[Tex/LaTex] How do put a header inside the margins

fancyhdrheader-footermargins

I have to create a document that obeys the following guidelines:

"Margins must be set at a minimum of ¾" (1.87 cm);

Your name must appear outside the set margins of the page, at the top
right corner of every page;"

I have also been informed that I should put other things in the left and centre of the header, in addition to my name.

I'd had planned to do this with fancyhdr, something like:

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}

%Set the margins
%I have no idea what headheight=15pt does, but it makes an error go away.
\usepackage[margin=1.87 cm, headheight=15pt]{geometry} 

%Customizing the header
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}
\fancyhf{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt} % remove lines as well
\rhead{Canageek}
\chead{B.Sc (Honours Chemistry)}
\lhead{PIN: 314159}
%End footer

\begin{document}
Scholarship application that will give me lots of money.
\end{document}

But this places the header inside the margins, which I think is not what the guidelines are asking for. In specific, the top the the letters are 7 mm from the top of the page, and the bottom of the letters is 1 cm from the top of the page.

Before someone points it out; I am aware that 0.75 inches is not 1.83 cm, someone in the Canadian goverment can't do math.

Best Answer

When I run your code, an error

Package Fancyhdr Warning: \headheight is too small (12.0pt): 
 Make it at least 14.49998pt.
 We now make it that large for the rest of the document.
 This may cause the page layout to be inconsistent, however.

is thrown out.

To correct it, make headheight somewhat larger as in

\usepackage[margin=1.87 cm,headheight=18pt]{geometry}.

I have also adjusted the headsep to reduce some space above.

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}

%Set the margins
\usepackage[margin=.75in,showframe,headheight=18pt,headsep=\baselineskip]{geometry}

%Customizing the header
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}
\fancyhf{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt} % remove lines as well
\rhead{Canageek}
\chead{B.Sc (Honours Chemistry)}
\lhead{PIN: 314159}
%End footer

\begin{document}
Scholarship application that will give me lots of money.
\end{document}

Here, showframe is used just to show the borders.

Update

From the comments, it is understood that you want to include head and foot inside text area. This can be done by adding includehead and includefoot in the options for geometry.

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}

%Set the margins
\usepackage[margin=.75in,showframe,headheight=15pt,headsep=\baselineskip,includehead,includefoot]{geometry}

%Customizing the header
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}
\fancyhf{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt} % remove lines as well
\rhead{Canageek}
\chead{B.Sc (Honours Chemistry)}
\lhead{PIN: 314159}
%End footer

\begin{document}
Scholarship application that will give me lots of money.
\end{document}

enter image description here

As a side note, if you do not want margin notes you may add marginparwidth=0pt,marginparsep=0pt, in to the options of geometry.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Place header outside set margins of the page

Sometimes the header and/or footer might be included in the text body, and sometimes they might not be part of the text body. The following figure (taken from the documentation of the geometry package) shows the page layout in both cases:

enter image description here

In your situation, the requirements specify that header and footer will not be part of the text body (to be 100% sure, you could ask to the Institution offering the scolarship).

Here's a preliminary document to be used as a starting point, using the article document class with the 12pt (font size) class option, the geometry package to design the required page layout, and the titlesec package to define the header/footer according to specifications: I placed the page number in the footer and centered, but you can place it whereever it is required.

I also used the mathptmx, helvetic and courier packages to give you the font combination Times/Helvetica/Courier.

Un-commenting the line with the showframe option, you'll see frames showing the page layout.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[paperwidth=216mm,paperheight=279mm,margin=1.87cm,marginparsep=0pt%
%,showframe% uncomment to draw a frame showing the page layout
]{geometry}
\usepackage[pagestyles]{titlesec}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage[scaled=.90]{helvet}
\usepackage{courier}
\usepackage{lipsum}% just to generate filler text

\newpagestyle{mystyle}{\sethead{}{}{Name -- Number}\setfoot{}{\thepage}{}}
\pagestyle{mystyle}

\begin{document}

\lipsum[1-6]

\end{document}

Here's the resulting document:

enter image description here

Another option, to definitively avoid using the header would be to use the background package. Here's a little example, using the showframe option for geometry to see the space reserved for the header:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[paperwidth=216mm,paperheight=279mm,margin=1.87cm,%
marginparsep=0pt,includehead,showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage{background}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage[scaled=.90]{helvet}
\usepackage{courier}
\usepackage{lipsum}% just to generate filler text

\SetBgScale{1}
\SetBgAngle{0}
\SetBgOpacity{1}
\SetBgColor{black}
\SetBgPosition{\textwidth,1}
\SetBgHshift{-63pt}
\SetBgContents{Name --- Number}

\begin{document}

\lipsum[1-6]

\end{document}

Here's the result:

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] How to make pages after the first come out correctly with fancyhdr

If you don't set a proper head height, fancyhdr reports the following:

Package Fancyhdr Warning: \headheight is too small (XX.Xpt): 
 Make it at least YY.YYYYpt.
 We now make it that large for the rest of the document.
 This may cause the page layout to be inconsistent, however.

As such, the newly-set \headheight will be the same throughout the document. To avoid this, I've created the following minimal document that sets a consistent head height, adding a vertical space (gap) on the first page to simulate a larger header:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr,datetime,geometry,lipsum,graphicx}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%date in format Sunday, October 25, 2011
\usdate
\def\theday {\dayofweekname{\day}{\month}{\year}}
\def\mydate {\theday , \today}

%%%%%%%%%%return address%%%%%%%%%%
\def\myname         {Frank Thorne}
\def\mydeptname     {Department of Mathematics}
\def\myaffiliation  {University of South Carolina}
\def\mystreet       {1523 Greene Street}
\def\mycitystatezip {Columbia,~SC \quad 29208}
\def\myphone        {\textit{Phone:} (803)404-4057 (home)}
\def\office         {(803)777-4224}
\def\fax            {\textit{Fax:}(803)777-3783}
\def\email          {thorne@math.sc.edu}
\def\url            {\texttt{http://www.math.sc.edu/~thornef}} % NOTE: use $\sim$ for tilde
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%margins%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\geometry{
  margin = 1in,
  headheight = 13.5pt
}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt} %controls how the indentation of new paragraphs behaves
\setlength{\parskip}{6pt} %controls the space between paragraphs

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%letterhead%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\fancyfoot{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
\pagestyle{fancy}%

\fancypagestyle{firstpage}{
  \fancyhf{}% Clear header/footer
  %%%usc logo
  \fancyhead[L]{\raisebox{\dimexpr-\height+\baselineskip}[0pt][0pt]{\includegraphics[width=2.5in]{example-image}}}
  %%%%%%%%%%return address on right%%%%%%%
  \fancyhead[R]{\leavevmode\footnotesize\itshape%
  \begin{tabular}[t]{l@{}}
    \myname \\ \mydeptname \\
    \myaffiliation \\ \mystreet \\
    \mycitystatezip \\ \email \\[\normalbaselineskip]
    \mydate
  \end{tabular}}
}

\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{firstpage}

\vspace*{8\baselineskip}

\lipsum[1-10]

\bigskip

\hspace{.5\textwidth}%
\begin{tabular}{@{}l}
  Sincerely, \\[2\normalbaselineskip]
  Frank Thorne \\
  \textit{Assistant Professor of Mathematics}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

I've used geometry to adjust the page layout - it's just easier/more convenient.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Place header outside set margins of the page

[Tex/LaTex] How to make pages after the first come out correctly with fancyhdr

Related Question