pdfTeX is an extension of TeX which is capable of directly generating PDF output. Use this tag if your question is about pdf(La)TeX specific problems and is not related to standard (La)TeX.
77
votes
3answers
9k views
Frequently loaded packages: Differences between pdfLaTeX and XeLaTeX
Until now, I have been compiling my LaTeX documents with pdfLaTeX. My standard document preamble includes the "usual suspects" for non-English speakers (inputenc, fontenc, babel) and a bunch of other ...
68
votes
3answers
3k views
Choosing whether to include PDF or PNG in PDFLaTeX
Can I tell graphicx somehow which graphic format to choose when I omit the file extension in includegraphics and both a PDF and a PNG version of the same image exist? The reason is that I have some ...
62
votes
1answer
1k views
pgf-Tikz QR code generator
I am looking for a Tikz QR code generator. I am aware of pst-barcode as well as several "local" programs, a luatex solution and web services to do this. Nevertheless, if at all possible, I would much ...
60
votes
5answers
3k views
Is there any reason to compile to DVI rather than PDF these days?
I appreciate that in the past, latex was faster than pdflatex, but computer speeds being what they are nowadays, I can't see any difference in how quickly documents compile...
So, given that the end ...
45
votes
3answers
22k views
How to use PSTricks in pdfLaTeX?
I thought that PSTricks package was not possible to use in pdfLaTeX but the user Dima claims otherwise.
How can I force pdfLaTeX to use PSTricks then?
43
votes
4answers
2k views
What are good ways to make pdflatex output copy-and-pasteable?
One frequent aspect of pdflatex output that could be improved is to what extent one can select text output from the generated pdf-file and copy-and-paste it. This is essentially an issue of having the ...
41
votes
7answers
4k views
What is the practical difference between latex and pdflatex?
I understand that some packages (like PSTricks) can't be used with pdflatex.
Are there any other differences between these tools?
Can we say that pdflatex is better if we don't care about ps?
41
votes
1answer
6k views
How to make the PDFs produced by `pdflatex` smaller?
I feel that the PDFs produced by pdflatex are too huge. So for example my 50 page book with no illustrations is 500KB. I feel it should be more like 50K or even less. The .tex files together are just ...
39
votes
1answer
456 views
The ^^ notation in various engines
Basically, how does the ^^^... notation work in LuaTeX and XeTeX, exactly?
In 8-bit TeX engines (recent TeX, eTeX, pdfTeX, at least), two consecutive identical catcode 7 characters (typically ^), ...
38
votes
10answers
2k views
Workflow for reviewing PDFs generated from TeX?
I am currently letting friends and family spellcheck my thesis written with LaTeX.
Since my markup is macro-heavy and not all of them have ever used another editor but MS Word, I cannot let them work ...
35
votes
5answers
5k views
Adding a signature on an online job application
Nowadays many job applications are sent in digital form as PDF. We use of course LaTeX to create such. Usually you add a cover letter to your CV and credentials. If you sent this as print-out by ...
35
votes
4answers
2k views
Abandon LaTeX2e for LaTeX3 or LuaTeX
I think my question is: Should I abandon pdflatex, possibly for xetex or context, and a TeX/LaTeX based macro writing approach, possibly for a LuaTeX or LaTeX3 based approach?
Possibly relevant to ...
35
votes
3answers
37k views
Small Caps and Bold Face
I can't seem to have both the small caps and boldface styles on a line:
\huge\sc\bf Hello
This will generate bold text, and if the \sc is placed after, it will generate small caps text but not ...
34
votes
5answers
14k views
Why can't pdflatex print EPS figures?
The images in my paper are in EPS format. If I execute pdflatex to get a PDF version of my paper, the figures won't appear. I have to typeset using the latex command, and then convert the DVI file to ...
34
votes
7answers
7k views
How to annotate PDF files generated by pdflatex?
I want to annotate some PDF files (created with pdflatex), e.g.
word x is missing here
this part of a sentence should be moved to the front
replace word x by y
highlight this sentence
insert a note
...
32
votes
6answers
3k views
Which figure type to use: pdf or eps?
Both are vector graphics (typically) and both can be imported painlessly into a pdflatex document (so let's say we ignore dvi for this question).
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? ...
32
votes
1answer
2k views
Make ligatures in Linux Libertine copyable (and searchable)
I'm currently working on an essay written in LaTeX form. I'm facing problems with ligatures - in my pdf output (rendered using pdftex) opened in Adobe Reader I get X's and V's when copy-pasting words ...
30
votes
2answers
1k views
Fast PNG embedding using pdflatex
I have a LaTeX document, that includes a lot PNG images. It takes about 18 second to compile. Most of the time is spent for the inclusion of the PNG images. The pdfTeX 1.40 manual from ctan states on ...
29
votes
4answers
1k views
What's the maximum number of pages a PDF produced by pdfTeX can have?
Are there some limitations regarding the pdflatex command with respect to the count of pages of the input files?
My highest page count, when compiling, was 90 without any troubles. (2008)
Currently ...
29
votes
3answers
2k views
Using LuaTeX as a replacement for pdfTeX
In this question Differences between LuaTeX, ConTeXt and XeTeX various differences between LuaTeX and XeTeX (and ConTeXt) are discussed. And in this question Using XeLaTeX instead of pdfLaTeX a recipe ...
27
votes
2answers
2k views
How can I draw an arc from point A -> B on a 3D sphere in TikZ?
I'm basing myself on http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/spherical-and-cartesian-grids/ and now I need to add a arc from point P to Q. What I was able to get so far:
...
27
votes
3answers
1k views
Adobe Garamond and LaTeX (Linux)
I'm currently writing a math-heavy Ph.D. thesis (more about this in a minute) and, as I truly love Adobe Garamond, I would like to use it. However, given its cost, I would like to make sure that I ...
26
votes
7answers
6k views
Included PNG appears blurry in PDF
This is a follow-up to Included png appears too big in PDF, but it's a separate issue so I'll put it in its own question instead of burying it in comments.
The problem: an included PNG, included ...
26
votes
3answers
683 views
Create bitmap within TeX file
I'd like to create a bitmap (black and white) from within LuaTeX (or pdfTeX) and rescale it afterwards. For example (a 4x4 bitmap) could be made by
\makebitmap{0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0}
I ...
26
votes
2answers
734 views
pdftex and javascript forms with automatic calculations
I would like to create a PDF document in TeX with a form. Some of the fields in the form will be calculated based on the values of other fields.
Here is a MWE, thanks to Victor Ivrii on the pdftex ...
26
votes
1answer
1k views
How do I use TrueType Fonts with PDFTeX using otftotfm?
I've heard that PDFTeX can use TrueType fonts. There have been several answers related to this, but of these only the first one mentions using otftotfm, which I'm told is the standard way to do it ...
25
votes
5answers
2k views
Which packages can you use to improve the typographic quality?
List here which packages can be used to make text easier to read and nicer to look at. After all, the superior typographic quality is one of the main reasons to prefer LaTeX to, for example, MS Word.
25
votes
4answers
834 views
Bounding box for each letter
How can I take input text and replace each character with a solid (and/or hollow) rectangle representing the bounding box for that character? In the case where two characters are closer together from ...
25
votes
6answers
7k views
Why are some pages in my PDF coming out bold?
When I run my LaTeX document through pdflatex, some of the pages (the ones where figures appear) have all the text bolded. Why, and what can I do to make it stop?
25
votes
3answers
3k views
Utilizing oldstyle figures without resorting to \oldstylenums
Quite a few of the freely available LaTeX fonts include oldstyle figures (numerals that harmonize with lower case letters) in addition to lining figures. (Generally, you have to load the textcomp ...
24
votes
2answers
1k views
Frequently loaded packages: Differences between pdfLaTeX and LuaLaTeX
I'm in the process of switching my LaTeX document from pdflatex to lualatex. Similar to Frequently loaded packages: Differences between pdfLaTeX and XeLaTeX I would like to know, what are typical ...
23
votes
2answers
1k views
Pop-up references in PDF output
I once saw a maths journal which offered PDFs of published papers, where the bibliographic references were formatted as PDF annotations: if you moused over a reference in the text, the bibliography ...
23
votes
4answers
8k views
How to setup synctex with vim, pdflatex and an open-source PDF-viewer under Linux?
Inspired by the comments to this answer I am curious how to actually setup and use forward/reverse (inverse) search with vim, pdflatex and an open-source PDF-viewer under Linux.
Btw, to give more ...
21
votes
1answer
589 views
Can I write a document that is compilable with both latex and xetex?
I have just started to have a look at XeTeX and I am wondering whether to make the switch, however I am a bit scared... ...and I am basically wondering if I have to take the step fully or if I can ...
21
votes
2answers
177 views
What are lccode and uccode used for?
In TeX, each of the 256 bytes has an associated \lccode and an \uccode, integers in the range [0,255] which indicate among other things how \lowercase and \uppercase act. There are of course a bunch ...
20
votes
2answers
4k views
How does one insert a URL correctly?
I'd like to insert a URL. Is there a "correct" way of doing that? If so, is there a way to turn it into a link inside the final pdf generated with pdfTeX?
19
votes
4answers
624 views
Making an anonymous PDF file using PDFLaTeX
When writing a referee report for a journal, it would be preferrable to have the resulting PDF file generated by pdflatex be completely anonymous.
Does one need to take special actions to ensure ...
19
votes
1answer
2k views
libertine font package doesn't work anymore (December 2011)
If you're using an up-to-date system and you're having trouble with using the Linux Libertine fonts, you should probably check out Linux Libertine package and fonts not working any more (fall 2012), ...
19
votes
1answer
228 views
protrusion issue - pdftex bug, microtype bug or LaTeX bug?
While finishing an article for TUGboat I came across a strange behavior of the protrusion mechanism of pdfTeX (as implemented by the microtype package). The character \ in typewriter has a negative ...
19
votes
2answers
357 views
Pros and cons: pdflatex+gs vs gs+pdflatex
I need to be producing two versions of documents I deal with: colour and grayscale. Of course the real issue are images. I'm not the author of the documents nor the images, I'm only the typesetter.
...
19
votes
1answer
623 views
Why does pdflatex produce bigger output files than latex+dvipdfm?
Consider this sample code:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1-4]
\end{document}
When I compile this with latex and then use dvipdfm, the output file is 7893 ...
18
votes
3answers
2k views
Multiple pdfs with page group included in a single page warning
I updated TexLive to the Ubuntu Quantal version (2012.20120611-4) and I suddenly got this warning:
PDF inclusion: multiple pdfs with page group included in a single page
This is a minimal example ...
18
votes
3answers
739 views
Detect which TeX engine is used
How can I detect inside a TeX file which engine (pdftex/xetex/luatex) is used to compile the file? Is there a LaTeX package that provides this functionality?
18
votes
2answers
5k views
Hyperref warning - Token not allowed in a PDF string
When compiling a beamer presentation and using the following \author command
\author{Name \\ \texttt{my.email@domain.com}}
I get the following hyperref warning in my logfile
Package hyperref ...
18
votes
1answer
291 views
What features are supported in a HTML page, but not through PDFLaTeX
As a math educator with limited knowledge of TeX and even more limited knowledge of HTML, I want to know if I can use a PDF page (generated through PDFLaTeX) as a web page. I am hoping not to have to ...
18
votes
3answers
1k views
Arxiv.org: remove borders around hyperlinks
The answers to this question already explain how to remove the borders around hyperlinks.
However, if I submit a manuscript to Arxiv.org, it seems that their system somehow manages to override the ...
18
votes
2answers
403 views
What version of PDF to use with pdfTeX
What version of PDF should I be specifying when using pdfTeX? I know it defaults to 1.5, so that you can have object compression. Is there any reason I would want to raise this? For example, will I ...
18
votes
2answers
2k views
Is it possible to embed a YouTube video using LaTeX?
I'd like to embed a YouTube video inside a PDF generated by LaTeX, now I know it is possible to embed videos using the movie15 package but that includes the video in the PDF.
I was hoping there would ...
17
votes
7answers
723 views
Is there a way to configure pdflatex to make all but the .tex and .pdf files hidden files?
I have asked a previous question about how to manage all the files generated when my LaTeX files are compiled but the approach in the answer I accepted is still unsatisfactory for the many small ...
17
votes
5answers
594 views
How to black out a figure for confidential reasons?
I have a document, that contains critical parts. Now two documents should be generated. One version that is "balcked out" and one version that is all readable.
For pure text I found some hints using ...
