[Tex/LaTex] Error in default MDPI template

environmentsmdpiparacol

The Problem

Hi everyone, I have been working towards a submission for MDPI, and I have been given from their website the following template to use in overleaf (which is convenient as I also use overleaf).

The problem arises however once I open the template where as you'll notice on line 232 there is a \end{paracol} command without its \begin{... counterpart further above. This is highlighted as a warning in the code of overleaf, however the document compiles successfully without errors.

I would be willing to ignore this warning if it were that simple, however as you realise, at this point it becomes impossible to generalise this template for my manuscript (and for all manuscripts for that matter). In other words, when I insert my text, I do not know where th place the \end{paracol} such that the code does not return an error. After all, its bad practice to have such unreadable code; the beginning of the evnironment should always be shown within the code.

Question

First, I would like to ask your help and advice on how to at least modify the template such that the \begin{paracol} can actually appear somewhere within the code so I can make slightly better sense on how to adjust the template for my manuscript.

Second, I would like to ask to anyone that successfully submitted using this template; what is the look they try to achieve with the paracol package? Do they want for the entire manuscript to have the text on the right side so the space left on the left can be used for corrections, or do they want to have only the first page split in to two columns such that the left is used for the citation, publisher note, and copyright information?

Thanks for your help in advance.

PS

I have emailed MDPI (latex@mdpi.com) to fix the template, but the deadline tight and it doesn't look like there will be a quick resolution to this.

Best Answer

Building from Rmano comment. Here is a fix that worked for me (remember to remove before submission): Add on line 61 after the "% Add packages and commands here. "

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%hotFIX for MDPI template on OVERLEAF remove before submission
\newcommand{\endMyColumn}{\end{paracol}}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Do everything you want then find the \end{paracol} replace with your macro:

%\end{paracol}
\endMyColumn
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

About the use of paracol IMHO it is to have a very wide free column on the left for all the text that ends before the references. It is the new (2021) layout.

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