# Problem with \toprule: sometimes not bold

I am using package booktabs and using \toprule, \bottomrule etc. in order to make bold lines.

The problem is that sometimes, using \toprule or \bottomrule, the lines drawn are bold but sometimes not! No error message appear, simply the lines are not bold. For instance the following table:

\begin{table}[H]
\caption{Placebo DID: 1999-2000}
\label{placebo}

\

\centering

\begin{adjustbox}{ max width=\textwidth}

\begin{tabular}{lccc} \toprule

& A & B & C \\

& Participation Decision (Save) & Participation Decision (Save) & Participation Decision (Save) \\

&  &Males  & Females  \\ \cmidrule(lr{.75em}){2-4}

&  &  &  \\

After & 0.0286** & 0.0261** & 0.0285** \\

& (0.0125) & (0.0115) & (0.0125) \\

Region & 0.00125 & -0.00479 & -0.000551 \\

& (0.0195) & (0.0172) & (0.0195) \\

Treatment & 0.0343 & 0.0351 & 0.0345 \\

& (0.0273) & (0.0244) & (0.0273) \\

Female & 0.0836*** &  &  \\

& (0.0116) &  &  \\

Female (After) & -0.00238 &  &  \\

& (0.0156) &  &  \\
Female (Scotland) & -0.00733 &  &  \\

& (0.0239) &  &  \\

Female (Treat) & 0.000399 &  &  \\

& (0.0336) &  &  \\

Constant & 0.395*** & 0.446*** & 0.461*** \\

& (0.0568) & (0.0792) & (0.0811) \\

**&  &  &  \\ \midrule**

Observations & 15,264 & 8,393 & 6,871 \\

R-squared & 0.111 & 0.102 & 0.131 \\ \bottomrule

\multicolumn{4}{c}{ Robust standard errors in parentheses} \\

\multicolumn{4}{c}{ *** p$<$0.01, ** p$<$0.05, * p$<$0.1} \\

\multicolumn{4}{c}{ Source: BHPS(2009)} \\

\end{tabular}

\end{adjustbox}
\end{table}


If I set midrule there, the lines of \toprule and \bottomrule are not bold anymore. Instead if I write \hline instead of \midrule, then both lines are bold. Same thing happens if I change max text width from 0.75 to 0.9! I truly do not understand!!!

Thank you for helping!:)

• Welcome to TeX.SX! Please make your code compilable (if possible), or at least complete it with \documentclass{...}, the required \usepackage's, \begin{document}, and \end{document}. That may seem tedious to you, but think of the extra work it represents for TeX.SX users willing to give you a hand. Help them help you: remove that one hurdle between you and a solution to your problem. – Benedikt Bauer May 12 '15 at 13:31
• Have you tried zooming in? Sometimes the pdfviewer can't really show you what you expected. – Johannes_B May 12 '15 at 13:36

## 1 Answer

Your example works just fine. You should zoom in to see the correct rendering of the lines. Sometimes, the viewer is not able to handle every size. Especially as you are using some scaling. I would not recommend to scale your table but to reformat it in order to fit the page. Please see my suggestion below:

% arara: pdflatex

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{threeparttable}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\robustify\tnote

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[H]
\centering
\begin{threeparttable}
\caption{Placebo DID: 1999--2000}\label{placebo}
\sisetup{%
,input-symbols         = ()
,table-space-text-post = ***
,table-align-text-post = false
,group-four-digits     = true
}
\begin{tabular}{%
l
S[table-format=-1.6]
S[table-format=-1.5]
S[table-format=-1.6]
}\toprule
& A & B & C \\
& \multicolumn{3}{c}{Participation Decision (Save)}  \\\cmidrule{2-4}
&  & {Males}  & {Females}  \\ \midrule
After & 0.0286\tnote{**} & 0.0261\tnote{**} & 0.0285\tnote{**} \\
& (0.0125) & (0.0115) & (0.0125) \\\addlinespace
Region & 0.00125 & -0.00479 & -0.000551 \\
& (0.0195) & (0.0172) & (0.0195) \\\addlinespace
Treatment & 0.0343 & 0.0351 & 0.0345 \\
& (0.0273) & (0.0244) & (0.0273) \\\addlinespace
Female & 0.0836\tnote{***} &  &  \\
& (0.0116) &  &  \\\addlinespace
Female  & -0.00238 &  &  \\
(After)& (0.0156) &  &  \\\addlinespace
Female  & -0.00733 &  &  \\
(Scotland)& (0.0239) &  &  \\\addlinespace
Female  & 0.000399 &  &  \\
(Treat)& (0.0336) &  &  \\\addlinespace
Constant & 0.395\tnote{***} & 0.446\tnote{***} & 0.461\tnote{***} \\
& (0.0568) & (0.0792) & (0.0811) \\\midrule
Observations\tnote{**} & 15,264 & 8,393 & 6,871 \\
R-squared & 0.111 & 0.102 & 0.131 \\ \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\begin{tablenotes}[flushleft]
\item Robust standard errors in parentheses
\item[***] $p<0.01$
\item[**\hphantom{*}] $p<0.05$
\item[*\hphantom{**}] $p<0.1$
\item Source: BHPS(2009)
\end{tablenotes}
\end{threeparttable}
\end{table}
\end{document}


• Oh, I see!! Thank you very much for the exhaustive comment!!! – Elisa May 12 '15 at 15:24