[Tex/LaTex] Section headings in a separate column

formattingsectioningtitlesec

I'm interested in achieving a two-column layout like the following, where the columns are flush with the left and right margins of the page:

| section heading | lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum |
|                 | lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum |
|                 | lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum | 
|                 |                       ...                       |

The basic shape is of course easy to achieve with a (long)table, but the compiler doesn't know what to do with a \section{...} command inside a table.

Another possibility is to use titlesec with the leftmargin option, as described here, but this places the section heading in the left margin, rather than making its left edge flush with the left margin. The desired effect could be achieved by manually tweaking the margins, but I am wondering if a cleaner solution is possible.

Best Answer

Here I start with the code given in the question cited by the OP.

I don't know the actual numbers are precise, but a \leftskip can be used to compensate for the leftmargin value. I show in this MWE a transition back to the original sectioning system, which must be accompanied by a cancellation of the \leftskip.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}

%to lyn preamble from here
\let\svsection\section
\usepackage{titlesec}

\titleformat{\section}[leftmargin]
{\normalfont
\sffamily\bfseries\filleft}
{}{0pt}{}
\titlespacing{\section}
{4pc}{1.5ex plus .1ex minus .2ex}{1pc}

%to here

\begin{document}
\leftskip 1in
\section{Objective}
\noindent
Auditing/Analysis of Operations

\section{Education}
\noindent
B.S. in Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, May 1986
Concentrations in Accounting and Management Systems
QPA 3.9 in major, 3.7 overall

\section{A very long section title}
\noindent
B.S. in Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, May 1986
Concentrations in Accounting and Management Systems
QPA 3.9 in major, 3.7 overall
B.S. in Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, May 1986
Concentrations in Accounting and Management Systems
QPA 3.9 in major, 3.7 overall
B.S. in Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, May 1986
Concentrations in Accounting and Management Systems
QPA 3.9 in major, 3.7 overall

\leftskip 0in
\let\section\svsection
\section{A very long section title}
\noindent
B.S. in Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, May 1986
Concentrations in Accounting and Management Systems
QPA 3.9 in major, 3.7 overall
B.S. in Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, May 1986
Concentrations in Accounting and Management Systems
QPA 3.9 in major, 3.7 overall
B.S. in Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, May 1986
Concentrations in Accounting and Management Systems
QPA 3.9 in major, 3.7 overall


\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Capitalization and periods in LaTeX section headings

The following might work for you:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ifmtarg}% http://ctan.org/pkg/ifmtarg
\let\oldsubsection\subsection% Keep "old" definition of \subsection
\makeatletter
\renewcommand{\subsection}[2][]{% First letter capatalized and end in period.
  \@ifmtarg{#1}%
    {\oldsubsection{\MakeUppercase #2.}}% \subsection[..]{...}
    {\oldsubsection[#1]{\MakeUppercase #2.}}% \subsection{...}
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\section{FIRST SECTION}%
\subsection{first subsection} Here is some dummy text.
\subsection{Second subsection} Here is some more dummy text.
\end{document}

The renewed \subsection command makes a choice depending on whether you supply a different (shorter) ToC entry or not. Regardless, \MakeUppercase converts the first character to uppercase, and appends a . at the end of the subsection title.

Subsection formatted with first letter capitalized and ending in period.

Note that the new \subsection definition will always append the subsection title with a period, regardless of whether you add one or not. However, the capitalization is less rigid, as you can see from my example.

Even though the example provided is typeset in the article documentclass, it would work similarly for the report documentclass.

[Tex/LaTex] Remove spacing above section in titlesec

UPDATED ANSWER

Do \usepackage[nostruts]{titlesec}, which will remove the struts like my answer below did.

The feature was added with version 2.11, released 2019-07-16.

ORIGINAL ANSWER

The package titlesec adds \strut in some places. In your case you have to defeat this behavior in three places:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{margin=5mm, paper=a6paper, showframe=true}

\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd{\ttl@select}{\strut}{}{}{}
\patchcmd{\ttlh@hang}{\strut}{}{}{}
\patchcmd{\ttlh@hang}{\strut}{}{}{}
\makeatother

\titleformat*\section{\Large}
\titleformat*\subsection{\large}

\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}

\section*{Using titlesec}
\subsection*{Lorem Ipsum}
\lipsum[3]
\end{document}

The macros involved are \ttl@select and \ttlh@hang (in the second one \strut appears twice. If other styles are selected it may be necessary to patch \ttlh@display or \ttlh@runin.