[Tex/LaTex] floating multipage two-column supertabular

supertabulartablestwo-column

I have a long but narrow table. To save some spaces, I'm trying to place a table spanning over multiple two-column pages, but I need help with floating as the table starts from the next page. I want it to start right after the section title. Here is MWE (I shortened the table with …):

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{supertabular}


%HERE WE GO

\begin{document}
\section{Past AP Free Response Questions by Topic}

\twocolumn

% Table generated by Excel2LaTeX from sheet 'AP Index'
    \begin{supertabular}{llll}
    \textbf{Year} & \textbf{Number} & \textbf{Part} & Sec \\
    1998  & AB2 BC2 & c     & 0. \\
    1999  & BC6   & d     & 0. \\
    2000  & AB6   & b     & 0. \\
    2000  & AB6   & b     & 0. \\
    2006  & AB3   & c     & 0. \\
    2001  & BC5   & a     & 1.2 \\
    2000  & BC4   & d     & 1.3 \\
    2006  & BC3   & d     & 1.3 \\
    ...
    \end{supertabular}%
\end{document}

The table does span over two columns and pages as expected but the only problem is, as mentioned, it starts after the section title which is huge waste of space. Is there any way to make it start after the title? So far I've tried few options with "float" package after wrapping the whole supertabular with another 1×1 table but without success.

EDIT: I found my answer here!!

Best Answer

supertabular does not float, and latex does not support multi-page floats at all. The issue here is that \twocolumn starts a new page. use

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{supertabular}


%HERE WE GO

\begin{document}
\twocolumn[\section{Past AP Free Response Questions by Topic}]



% Table generated by Excel2LaTeX from sheet 'AP Index'
    \begin{supertabular}{llll}
    \textbf{Year} & \textbf{Number} & \textbf{Part} & Sec \\
    1998  & AB2 BC2 & c     & 0. \\
    1999  & BC6   & d     & 0. \\
    2000  & AB6   & b     & 0. \\
    2000  & AB6   & b     & 0. \\
    2006  & AB3   & c     & 0. \\
    2001  & BC5   & a     & 1.2 \\
    2000  & BC4   & d     & 1.3 \\
    2006  & BC3   & d     & 1.3 \\
    \end{supertabular}%
\end{document}

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[Tex/LaTex] Image and wrapped text over two columns

With the help of the strip environment from the cuted package you can achieve the following:

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt,twocolumn, openany]{scrbook}

\usepackage[a4paper, top=1.4in, left=1.8in, right=0.8in]{geometry}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{kpfonts,baskervald}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{scrhack}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage{cuted}



\begin{document}

\chapter{Chapter Title}

\begin{strip}
\begin{wrapfigure}{l}{0.5\textwidth}
  \begin{center}
    \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{example-image}
  \end{center}
  \caption{A gull}
\end{wrapfigure}
\lipsum[1-2]
\noindent\rule{\linewidth}{1.5pt}
\end{strip}


\section*{Overview}
\lipsum[20-22]
\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] Inserting a one-column multi-page table in a two-column document

What you try to achieve, is probably not possible using twocolumn mode. When you change from twocolumn to onecolumn, LaTeX gives will have a new page, and lot of white space.

I suggest using the package multicol instead for twocolumn mode, and place your texts before and after the tables in multicolsenvironments.

multicol has some shortcomings regarding floats inside columns. If you have lots of floats, it may be not the way to go.

Example 1

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum} %% To generate example text
\usepackage{array, booktabs,longtable}
\usepackage[latin]{babel}
\usepackage{multicol}


\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\lipsum[1-6] %% To generate example text
\end{multicols}
%%% Begin table %%%

\begin{longtable}{>{\hangindent=1em}p{13cm}}
\toprule
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\bottomrule
\end{longtable}
%%% End table %%%
\begin{multicols}{2}

\lipsum[1-6] %% To generate example text
\end{multicols}

\end{document}

Example 2 - switch to onecolumn

You have to adjust the left and right margin of the longtable if the table shall be set flush to the margins. Since this will depend on your documents margin, I leave it to you.

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum} %% To generate example text
\usepackage{array, booktabs,longtable}
\usepackage[latin]{babel}
\usepackage{multicol}


\begin{document}
\onecolumn
\begin{multicols}{2}
\lipsum[1-7] %% To generate example text
\end{multicols}
%%% Begin table %%%

\begin{longtable}[c]{>{\hangindent=1em}p{13cm}}
\toprule
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\lipsum[1]\\ %% To generate example text
\bottomrule
\end{longtable}
%%% End table %%%
\begin{multicols}{2}

\lipsum[1-6] %% To generate example text
\end{multicols}

\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Image and wrapped text over two columns

[Tex/LaTex] Inserting a one-column multi-page table in a two-column document

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