Welcome to the UK List of
TeX Frequently Asked Questions
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Introduction
This is a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for
English-speaking users of TeX.
The questions answered here cover a wide range of topics, but
typesetting issues are mostly covered from the viewpoint of a LaTeX
user. Some of the questions answered have little relevance to today’s
users; this is inevitable — it’s easier to add information than it
is to decide that information is no longer needed. The set of
answered questions is therefore in a state of slow flux: new questions
are answered, while old questions are deleted \dots but the whole
process depends on the time available for FAQ maintenance.
You may use the FAQ
- by reading a printed document,
- by viewing a PDF file, with hyperlinks to assist
browsing: copies are available formatted so that they could be
printed on A4 paper or on
North American “letter” paper, or
- via Scott Pakin’s Visual FAQ, which shows
LaTeX constructions with links to FAQ explanations of how
they may be created.
Almost all files suggested in answers in these FAQs are
available from CTAN archives, and may be
reached via links in the file list at the end of the answer. In
particular, documentation (when available) is linked from the
CTAN Catalogue entry, which is also listed in the file list.
Unless doing so is unavoidable, the answers do not mention things not
on the archive. An obvious exception is web resources such as
supplementary documents, etc.
Origins
The FAQ was originated by the Committee of the UK
TeX Users’ Group (UK TUG) as a development of a
regular posting to the Usenet newsgroup
comp.text.tex that was maintained for some time by Bobby
Bodenheimer. The first UK version was much re-arranged and
corrected from the original, and little of Bodenheimer’s work now
remains.
Documentation and Help
Bits and pieces of (La)TeX
Acquiring the Software
TeX Systems
DVI Drivers and Previewers
Support Packages for TeX
Literate programming
Format conversions
Installing (La)TeX files
Fonts
Adobe Type 1 (“PostScript”) fonts
Macros for using fonts
Particular font families
Metafont fonts
Hypertext and PDF
Graphics
Bibliographies and citations
Creating bibliographies
Creating citations
Manipulating whole bibliographies
Adjusting the typesetting
Alternative document classes
Document structure
Page layout
Spacing of characters and lines
Typesetting specialities
Tables of contents and indexes
Labels and references
How do I do…?
Mathematics
Lists
Tables, figures and diagrams
Floating tables, figures, etc.
Footnotes
Document management
Hyphenation
Odds and ends
Symbols, etc.
Macro programming
“Generic” macros and techniques
LaTeX macro tools and techniques
LaTeX macro programming
Things are Going Wrong…
Getting things to fit
Making things stay where you want them
Things have “gone away”
Why does it do that?
Common errors
Common misunderstandings
Why shouldn’t I?
The joy of TeX errors
Current TeX-related projects
You’re still stuck?
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Comments, suggestions, or error reports? - see
“how to improve the FAQ”.
This is FAQ version 3.24, released on 2011-11-01.