LaTeX Tips and Tricks

LaTeX Tips & Tricks

  1. The template shows a left-justified alignment for the texts, but my file does not look like the template.  What should I do?
    In the dissertation.tex file look for the following commands and make sure they are not commented out using % before the commands:
      \raggedright 
      \parindent 0.5 in
    The \parindent 0.5 in command will make each paragraph as ½ inch indented.  Also, these commands should be inserted before the commands for including all chapters. [\input{chapters/chapter1}]
  2. How to truncate the name of a figure/table that appears in the LIST OF FIGURES or LIST OF TABLES?
     \caption[]{}
    Insert the long caption inside the curly brackets and the truncated caption goes inside the square bracket.  Use the truncated caption only if you have a long enough caption under the figure/table.  Please make sure you include the part exactly same till the first period from the long caption in the truncated caption.
  3. The Graduate College approved Thesis/Dissertation Handbook states that the theses/dissertation must be written in Times New Roman font, 12-point size.  Why does my font show Nimbus Roman No9 L with an 11.96-point size?
     Although the characters for Times New Roman and Nimbus Roman No.9 L are not exactly the same, but they are almost identical.  The following command has been used in the LaTeX template to get the font:
    \usepackage{times}
    The default font size in LaTeX using the times package is 10-point size font.  When you convert it to PDF, the font becomes 11.96 size.  This is because the sizing ratio between LaTeX and Word is approximately 1.25:1.5.  Therefore, a 10 or 11-point size in LaTeX might not equal a 12-point size font in the pdf but we are aware of this.
  4. There are certain tables/figures in my document which need to be on their own page.How to make that happen?
    According to the Graduate College approved Thesis/Dissertation Handbook, if the tables/figures are over 4 ½ inches in height, including table title/heading, source, andany footnotes or other explanation, they may be given a page of their own after thetextual reference.  For any figures/tables to have its own page, use the following command after the figure/table caption and any footnote you might have:
    \clearpage
    Without using the \clearpage command:
Example without the clear page command of a side‑by‑side view of a LaTeX editor and its compiled PDF output. The left panel shows LaTeX source code including sections on figures, tables, and citations. The right panel displays the resulting PDF with a chapter heading “CHAPTER 1 MATHEMATICS,” a bar‑chart figure labeled “Figure 1.1 Caption of a figure,” and a table of test statistics and critical values.
Sample image of a bar graph centered on the page using the LaTeX template

When you use the \clearpage command:

LaTeX code of the clear page command
Bar graph with the restuls of running the command would look like

5. How do I import/generate a table in LaTeX? 

You can use this website: https://www.tablesgenerator.com/ to generate LaTeX code for a table.  Also, if you have a table in Excel that is saved as a csv file, you can import that (File-> Import CSV file-> Choose the file from the directory-> import) and then hit the Generate button.  The LaTeX code will be generated under that.

Tables Generator website showing the LaTeX table editor. At the top-left, the “File” menu is open, and the option “Import CSV file…” is highlighted in yellow. A table with several rows and columns appears in the center area, containing text such as “Silvia’s Notes,” “Topic Approval,” “Manuscript Submi[t],” and entries like “Form Received” and a date. On the left side of the page, a tall vertical advertisement is displayed. At the bottom of the screen, the LaTeX code output for the table is shown, beginning with \\begin{table}[ ] and listing rows with names and table entries.

6. My tables are small, and I want them to be side by side instead of one on top of the other. How do I do that?
If you want two or more tables to be side by side, then create only one table environment with multiple tables inside of it. For example, the following code will generate four tables across the width of the page.

\section{Making tables} 
\begin{table}[h!tb] 
\begin{minipage}{1.5 in} 
\setlength{\captionwidth}{2 in} \caption{Numbers} 
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}\hline one & two & three \\\hline 
a & b & c \\\hline 
rose & is & red\\ \hline  
\end{tabular} 
\end{minipage} 
\begin{minipage}{1.5 in} 
\setlength{\captionwidth}{2 in} \caption{Letters} 
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}\hline one & two & three \\\hline 
a & b & c \\\hline 
rose & is & red\\ \hline 
\end{tabular} 
\end{minipage} 
\begin{minipage}{1.5 in} 
\setlength{\captionwidth}{2 in} \caption{Flowers} 
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}\hline one & two & three \\\hline 
a & b & c \\\hline 
rose & is & red\\ \hline 
\end{tabular} 
\end{minipage} 
\begin{minipage}{1.5 in} 
\end{minipage} 
\begin{minipage}{1.5 in} 
\setlength{\captionwidth}{2 in} \caption{Colors} 
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}\hline one & two & three \\\hline 
a & b & c \\\hline  
rose & is & red\\ \hline 
\end{tabular} 
\end{minipage} 
\end{table} 

A tall vertical screenshot of LaTeX source code displayed in an editor with line numbers on the left. The code shows multiple \begin{table} environments, each containing a minipage of “1.5 in” width. Inside each minipage, the command \setlength{\captionwidth}{2 in} appears, followed by captions labeled “Numbers,” “Letters,” “Flowers,” and “Colors.” Each table uses the tabular environment with column formatting {|c|c|c|}, containing three rows with text such as “one & two & three,” “a & b & c,” and “rose & is & red,” with \hline separating the rows. The image includes approximately 40 lines of LaTeX code continuing down the editor.
This is showing four small tables arranged side by side under the heading “1.2 Making tables.” Each table has three columns labeled “one,” “two,” and “three,” and three rows: the second row contains “a,” “b,” “c,” and the third row contains “rose,” “is,” “red.” The tables are titled “Table 1.1 Numbers,” “Table 1.2 Letters,” “Table 1.3 Flowers,” and “Table 1.4 Colors.”

7.    How do I comment out multiple lines in overleaf?
Select the chunk of code or lines you want to comment out.  Then use Ctrl + / for Windows and command + / for Mac.
8.    How to add a note to do something later?
Sometimes we want to add a note so that we can come back later and work on that.  Use the following commands before the \begin{document}:

\usepackage{xcolor} 
\newcommand\note[1]{\textcolor{red}{#1}\PackageWarning{MyWarnings}{#1}}

Then when you need to add a note, simply use the command \note{} and add your desired note inside the curly brackets. For example: 

A wide screenshot showing two side‑by‑side panels. On the left panel, a LaTeX editor displays several lines of code with line numbers. Certain lines are highlighted in yellow. The highlighted portions include: A \usepackage{xcolor} command and a custom LaTeX command \newcommand\note[1]{\textcolor{red}{#1}} followed by a \PackageWarning{MyWarnings}{#1}. A highlighted \note{Need to modify abstract later.} inside an abstract environment. Other visible LaTeX commands include \subject{Algebra}, \keywords{Algebraic topology; Bayesian analysis}, \begin{document}, \frontmatter, \maketitle, \begin{abstract}, and \input{frontmatter/abstract}. On the right panel, a typeset PDF preview shows an “ABSTRACT” heading centered at the top. Beneath it is body text including a highlighted red line reading: “Need to modify abstract later.” The rest of the abstract displays several paragraphs of placeholder text modeled as a dramatic dialogue between fictional characters.

9. How to make a landscape orientation in LaTeX?

If sizing is a determining factor, tables or figures may require landscape placement on the page. These pages should be rotated so that the text is consistent with the portrait style pages, including the page number. Use the following commands for a landscape orientation in a particular page:

\begin{landscape}
\end{landscape} 

A wide screenshot showing two side‑by‑side panels. On the left panel, a LaTeX editor window is open with line numbers. The code includes commands for rotating a page to landscape using the pdflscape package. A highlighted section shows: \usepackage{pdflscape} A \begin{landscape} environment beginning above a figure. A \includegraphics command displaying a PDF figure. A caption explaining how to make a long caption appear under the figure while keeping the page number in the upper‑right corner. \end{landscape} closing the environment. Additional comments describe correct formatting for long captions, figure sizing, and page number placement. On the right panel, the compiled PDF preview displays a wide histogram plot centered on a landscaped page. The histogram has many vertical blue bars forming a distribution that peaks near the center. Beneath the figure is a long caption explaining how to make the caption remain within the margins and how the page number stays in the upper‑right corner of the landscaped page. The page number “3” appears at the top right.

Updated: 02/24/2026 03:32PM