# Multicol cheatsheet format [duplicate]

I currently have the following template for a cheatsheet:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath,subfigure,color,verbatim}
\pagestyle{empty}

\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{savetrees}

% Begin the actual document content here.
\begin{document}
\begin{tiny}
\begin{multicols}{3}

\section*{Section I}
This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I. This is section I.
\begin{align}
x^2 + y^2 = 2
\end{align}

\end{multicols}
\end{tiny}
\end{document}


which results in the following:

The content spreads itself out over the three columns, but I want it to fill up one column before going to the next. How can I do that?

## marked as duplicate by Werner, dustin, clemens, mafp, egregJul 27 '13 at 8:01

Use the environment as follows:

\begin{multicols*}
\tiny
\end{multicols*}


I would also recommend using the switch \tiny instead of \begin{tiny}....\end{tiny}

Also, using \tiny is going to produce a substandard appearance in the fonts. I would modify the page geometry and then using the graphicx package scale the produced image down.

Using graphicx package

Suppose you that you'll be using letter: so you've got and 8.5x11 sheet of paper. Suppose that you'll be using 0.25in margins. Then the dimensions of the area you want to print to are 8x10.5. If scaling by 1/2, then the dimensions of the printable area on the new page should be 16x21. You'll want a little bit of buffer around the edge: so let's make the page dimensions 16.25x21.25 with a margin of 0.125in.

Here's the enlarged version of your cheatsheet. Save this in a file called onepage.tex. You can use any compilation method of your choice for this file.

\documentclass{article}
%% paper dimensions increased approximately two-fold of printable area
\usepackage[margin=0.125in,paperwidth=16.25in,paperheight=21.25in]{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath,subfigure,color,verbatim}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{savetrees}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols*}{3}

\section*{Section I}
\lipsum[1-2]
\begin{align}
x^2 + y^2 = 2
\end{align}
\lipsum[3-40]

\end{multicols*}
\end{document}


Now, the cheatsheet itself will be set up as follows:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.25in]{geometry}
\pagestyle{empty}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{pstricks}
\psset{unit=0.25in}
\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{pspicture}(-16,-21)(16,21)
\makeatletter
\put(0,0){%
\makebox(0,0){\includegraphics[scale=0.5]{onepage}}}%
\makeatother
\end{pspicture}

\end{document}


Here I've reset the psunit to calculate the center of the page and then created a pspicture to fill the page with center at (0,0). The \makebox(0,0) centers the imported graphic at its physical center. This elimates guess work about how to get the imported image to look properly centered on the page.

Since I'm using pspicture here, this file will have to be compiled the latex->dvips->ps2pdf route.

The remaining issue will be whether your printer has enough resolution.

• Thanks I'll try that! By the way, a lot of this code is copied from other people's LaTeX source and I have no idea what it does except by the resulting PDF lol. – Frank Epps Jul 27 '13 at 3:59
• Cool it works!! – Frank Epps Jul 27 '13 at 4:01