[Tex/LaTex] Confine table to left column in two-column page

tablestwo-column

Is it possible to set a property for a table such that it is restricted to one particular column.

This refers to the cases when I have a large table and I specify the table to be at either the bottom or the top with \begin{table}[!b].

However If I add too much text above the table, the table moves to the right column with all the text that is supposed to appear after the table coming in the place where the table should be.

I want the table to be restricted to the left column and any excess text to be wrapped around such that it continues on the right column.

Right now, I am doing it via trial and error such that if there is a particularly big table, I can't have more than 4 lines in the same column. If I add more text, the whole thing becomes displaced.

MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{times}
\usepackage{latexsym}

\begin{document}
\twocolumn
\lipsum[1]
\begin{table}[!b]
\begin{tabular}{|p{7.7cm}|}
\hline
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[2]
\lipsum[1]
\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

I would like the text to wrap around the table with the table staying at the left column instead of moving right

Best Answer

This MWE demonstrates that it IS possible to put a large table at the bottom of the current column. For tables larger than 0.8\textheight you will also need to reduce \textfraction (default is 0.2).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{times}
\usepackage{latexsym}

\def\bottomfraction{.7}

\begin{document}
\twocolumn\sloppy
\begin{table}[b]
\rule{\columnwidth}{.69\textheight}
\end{table}

\lipsum[1-10]
\end{document}
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