=red!60](n2){node};}
\end{itemize}
\begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,>=latex, shorten >= 3pt, shorten <=3pt]
\draw[-,red!60,ultra thick](n1.east) -- ($(n1.east) + (.5,0)$)
|- (n2.east);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
%%% Local Variables:
%%% mode: latex
%%% LaTeX-command: "latex -shell-escape"
%%% TeX-PDF-mode: t
%%% TeX-master: t
%%% End:
Exist a smart/lazy way (= some global settings) to not externalize all overlay and baseline tikz-pictures?
EDIT:
Now using external/named only=true and then explicit naming of pgfplots with \tikzsetnextfilename{filename}
every baselineorevery overlayoption, you certainly can append stuff to theoverlayoption by using\tikzset{overlay/.append code={<stuff here>}}(see also \tikzset or \tikzstyle). Though, it seems, that a) the externalization process has to be disabled before the environment (in the environment it is to late because when it is read it is already externalized) and b) theexternalization process does not work withremember pictureat all when I manually disable the externalization for theoverlay-ed picture. – Qrrbrbirlbel Jun 11 '13 at 16:15