Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Kenneth Jacker]

[ Org-mode version 8.3beta (release_8.3beta-175-g59cd25 ]

First time I've used the LaTeX exporting ...

I have a hunch the default paper size is "A4".
Margins are *way* too wide ...

How do I change it to "letter"?

I tried a few things, but they don't seem to be changing anything!


Thanks for your help,
-- 
Prof Kenneth H Jacker (ret)   khj@cs.appstate.edu
Computer Science Dept         www.cs.appstate.edu/~khj
Appalachian State Univ
Boone, NC  28608  USA        


  

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[John Hendy]

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On Oct 21, 2014 1:05 PM, "Kenneth Jacker" <khj@be.cs.appstate.edu> wrote:
>
> [ Org-mode version 8.3beta (release_8.3beta-175-g59cd25 ]
>
> First time I've used the LaTeX exporting ...
>
> I have a hunch the default paper size is "A4".
> Margins are *way* too wide ...
>

Default latex tends to look like that, so you'd be better off viewing the
document properties from your viewer to verify.

If it's a4, I set mine when I installed latex via texlive, but you can set
it via your org doc:
-http://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Page_Layout

There's been some other posts on the ML about making PDF export look
better. Example:
- http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/85428

That has my setup a few posts in which I'm pretty happy with.

John

> How do I change it to "letter"?
>
> I tried a few things, but they don't seem to be changing anything!
>

John

>
> Thanks for your help,
> --
> Prof Kenneth H Jacker (ret)   khj@cs.appstate.edu
> Computer Science Dept         www.cs.appstate.edu/~khj
> Appalachian State Univ
> Boone, NC  28608  USA
>
>
>
>

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Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Thomas S. Dye]

Aloha Kenneth,

Kenneth Jacker <khj@be.cs.appstate.edu> writes:

> [ Org-mode version 8.3beta (release_8.3beta-175-g59cd25 ]
>
> First time I've used the LaTeX exporting ...
>
> I have a hunch the default paper size is "A4".
> Margins are *way* too wide ...
>
> How do I change it to "letter"?
>
> I tried a few things, but they don't seem to be changing anything!

I think this will do what you want:

#+LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [letterpaper]

hth,
Tom

-- 
Thomas S. Dye
http://www.tsdye.com

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Kenneth Jacker]

  tsd> Aloha Kenneth,

Hello!  (Reminds me of the three months I lived on Kauai ...)

  tsd> I think this will do what you want:
  tsd>
  tsd>    #+LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [letterpaper]

That was one of the things I tried before posting to the ML.

Saw no difference in the margins, etc.


Thanks for your comments!

  -Kenneth

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Nick Dokos]

Kenneth Jacker <khj@be.cs.appstate.edu> writes:

> [ Org-mode version 8.3beta (release_8.3beta-175-g59cd25 ]
>
> First time I've used the LaTeX exporting ...
>
> I have a hunch the default paper size is "A4".
> Margins are *way* too wide ...
>
> How do I change it to "letter"?
>
> I tried a few things, but they don't seem to be changing anything!
>
>
> Thanks for your help,

This may be a TeX installation default. If it is indeed the case
that it is using A4 (check it with pdfinfo on linux, check properties
in Acrobat Reader on windows), then you have to change the default.

On linux, run texconfig in a terminal, choose PAPER, choose Letter.

Nick

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Kenneth Jacker]

  ndokos> This may be a TeX installation default.

Apparently, 'letter' is the default.

  ndokos> If it is indeed the case that it is using A4 (check it with
  ndokos> pdfinfo on linux, ...

Good suggestion.  I used 'pdfinfo' on the generated PDF file and saw
(among other output) this:

    Page size:      612 x 792 pts (letter)

So, I guess I need to explicitly change the L/R and top/bottom margins.

Here's what I do using emacs/latex without Org:

     \setlength{\textheight}{9.25in}
     \setlength{\textwidth}{6.75in}
     \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in}
     \setlength{\evensidemargin}{0in}
     \setlength{\topmargin}{-0.6in}

Can I just put the above somewhere near the beginning of my .org file?
Or, is there a "better" way?  ;-)

Sorry if dumb questions, but am trying to figure out the org/latex
approach ...

Thanks for the 'pdfinfo' tip ... 

-Kenneth

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Thomas S. Dye]

Aloha Kenneth,

Kenneth Jacker <khj@be.cs.appstate.edu> writes:

>   ndokos> This may be a TeX installation default.
>
> Apparently, 'letter' is the default.
>
>   ndokos> If it is indeed the case that it is using A4 (check it with
>   ndokos> pdfinfo on linux, ...
>
> Good suggestion.  I used 'pdfinfo' on the generated PDF file and saw
> (among other output) this:
>
>     Page size:      612 x 792 pts (letter)
>
> So, I guess I need to explicitly change the L/R and top/bottom margins.
>
> Here's what I do using emacs/latex without Org:
>
>      \setlength{\textheight}{9.25in}
>      \setlength{\textwidth}{6.75in}
>      \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in}
>      \setlength{\evensidemargin}{0in}
>      \setlength{\topmargin}{-0.6in}
>
> Can I just put the above somewhere near the beginning of my .org file?
> Or, is there a "better" way?  ;-)

If you want to achieve what you do using LaTeX without Org mode, then
this should work:

#+LATEX_HEADER: \setlength{\textheight}{9.25in}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \setlength{\textwidth}{6.75in}
...

hth,
Tom

-- 
Thomas S. Dye
http://www.tsdye.com

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Andreas Kiermeier]

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Hi Kenneth,

I believe the reason for the large margins are based on readability (long
lines are harder). Having said that, I've also found them a bit 'odd' and
maybe that's because I'm so used to Microsoft Word's default margins of 1in
all around.

Anyway, if you prefer to specify margins directly, rather than calculating
them via \textwidth, you can also use the geometry package, e.g.

#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage[various options]{geometry}

Cheers,
AK

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Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2014-10-22, at 00:08, Kenneth Jacker wrote:

> So, I guess I need to explicitly change the L/R and top/bottom margins.
>
> Here's what I do using emacs/latex without Org:
>
>      \setlength{\textheight}{9.25in}
>      \setlength{\textwidth}{6.75in}
>      \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in}
>      \setlength{\evensidemargin}{0in}
>      \setlength{\topmargin}{-0.6in}
>
> Can I just put the above somewhere near the beginning of my .org file?
> Or, is there a "better" way?  ;-)

Please don't do this!  There /is/ a better way.  What you're doing is
very low-level; the canonical way to change such settings is to use the
geometry package.  Quoting from http://www.ctan.org/pkg/geometry :

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
The package provides an easy and flexible user interface to customize
page layout, implementing auto-centering and auto-balancing mechanisms
so that the users have only to give the least description for the page
layout. For example, if you want to set each margin 2cm without header
space, what you need is just \usepackage[margin=2cm,nohead]{geometry}.

The package knows about all the standard paper sizes, so that the user
need not know what the nominal ‘real’ dimensions of the paper are, just
its standard name (such as a4, letter, etc.).
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Protip: if you're on a Linux system, typing texdoc geometry at the
terminal will give you the docs for this package.  (I don't know whether
this works with Windows or Mac.)

Hth,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
Adam Mickiewicz University

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Brady Trainor]

Andreas Kiermeier <andreas.kiermeier@gmail.com> writes:

>
> #+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage[various options]{geometry}
>

Here is an example I am using to cram a lot of lists/notes onto a peice of paper to fold into eighths. 

#+BEGIN_SRC org
#+LaTeX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [landscape]
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage[top=.1in,bottom=.125in,left=0in,right=.125in]{geometry}
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{amssymb}         % for org checkboxes -> $\square$
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{nopageno}        % no page number
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{multicol}        % slice page into arbitrary columns
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \setlength\columnsep{.35in}  % set column separation
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{paralist}        % reduce spacing in lists
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \let\itemize\compactitem
#+LATEX_HEADER: \let\enumerate\compactenum
#+LATEX_HEADER: \let\description\compactdesc
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \let\centering\relax         % prevent centering of tables
#+TITLE:
#+END_SRC

(I setup TeXLive to default to letter.)

I originally started with a uniform 

: #+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage[margin=.125in]{geometry}

but had to massage out the edges due to the printer (or something?) adding a margin on the left, and basically use a ruler to get the column separation to work in concert. 

I also throw in 

#+BEGIN_SRC org
#+BEGIN_LaTeX
\begin{multicols*}{4}
#+END_LaTeX
#+END_SRC

The `*' is for allowing uneven heights of columns. 

To break a column, I use 

: \vfill
: \columnbreak

--
Brady

Re: Paper Size for Exported LaTeX

[Kenneth Jacker]

  ak> Anyway, if you prefer to specify margins directly, rather than calculating
  ak> them via \textwidth, you can also use the geometry package, e.g.

  ak> #+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage[various options]{geometry}

And that's what I did ...

Thanks to all who contributed to my initial query!

  -Kenneth