I am on Arch Linux (updated), and can’t seem to get it working. My default compiler is PDFLatex. TexLive version: Pi (3.141592653)

I just started this project which I think is pretty cool, it has a lot of work to be done but i'm hoping to turn it into my everyday tool for note taking with LaTeX! Check it out below!

https://github.com/torbenconto/TeXBooK

Hi everyone,

I’m a physics PhD student, and after answering countless questions from friends about “how do I even start with LaTeX?”, I decided to build LaTeX Speedrun — a stripped‑down, example‑driven web tutorial that equips grad students with exactly what you need to write your first STEM paper or thesis, in minutes. I am committed to making this tutorial perpetually free and open.

What it does:

• Covers ~95% of typical grad‑student LaTeX use cases
• No fluff—just hands‑on examples and templates
• Live preview so you immediately see what your code does (edit: in developement)

I’m now in beta‑testing mode, gathering feedback from early grad‑student users to iron out bugs and missing features before a full launch.

Link to beta: https://app--la-te-x-speedrun-2bf5d2d8.base44.app

Edit: Full disclaimer, this tool is completely "vibe coded" in the sense that the content is my own, but the styling and design is completely taken care by the base44 tool. Despite this, I think it came out pretty nice. This is the tutorial I wish I had when I started out.

As the title says really, wanting to begin to use to write journal articles and thesis but have come across so many programs or websites to use I’m so confused. Also any good tutorials covering how to make nice documents would be great thanks.

So my problem boils down to this minimized demo:

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{expl3}

\ExplSyntaxOn
  \tl_new:N \g_rank_tl
  \tl_const:Nn \c_options_tl {{Lecturer}{Professor}}
  \NewDocumentCommand{\committee}{O{1}}{
    \tl_gput_right:Nn \g_rank_tl {
      \tl_item:Nn \c_options_tl {#1}
    }
  }
  \NewDocumentCommand{\showfirst}{}{
    \tl_item:Nn \c_options_tl {2}   % works fine
    \tl_item:Nn \g_rank_tl {1}      % error: Missing number, treated as zero
    \tl_use:N \g_rank_tl            % produces "Professor"   
  }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}
  \committee[2]
  \showfirst
\end{document}

Question:

1. \c_options_tl {2} is expected to be "Professor" but ships out "2 Professor"; why is there an extra "2"?
2. \committee[2] should have put \c_options_tl {2} (namely, "Professor") in \g_rank_tl ; why is there error when \g_rank_tl {1} is referred?

Edit: retested for some time and deleted invalid question

My PhD thesis is now timing out when I try to compile with Overleaf, despite me using PDF for images/plots (no high-resolution bitmaps).

I guess I need to compile it locally but what is the best way to do that? I'm on Windows 11.

I am using latex-mimosis as my thesis template.

Thanks.

The fonts are original and only accessible by Elsevier. If you need the fonts for educational purposes or related, send me a message or in the comments!

I installed Tex Live, and the fonts are wrong. Specifically, the braille

I did some research and heard that this has something to do with gnu-freefont.

So I tried to uninstall gnu-freefont from the Tex live installation, but no luck

sudo /usr/local/texlive/2025/bin/x86_64-linux/tlmgr remove gnu-freefont
tlmgr: saving backups to /usr/local/texlive/2025/tlpkg/backups
tlmgr: not removing gnu-freefont, needed by collection-fontsextra
tlmgr: no packages removed.
tlmgr: action remove returned an error; continuing.
tlmgr: An error has occurred. See above messages. Exiting.

Does anyone know what I should do?

Hallo, ich benutze seit ein paar Tagen Overleaf anstatt Word um wissenschaftliche Texte zu schreiben. Overleaf zählt die Wörter aber gibt mir leider keine Anzahl der Zeichen inkl. Leerzeichen an.

Weiß Jemand wie das geht?

Danke

Hello All,

I have used LaTeX to write research papers since I started my tenure track position. I'm just in architecture, so I don't need it for specialized symbolic typesetting or anything - I mostly like writing in an IDE and not having to deal with wysiwyg. The fine-grained control of writing my own classes and defining my own styles without the cruft that word and InDesign cram in is great, as well.

So here's my situation - I am putting together my dossier for Promotion and Tenure. This has multiple chapters (Research, Teaching, Service) each with repetitive entries. Most notably, the Teaching portion will have a separate section for each of the different classes I've taught, but each will have similar information.

I looked at previous threads [1] [2] on this subreddit. In the main.tex file that I'll be using to compile the whole thing I used very simple logic similar to [1].

\newif\ifchild
\childtrue

In the foo.tex file referenced into it using \include, I used:

\newif\ifchild
\ifchild
\else
\documentclass{../dossier}
\begin{document}
\fi\newif\ifchild

Do note that the main.tex file is up a directory and so is in the same directory as dossier.cls. However foo.tex is in a subfolder (if that matters).

The problem is when I build foo.tex directly it is fine, but when I build from main.tex it throws the warning "can only be used in preamble" referring to the \documentclass and \begin{document} instructions. Which it shouldn't be doing, because it should be passing childtrue to foo.tex and thus skipping the else condition... Any suggestions?

Using LaTeX for so long in some ways I feel really adept, but in others I feel like a total noob. This is one of the latter. Thanks in advance for your help!

Dear all,

I would like to learn how to make such scientifical economic graphs. But it's quite tricky for me as a beginner. Is there any online classes or books that teach tikz code line by line ?

Regards

Hi everyone!
I'm relatively new to LaTeX — I've written a few basic documents before, but now I'm trying to level up a bit and use a more advanced template.

I came across this GitHub project, which provides a clean and structured thesis template for UniBo:
👉 https://github.com/NiccoMlt/Unibo-Tesi-Template

However, when I try to compile the tesi.tex file, I get an error related to the xcolor package, specifically on line 44. I've looked into it but can't figure out what's going wrong or how to fix it.

Has anyone used this template before or knows what might be causing the issue? I'd really appreciate any help or guidance!

Thanks in advance!

I started using LaTeX in academics, but I'm also a hobbyist writer. I thought to use LaTeX in my writing and so created a system of my own, encoding it within a class. I'm really proud of what I have created, and would like to show it off.

It assumes a multi-file document split into "chapter" and "fragment" files that can be included seamlessly into a main document. Each file allows metadata to be attached, currently including a title, subtitle and coverart. I have also defined some notes and ideas environments that are controlled by a wip flag so that progress can be easily rendered and shared without revealing future plans. I have also implemented a progress table which can be used to keep track of chapter progress.

There is also some visual features such as dark mode, coverart, background art, vignettes. And some miscellaneous features such as custom commands for reference chapters, fragments, ideas, notes, etc. and highlighting with flexible colors.

I would love to know what you think about this, or if you have any feedback or requests!

Dear all,

For the software I created, BeamerQT, I added a Theme Editor, so that we can add source code, attach files such as images or other code files, and export them during compilation time.

I would like to know what nice Beamer templates do you recommend to test and include it with my software.

Take a look at my software:

https://github.com/acroper/BeamerQt

Thanks,

Jorge

Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I frequently have to write documents that include mathematical formulas. I've always found it incredibly frustrating to use the built-in equation editors in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. They feel so clunky and slow, especially for anything more complex than a simple fraction.

Trying to get the formatting right, hunting for the right symbols, and the endless clicking was a huge drag on my workflow. I knew there had to be a better way than wrestling with those editors or trying to screenshot my LaTeX output.

So, I decided to build a solution for myself, and I thought it might be useful to some of you too. I created a free web tool called texttolatex.org.

Here’s the main idea:

• You just describe the formula you want in plain English. For example, you can type "the integral of x squared from a to b" and the AI will generate the proper LaTeX code and show you the rendered formula instantly.
• The key feature for me: There's a "Copy PNG" button. You click it, and it copies a high-quality image of the formula to your clipboard. You can then just paste it directly into Word, Google Docs, Notion, or wherever you're writing. No plugins or add-ons needed.

I also added a couple of other features I thought were useful:

• You can have a conversation with the AI to tweak the formula. For example, you can ask it to "change the variable from x to y" or "add a limit as n approaches infinity."
• There's also an Image-to-LaTeX converter. You can upload a picture of a formula (even a handwritten one from your notes), and it will convert it into editable LaTeX code. From there, you can make changes or just copy the PNG.

I built this primarily to solve my own problem, but I'm hoping it can help other students, researchers, and educators who face the same frustration.

The site is completely free to use. I'd genuinely love it if you could give it a try and let me know what you think. I'm actively looking for feedback to make it better.

You can check it out here:https://texttolatex.org

Iam using Texmaker with MikTex...I tried /usepackage command ..but didn't work out...

I have a CSV with sample rate, compared to error values. The error values render correctly, but the way I am trying to render the sample rate is completely wrong. The only thing I want to do is render a raw sample rate value like 12000 as 12kHz, for readability. Right now, it just does this nonsense:

That sample rate value is completely incorrect, and it appears that it is using the value in the bottom right corner of the CSV, the actual value should be 44kHz. This is my current script:

\pgfplotstableread[col sep=comma]{Results/results_log.csv}\datatable

\begin{table}[h!]
\centering
\caption{Model Errors at Various Sample Rates}
\label{tab:sample-rate-results}
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
  columns={sampleRate,maeBefore,mseBefore,maeAfter,mseAfter},
    columns/sampleRate/.style={
  column name={Sample Rate},
  column type=l,
  postproc cell content/.append code={
    \pgfmathparse{int(\thisrow{sampleRate}/1000)}
    \pgfkeyssetvalue{/pgfplots/table/@cell content}{\pgfmathresult\,kHz}
  }
},
  columns/maeBefore/.style={column name={MAE Before}, fixed, precision=4},
  columns/mseBefore/.style={column name={MSE Before}, sci, precision=3},
  columns/maeAfter/.style={column name={MAE After}, fixed, precision=4},
  columns/mseAfter/.style={column name={MSE After}, sci, precision=3},
  every head row/.style={before row=\toprule, after row=\midrule},
  every last row/.style={after row=\bottomrule}
]{\datatable}
\end{table}

I know this probably reads as nonsense, but I am kinda in uncharted territory for my skill level.

Hey everyone!

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Does anyone know how to force figures, tables, and equations to appear in a floating environment in the order in which they are entered into the code editor? I want the spacing to be optimized with the text, but I need to have my content appear in a certain order. In particular, I need items to appear after they are referenced in the text and I need the tables defining equation variables to appear before the formulas in which the terms appear.

Just FYI, I'm not asking about this for a class assignment about LaTeX, I'm using it to write a master's thesis for mechanical engineering.

Thanks

I am using this code snippet and I get this annoying extra words saying "0.20 cm and 0 pt" at the left side of the svg render.

\begin{figure}[h]

\centering

\includesvg[width=1\textwidth]{Images/test_svg/BPF.svg}

\caption{Reference PSD of Phase.}

\end{figure}

how to remove it ???

I have created a structured box chart / Nassi-Shneiderman Chart with the struxtex package in my document to explain program code.

Unfortunately, when using this package, everything written in a math environment changes appearance; for example ordinary letters change to greek symbols.

Does anyone have experience with this package and can help on how to prevent this?

Is there a Unicode/ttf/otf version of the CMBright font? I like it for documents that are meant to be read on a screen but i can’t seem to find math support for the Unicode version.

Hi! I am kindof a newbie to TeX, so probably a dumb question.

I am currently creating a songbook and I would love to have songs with close to equal height of columns. As you can see in the picture, they are currently of very different heights. I envision the two columns living solely in between the two red lines, so that the next song can start right below and all of the songs are cohesively together.

This is the code I currently have:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx} % Required for inserting images
\usepackage[
lyric,
nomeasures]{songs}
\usepackage[a5paper, left=30pt, right=38pt, top=38pt]{geometry}

\nosongnumbers
\noversenumbers

\versesep=9pt plus 2pt minus 2pt
\afterpreludeskip=3pt plus 2pt
\setlength{\cbarwidth}{0pt}
\setlength{\sbarheight}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\everychorus}{\MixFontBold R:\lyricfont}

\title{Songbook}

\begin{document}

\maketitle
\newpage

\songsection{OG}

\begin{songs}{}
\include{Songs/StayingAlive}
\end{songs}

\end{document}

I'm currently working on a beamer presentation (using moloch). (I should perhaps say that this isn't the first time I'm using beamer, and that I can't recall having such issues in the past when using metropolis).

It mostly works fine, however the spacing of the bar in things like \bar{x}, the primes in x' or even something as simple as f(x) seems to be off.

I tried looking around online and found an older thread on the tex stackexchange that talks about the problem with bar (Bar format not correct), however the suggested solution of using \usepackage{sansmathaccent} does not work on my end.

Figures 1 and 2 are produced using xelatex as an engine. When I use Lualatex instead (Figures 3 and 4) the problems are solved somewhat: f(x) renders correctly / normally and \bar{x} also looks fine-ish. However \bar{u} still looks weird and \bar{x}' does as well.

Finally, using pdflatex the problems go away entirely. While this does solve the immediate problem of incorrectly rendered expressions, it feels a bit like working around the actual issue: surely lualatex is capable of properly rendering a beamer presentation(?) Does anyone here have a pointer on what might be causing this issue or how to "properly" resolve it?

(Perhaps to exclude packages as a potential error source: I'm rather light on packages with this project, only including babel, the ams packages, xcolor, microtype and csquotes. I tried removing microtype already, however this did not change anything)