In this two-column document, the "thanks" note is placed below the right column even though there is enough space below the left column, and a lot of space is inserted around the heading of the first section.
If some of the text of the first section is removed, the note fits on the left, as expected. However, if text is added (!) to the first section, the note is also placed on the left (see the comments in the document).
The same thing is true for changing the "thanks" note itself - both making it shorter and making it longer will move it to the left column. The floating figure seems to be a relevant factor - I haven't been able to reproduce the problem without a figure (or a table).
I tried the bigfoot
package which in fact moves the footnote to the left column, but also inserts some space before the abstract and additionally leaves just the heading (without any of the text) of the second section in the left column, directly above the footnotes. Additional space is indesirable because the conference paper length is limited, and the heading without text seems like exceptionally bad layout to me.
In another question, \makeatletter \@doclearpage \makeatother
is suggested for footnotes. I have been able to reproduce the same problem with a footnote instead of a "thanks" note, and this solution seems to work in this case. However, I haven't been able apply it to a "thanks" note.
\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper,twocolumn]{article}
%\usepackage{bigfoot} % Moves the note to the left, but messes up the layout
\begin{document}
\title{Lorem ipsum}
\author{John Doe\thanks{
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor
incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis
nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi
consequat. Quis aute iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum
dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint obcaecat cupiditat non
proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
% Enable the following lines and the note fits in the left column.
%Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit...
}}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
Lorem ipsum
\end{abstract}
\section{First section}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor
incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud
exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequat. Quis aute
iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Excepteur sint obcaecat cupiditat non proident.
% Remove the first line, and the "thanks" note fits in the
% left column. Enable the second line, and it fits as well (!).
Duis autem
%vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit...
\section{Second section}
\begin{figure}
A figure
\end{figure}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor
incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud
exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequat. Quis aute
iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Excepteur sint obcaecat cupiditat non proident.
\end{document}
Version is MiKTeX 2.9, the problem is identical for LaTeX and pdfTeX.
\thanks
is also a\footnote
, hence being able to reproduce the problem with a\footnote
); specific column breaking to avoid orphans/widows (hence an improved layout with the addition/removal of text). I doubt whether this is the case in you actual paper, right? My suggestion would be to leave such layout tweaks for final production.bigfoot
package are the same. Also, we're alreadly in the "final production" phase, just before submitting the paper to the conference.\pagebreak
in the right place and/or not to place a float directly after a section heading which is a very bad place ... guess i should add this to my monster entry on float placement :-)