How to left align footnotes under tabularx in a minipage

Question

I am new to LaTeX, trying to create a table using a tabularx in a two column format. I am creating the table in a minipage so that footnotes can appear at the bottom. Everything works out fine, but the footnotes under the table are right aligned, I prefer them left aligned with the table. I browsed through several posts and forums, but couldn't figure out. Any suggestions would help.

Regards, Radhika

\documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran} 
\usepackage{tabularx,booktabs}
\listfiles
\begin{document}

\makeatletter
 \renewcommand\@makefntext[1]{%
 \parindent 1em
 \noindent
%\hb@xt@1.8em{\hss\@makefnmark}#1}
 \hbox{\hss\@makefnmark}#1}
\makeatother

\newcommand{\HRule}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.5mm}}
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X} 
\newcolumntype{L}{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X}

\begin{table}

X\dotfill X

\begin{minipage}{1\linewidth}
X\dotfill X
\centering
\caption{Questionnaire summary}
\begin{tabularx}{1\linewidth} {l c C C L} 
\toprule
 \textbf{PID}\footnote{Participant ID}&\textbf{Challenge}\footnote{on a five-point Likert Scale 1-Not at all challenging and 5-Very challenging} &\textbf{Difference}\footnote{difference perceived by the participant as the movement progressed from \textit{source} to \textit{target}} &\textbf{Usefulness of embedded object}\footnote{on a five-point Likert Scale 1-Not at all useful and 5-Very useful} &\textbf{Point toughest to reach}\footnote{brackets indicate the Segment number corresponding to the point} \\
\midrule
 PID1&2&Yes&3&6 (Seg 5)\\
 PID2&4&No&5&2 (Seg 1)\\
 PID3&3&Yes&4&4 (Seg 3)\\
 PID4&3&No&4&2 (Seg 1)\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\label{questionnaire}
\end{minipage}
\end{table}
\end{document}


*File List*
IEEEtran.cls 2012/11/21 V1.8c by Harald Hanche-Olsen and Anders Christensen
ot1ptm.fd 2001/06/04 font definitions for OT1/ptm.
tabularx.sty 1999/01/07 v2.07 `tabularx' package (DPC)
array.sty 2008/09/09 v2.4c Tabular extension package (FMi)
booktabs.sty 2005/04/14 v1.61803 publication quality tables

Not sure where things are going wrong?

Answer 1

The footnote setting is controlled by the class in use (which you didn't show) Please always post complete documents. In article and IEEEtran class footnotes are set flush left but indented by 1.8em, you can remove the indent as below.

\documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran} 
\usepackage{tabularx,booktabs}
\newcommand{\HRule}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.5mm}}
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X} 
\newcolumntype{L}{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand\@makefntext[1]{%
    \parindent 1em%
    \noindent
%    \hb@xt@1.8em{\hss\@makefnmark}#1}
    \hbox{\hss\@makefnmark}#1}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\begin{table}

X\dotfill X

 \begin{minipage}{1\linewidth}
X\dotfill X

  \centering
   \caption{Questionnaire summary}
   \begin{tabularx}{1\linewidth} {l c C C L} 
   \toprule
   \textbf{PID}\footnote{Participant ID}&\textbf{Challenge}\footnote{on a five-point Likert Scale 1-Not at all challenging and 5-Very challenging} &\textbf{Difference}\footnote{difference perceived by the participant as the movement progressed from \textit{source} to \textit{target}} &\textbf{Usefulness of embedded object}\footnote{on a five-point Likert Scale 1-Not at all useful and 5-Very useful} &\textbf{Point toughest to reach}\footnote{brackets indicate the Segment number corresponding to the point} \\
   \midrule
    PID1&2&Yes&3&6 (Seg 5)\\
    PID2&4&No&5&2 (Seg 1)\\
    PID3&3&Yes&4&4 (Seg 3)\\
    PID4&3&No&4&2 (Seg 1)\\
   \bottomrule
  \end{tabularx}
  \label{questionnaire}
 \end{minipage}
\end{table}

\end{document}

---

The above image was generated with IEEETran 1.6 (2007) the footnote code in 1.8 (2012) is slightly different but the above definition is still appropriate if you want the footnote numbers flush left, and the image is essentially unchanged. \listfiles output: (Note that this is a slightly newer version than you reported 2012/12/27 instead of 2012/11/21 , perhaps something got fixed...

 *File List*
IEEEtran.cls    2012/12/27 V1.8 by Michael Shell
  ot1ptm.fd    2001/06/04 font definitions for OT1/ptm.
tabularx.sty    1999/01/07 v2.07 `tabularx' package (DPC)
   array.sty    2008/09/09 v2.4c Tabular extension package (FMi)
booktabs.sty    2005/04/14 v1.61803 publication quality tables