LaTeX Symbols - Detexify

say you're looking for some weird LaTeX symbol but you don't want to go through an exhausting list of possible candidates. You just want to draw that symbol and have someone tell you what the syntax for that is.

Well, Detexify does this exact thing!!! Go ahead and try it (and train it, and by all means donate to these guys).

This is by far one of the most useful things I found on the net (thanks to this article on fellow blog walking randomly).

Cite as:
Saad, T. "LaTeX Symbols - Detexify". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2010/07/latex-symbols-detexify.html?m=0

How to Place Two Figures Side by Side in Latex Multicolumn Class

If you are using a multicolumn LaTeX class template, then placing two figures side by side so that they spawn the entire width of the page is done by simply using the {figure*} environment

\begin{figure*}
    \subfigure{...}
    \subfigure{...}
\end{figure*}

Voila!
You may want to move the code for your figure around so that it doesn't show up on the last page. Also, try using [ht] for figure placement

\begin{figure*}[ht]
    \subfigure{...}
    \subfigure{...}
\end{figure*}

This is a typical case with the IEEE Transactions LaTeX template which was the reason for searching the web for this. I learned it from here.

Cite as:
Saad, T. "How to Place Two Figures Side by Side in Latex Multicolumn Class". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-place-two-figures-side-by-side.html?m=0

LaTeX Thesis and Dissertation Template

Here's the LaTeX class template that I developed for my dissertation. It is hosted at the University of Tennessee. You can download it from here:

http://web.utk.edu/~thesis/files/ut-thesis-template.zip

The class has some really neat features. It can automatically generate the approval pages for up to 6 committee members. All you have to do is type in their names.

Enjoy your thesis/dissertation writing!

Cite as:
Saad, T. "LaTeX Thesis and Dissertation Template". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2010/07/latex-thesis-dissertation-template.html?m=0

LaTeX Letter Template

Here's a LaTeX letter template for two print formats. Use the first to print on paper WITHOUT a letter head and the second on paper WITH a letter head.

• LaTeX letter template for paper without letter head [tex][pdf]
• LaTeX letter template for paper with letter head [tex][pdf]

Voila!

Cite as:
Saad, T. "LaTeX Letter Template". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2010/07/latex-letter-template.html?m=0

How to Activate \subsubsubsection in LaTeX

The equivalent to \subsubsubsection is \paragraph. To have that numbered simply use:

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{5}

then:

\section{} % level 1

\subsection{} % level 2

\subsubsection{} % level 3

\paragraph{} % level 4 - equivalent to subsubsubsection

\subparagraph{} % level 5

Voila!

Cite as:
Saad, T. "How to Activate \subsubsubsection in LaTeX". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-activate-subsubsubsection-in.html?m=0

How to add space after \hline in LaTeX tables

Try the following:

\hline \\[-1.0em]

Voila!

Of course, you can change the numbers and units inside the brackets.

Cite as:
Saad, T. "How to add space after \hline in LaTeX tables". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-add-space-after-hline-in-latex.html?m=0

How to highlight text in LaTeX

Add the following to your preamble:

\usepackage{color}
\newcommand{\hilight}[1]{\colorbox{yellow}{#1}}

To highlight text in the body of your document, use

\hilight{this is some highlighted text}

Voila!

Of course, you can change the color from yellow to any of the supported colors. For a list of those, check: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Colors

UPDATE:

There is a problem with the previous method is that the color box does not wrap properly. Here's a much easier and robust way of doing this

\usepackage{soul}

To highlight text in the body of your document, use

\hl{this is some highlighted text}

Cite as:
Saad, T. "How to highlight text in LaTeX". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-highlight-text-in-latex.html?m=0

hyperref and pdfdraftcopy

There seems to be a problem when these two packages are used together. Try adding the following to your preamble – it worked well on my end

\makeatletter
    \def\@DRAFTdimen{% copied from pdfdraftcopy.sty 
    \setlength\LLY{\paperheight} 
    \addtolength\LLY{-\textheight} 
    \addtolength\LLY{-\headheight} 
    \addtolength\LLY{-\headsep} 
    \addtolength\LLY{-1in} 
    \addtolength\LLY{-3pt} 
    \setlength\LLX{1in} 
    \ifodd\value{page}% was \thepage 
    \addtolength\LLX{\oddsidemargin}\else 
    \addtolength\LLX{\evensidemargin}\fi 
    \setlength\URX{\textwidth} 
    \setlength\URY{\textheight}
}
\makeatother

Voila!

Cite as:
Saad, T. "hyperref and pdfdraftcopy". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/06/hyperref-and-pdfdraftcopy.html?m=0

Make Nomenclature in WinEdt

First, you need to download this file

http://www.winedt.org/Macros/LaTeX/MakeNomencl.php

Save it in the “Exec/MiKTeX” folder under your WinEdt path, e.g.

C:\Program Files\Winedt Team\WinEdt\Exec\MiKTeX

in WinEdt, do the following

1. Right click on the Menu bar
2. Select “Menu Steup”
3. Double click on any of the menus where you would like your make nomenclature command to go (Accessories would be a good candidate)
4. On your upper left, choose Insert->Macro
5. Name the new command (Make Nomenclature)
6. Under Macro, type the following: Exe('%b\Exec\MiKTeX\MakeNomencl.edt');

Voila!

Cite as:
Saad, T. "Make Nomenclature in WinEdt". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/06/make-nomenclature-in-winedt.html?m=0

How to Add a Watermark in Latex

More often than not, I like to place a “DRAFT” watermark on my documents. This can be easily and automatically done by just including a specific package (one for PS and one for PDF).

Here’s how

\usepackage[draftcopy] % for PS and DVI

\usepackage[pdfdraftcopy] % for PDF

Voila!

For the documentation of draftcopy check here.

For the documentation of pdfdraftcopy check here.

Cite as:
Saad, T. "How to Add a Watermark in Latex". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-add-watermark-in-latex.html?m=0

LaTeX: Vertical Spacing in Multiline Equations

To add some extra spacing in multiline equation environments (such as align or gather), you can use the \jot command either in the preamble which will affect all your multiline equations, or only locally.

\setlength{\jot}{height}

Here’s an example

\begin{align*}
\setlength{\jot}{12pt}
a + c^3 & = 0 \\
a + b^2 & = 0 \\
d + c^{-1} & = 10 \\
d + a^2 & = \pi
\end{align*}

it looks like this

Voila!

ref: LaTeX Community

Cite as:
Saad, T. "LaTeX: Vertical Spacing in Multiline Equations". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/02/latex-vertical-spacing-in-multiline.html?m=0

LaTeX: Undefined Control Sequence \printglossary

This happens when updating to the latest version of MiKTeX. Assuming that you are including the “nomencl” package, then you need to do the following substitutions:

1. Replace \makeglossary with \makenomenclature
2. Replace \printglossary with \printnomenclature

Voila!

ref: Somacon

The nomencl package is useful for producing nomenclatures/glossaries. For more information check the nomencl package documentation @ the University of Cambridge [this is a pdf file].

Cite as:
Saad, T. "LaTeX: Undefined Control Sequence \printglossary". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/02/latex-undefined-control-sequence.html?m=0

LaTeX: Wrapping lines in Table of Contents, List of Figures, or List of Tables

Try:

\usepackage[breaklinks = true]{hyperref}

ref: LaTeX Community

Cite as:
Saad, T. "LaTeX: Wrapping lines in Table of Contents, List of Figures, or List of Tables". Weblog entry from Please Make A Note. https://pleasemakeanote.blogspot.com/2009/02/latex-wrapping-lines-in-table-of.html?m=0