[Tex/LaTex] making a table fit on a page by moving it left

floatshorizontal alignmentmargins

I have a table where the last columns fall off the page. Instead of making the text smaller I would like the table to not adhere to the margin of where it begins. I would like to move it to the left. I am using flushleft, which is not working. Here is the code:

\begin{figure}
\begin{flushleft}
\begin{tabular}{l|l|l|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\multicolumn{21}{l}{a)text}\\ \hline
    & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 & 9 & 10& 11& 12& 13& 14& 15& 16& 17& 18& 19& 20\\ \hline
day1&9.2&8.6&8.1&6.3&7.7&7.3&8.0&8.4&5.9&6.8&7.3&7.6&9.0&7.4&6.6&7.0& 5.3&7.0&8.0&5.2\\
day2&6.7&6.9&0&7.0&0&8.1&9.0&6.1&0&6.9&0&7.3&7.8&5.3&0&8.9&0&8.4&8.4&7.5\\
day3&0&5.2&0&0&7.5&0&0&8.2&0&0&5.4&0&0&8.3&0&0&7.7&0&0&7.3
\end{tabular}
\end{flushleft}
\caption{\label{fig:text}text experiment}
\end{figure}

What can be modified? What possible solutions exist?

Best Answer

You could use adjustwidth from the changepage package which allows you to widen or shorten the page width from the left or the right.

I loaded the geometry package with showframe=true just so that you an see where the page boundaries lie.

screenshot

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[showframe=true]{geometry}
\usepackage{changepage}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
 \begin{adjustwidth}{-2cm}{}
\begin{tabular}{l|l|l|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\multicolumn{21}{l}{a)text}\\ \hline
& 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 & 9 & 10& 11& 12& 13& 14& 15& 16& 17& 18& 19& 20\\ \hline
day1&9.2&8.6&8.1&6.3&7.7&7.3&8.0&8.4&5.9&6.8&7.3&7.6&9.0&7.4 &6.6&7.0&5.3&7.0&8.0&5.2\\
day2&6.7&6.9&0&7.0&0&8.1&9.0&6.1&0&6.9&0&7.3&7.8&5.3&0&8.9&0&8.4&8.4&7.5\\
day3&0&5.2&0&0&7.5&0&0&8.2&0&0&5.4&0&0&8.3&0&0&7.7&0&0&7.3
\end{tabular}
\caption{\label{fig:text}text experiment}
 \end{adjustwidth}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Moving Table to Left and Adding Space to Columns

Here are my suggestions:

Insert the command \setlength\tabcolsep{3pt} to cut the amount of intercolumn whitespace in half. (The default value of this parameter is 6pt.)
Replace the instruction \small (immediately after \begin{threeparttable}) with \footnotesize. (This also lets you get rid of the subsequent \footnotesize command.)
Eliminate the vertical whitespace before the first column and after the final column by changing the tabularx setup as follows:
```
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}l*{10}{C}@{}}
```
(note the two new @{} elements).

With these changes, I manage to get the table to fit into the allocated textblock width. My papersize is US Letter; if yours is A4, you'll probably need to reduce the tabcolsep macro's value further, to 2pt.

Separately, since you're already loading the booktabs package, why don't you also replace the hideous \hline\hline commands with \toprule and \midrule, respectively. (This also lets you get rid of the \addlinespace instructions.)

enter image description here

Please note that the package times is obsolete. I suggest you load the package mathptmx instead -- unless you really want to mix Times New Roman as the text font and Computer Modern as the math font...

Addendum: On the subject of changing the width of the text block: Have a look at this answer for an example of how one may use the geometry package's commands \newgeometry and \restoregeometry to achieve this objective.

[Tex/LaTex] Moving a table all the way to the left side of the Page

You can also use adjustbox package that offers center option. With this, every thing is centered. Further, it also offers max width option. If you use this, only those objects that are wider than max width value are resized (smaller ones are not).

Some example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{adjustbox,showframe}
\begin{document}
\noindent
\hrulefill

\begin{adjustbox}{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|}
\hline
\rule{1.2\textwidth}{1ex}\\
Some text \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{adjustbox}

\noindent
Some other text

\begin{adjustbox}{max width=\textwidth}
\begin{tabular}{|c|}
\hline
\rule{1.2\textwidth}{1ex}\\
Some text \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{adjustbox}

%% following table is not re-sized.
\begin{adjustbox}{max width=\textwidth}
\begin{tabular}{|c|}
\hline
\rule{0.8\textwidth}{1ex}\\
Some text \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{adjustbox}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Moving Table to Left and Adding Space to Columns

[Tex/LaTex] Moving a table all the way to the left side of the Page

Related Question