In a 2-columned document, how do you get a table to stretch across the entire width?

Question

I'm working on a document that runs two columns of text down the page, like many scientific conference proceedings. However, I'd like for a table to run across the entire width of the page, as it is far too wide to fit into one column. How do I do this?

Answer 1

It may depend on your document class, but the usual way is to use table* in place of table.

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{table*}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{|c|}
\Large This table is so wide that it needs to use both columns.
\end{tabular}
\end{table*}
\lipsum[1-10]
\end{document}