# Beamer-Changing \textwidth

I am creating a presenatation using beamer. I am trying to change the \textwidth so as to use almost the whole page(i.e. \paperwidth) for my frames. What I am trying to achieve is have the least possible margins on left and right hand side. To start, I used the layout package, to see how my geometry is set up. I tried to modify the parameters in order to achive a "bigger" paper in the horizontal dimension.

At first I modified \oddsidemargin and \hoffset but these actualy moved the frame left and right. Then I noticed, that according to the layout, that I have to increase the textwidth, but again it's like having the frame moving left/right...

For instance, for a \paperwidth=364pt I used a \textwidth=360, but what's happening is the frame rolling to right(notice the navigation bars at the bottom of the frame).

My code is

\documentclass[10pt]{beamer}
\usetheme{Ilmenau}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage{layout}
%\oddsidemargin=-100pt
%\hoffset=-10pt
\textwidth=360pt

\begin{document}

\section{Section}
\subsection{Subsection}
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item Cross section $A(x,y)B$ : Definition of cross section
\item %\resizebox{\textwidth}{!}{
$\dfrac{d \sigma}{d \Omega}(E,\theta) = \dfrac{Y}{N \left(Q\Omega\right)}\;, \begin{array}{ll} Y : & \text{Y}\\ N : & \text{N}\\ Q : & \text{Q}\\ \Omega : & \text{Angle} \end{array}$
%}
\item How  : Like that
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
\layout
\end{frame}
\end{document}


What I want to achieve is start the text lefter that it is now and end it righter! how can this be achieved?

• Is your question solved? If yes, then you could accept the proposed answer. – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Mar 28 '17 at 5:07

Use

\setbeamersize{text margin left=0pt,text margin right=0pt}


MWE:

\documentclass[10pt]{beamer}
\setbeamersize{text margin left=0pt, text margin right=0pt} %new code
\usetheme{Ilmenau}

\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}

\begin{document}

\section{Section}
\subsection{Subsection}
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item Cross section $A(x,y)B$ : Definition of cross section
\item %\resizebox{\textwidth}{!}{
$\dfrac{d \sigma}{d \Omega}(E,\theta) = \dfrac{Y}{N \left(Q\Omega\right)}\;, \begin{array}{ll} Y : & \text{Y}\\ N : & \text{N}\\ Q : & \text{Q}\\ \Omega : & \text{Angle} \end{array}$
%}
\item How  : Like that
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
\end{frame}
\end{document}


To selectivley restore bigger margins for specific frames we can use Beamer columns, like this:

\begin{frame}
\begin{columns}
\column{.1\textwidth}
\column{.8\textwidth}
\tableofcontents
\column{.1\textwidth}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}


which will result in:

• Thank you very much for your answer! Is there a way to do it only after toc or better at a given frame? I tried to use \setbeamersize{text margin left=10pt,text margin right=10pt} right before a frame but it cannot be parsed...It has to be only in preamble... – Thanos Oct 2 '14 at 11:20
• @Thanos It only works globally, but you can create frames with "fake" bigger margins using beamer columns or minipages. I added an example of columns usage. – Nico Boni Oct 2 '14 at 11:25
• If I use columns I cannot exceed the \textwidth. I should perhaps try with minipages but I don't want to do add a minipage at every page(too much code..) – Thanos Oct 2 '14 at 11:30
• @Thanos So you want to reduce the margin only in few frames? My understanding of your question was that you wanted to reduce the margin in all frames (except toc). Is it not this that you intended? Also, if you set margin=0 then textwidth=paperwidth, so of course you can't exceed textwidth! – Nico Boni Oct 2 '14 at 11:57
• @Thanos so why are you saying "I don't want to do add a minipage at every page"? toc and titlepage are just two pages... – Nico Boni Oct 3 '14 at 10:14