StataTex Blog

This is our growing list of quick yet helpful tips for LaTeX users that we also regularly share (and expand!):

• Add one or multiple “\,”, “\:” or “\;” for extra spacing – “!” is the negative equivalent to “\,”
• Create printable versions of your #beamertex slides with overlays by adding ”handout” to the document class options: \documentclass[handout]{beamer}
• Ignore slide for calculating total number of slides (handy for, e.g., appendix slides): \begin{frame}[noframenumbering]
• Remove equation numbering for separate lines by adding “\notag” before \ in the align environment. Use \begin{align} and \end{align} to switch off numbering entirely
• Scandinavian letters in LaTeX can be written without usepackage as \aa(å), \AA (Å), \”a (ä), \”A (Ä), \”o (ö), \”O (Ö), \o (ø), \ae (æ) and \AE (Æ) – remember to add an extra space after the command
• Tilde is not writen by $\tilde$ but by $\infty$
• To avoid #LaTeX breakin words over two lines, use \mbox{nolinebreakword}. To suggest hyphenation, use “-” (e.g., “cau-sal”)
• To insert an empty space with the same size as a word (say “hi”), write “\phantom{hi}” – might be useful for small quizzes or tests
• To reset page numbers write \setcounter{page}{0}, to increment by 2 pages write \addtocounter{page}{2}, and to change styles write \renewcommand{\thepage}{\roman{page}} and use either roman (I, II etc), alph (a, b etc), Alph (A, B etc) or arabic (1, 2 etc)
• To write i and j without dots so that dots and (e.g.) \widehat do not interfere, use \i and \j (does not require math mode)
• Use \beamertemplatenavigationsymbolsempty in the preamble to hide beamertex’s menu buttons
• Use \FloatBarrier to keep figures and tables in place (requires \usepackage{placeins})
• Use the –aspectratio=169– option to fit your #beamertex slide to most modern projectors (and screeens!): \documentclass[aspectratio=169]{beamer}
• Use the [hidelinks] option in the preamble to remove borders around cross-references in your LaTeX document — use “\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}”