Sizing a pgfplot so it fits in a multicol column

Question

I'm very new to TeX but I'm trying to put together a document that has a multicol layout with a chart inline in the column. The chart always seems to overflow the width of the column and I can't figure out how to scale it correctly.

Here is the markup and resultant document:

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}

\begin{document}

\section*{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]


\begin{multicols}{2}
\section*{Risk and Reward Profile}
\lipsum[2-4]

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
        symbolic y coords={Equities, Absolute Return, Fixed Income, Property, Cash},
        ytick=data
      ]
        \addplot[xbar,fill=blue] coordinates {
            (51.3,Equities) (32.1,Absolute Return) (10.2,Fixed Income) (4.0,Property) (2.5,Cash)
        };
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\lipsum[7]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

enter image description here

As a related question, if instead I wanted 2 charts side-by-side spanning the whole width of the page what is the best way to achieve this?

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. — LaRiFaRi, Mar 03 '15 at 13:30
Use the key setting width=2in or any other length you want in the axis environment options. — Paul Gessler, Mar 03 '15 at 13:35

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 03 '15 at 13:46

You can simply use \resizebox (and \noindent which is fundamental). Also note the % after \end{tikzpicture}.

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}

\begin{document}

\section*{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]
A “balanced” risk strategy investing in a diversified range of asset classes with a return objective of UK cash deposits (LIBOR) + 3\% to 4\% p.a. over the medium term with target volatility of 6\%-8\%. The portfolio is designed to map to the ARC PCI Balanced and the STEP TMPI Medium Risk benchmarks, but at the lower end of the balanced risk range.


\begin{multicols}{2}
\section*{Risk and Reward Profile}
\lipsum[2-4]

\noindent\resizebox{\columnwidth}{!}{%
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
        symbolic y coords={Equities, Absolute Return, Fixed Income, Property, Cash},
        ytick=data
      ]
        \addplot[xbar,fill=blue] coordinates {
            (51.3,Equities) (32.1,Absolute Return) (10.2,Fixed Income) (4.0,Property) (2.5,Cash)
        };
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}%
}

\lipsum[7]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

enter image description here

score 2 · Answer 2 · 2015-03-03T14:26:32.657

After fixing the width to 0.95\columnwidth and tinkering yticklabels by

yticklabel style={inner sep=2pt,rotate=45,anchor=south east,font=\footnotesize}

we get

enter image description here

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}

\section*{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]
A “balanced” risk strategy investing in a diversified range of asset classes with a return objective of UK cash deposits (LIBOR) + 3\% to 4\% p.a. over the medium term with target volatility of 6\%-8\%. The portfolio is designed to map to the ARC PCI Balanced and the STEP TMPI Medium Risk benchmarks, but at the lower end of the balanced risk range.


\begin{multicols}{2}
\section*{Risk and Reward Profile}
\lipsum[2-4]
\noindent
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
        width=0.95\columnwidth,
        symbolic y coords={Equities, Absolute Return, Fixed Income, Property, Cash},
        ytick=data,
        yticklabel style={inner sep=2pt,rotate=45,anchor=south east,font=\footnotesize}
      ]
        \addplot[xbar,fill=blue] coordinates {
            (51.3,Equities) (32.1,Absolute Return) (10.2,Fixed Income) (4.0,Property) (2.5,Cash)
        };
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\lipsum[7]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

Without rotating the labels:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}

\section*{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]
A “balanced” risk strategy investing in a diversified range of asset classes with a return objective of UK cash deposits (LIBOR) + 3\% to 4\% p.a. over the medium term with target volatility of 6\%-8\%. The portfolio is designed to map to the ARC PCI Balanced and the STEP TMPI Medium Risk benchmarks, but at the lower end of the balanced risk range.


\begin{multicols}{2}
\section*{Risk and Reward Profile}
\lipsum[2-4]
\noindent
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
        width=0.9\columnwidth,
        symbolic y coords={Equities, Absolute Return, Fixed Income, Property, Cash},
        ytick=data,
        yticklabel style={font=\footnotesize}
      ]
        \addplot[xbar,fill=blue] coordinates {
            (51.3,Equities) (32.1,Absolute Return) (10.2,Fixed Income) (4.0,Property) (2.5,Cash)
        };
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\lipsum[7]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

enter image description here

And without reducing the font size of ytick labels:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}

\section*{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]
A “balanced” risk strategy investing in a diversified range of asset classes with a return objective of UK cash deposits (LIBOR) + 3\% to 4\% p.a. over the medium term with target volatility of 6\%-8\%. The portfolio is designed to map to the ARC PCI Balanced and the STEP TMPI Medium Risk benchmarks, but at the lower end of the balanced risk range.


\begin{multicols}{2}
\section*{Risk and Reward Profile}
\lipsum[2-4]
\noindent
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
        width=\columnwidth,
        symbolic y coords={Equities, Absolute Return, Fixed Income, Property, Cash},
        ytick=data,
        yticklabel style={text width=0.15\columnwidth,align=right}
      ]
        \addplot[xbar,fill=blue] coordinates {
            (51.3,Equities) (32.1,Absolute Return) (10.2,Fixed Income) (4.0,Property) (2.5,Cash)
        };
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\lipsum[7]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Works well but I opted for @LaRiFaRi's answer as it didn't involve rotating the axis labels. Thanks all the same — harryg, Mar 03 '15 at 13:44
@harryg Rotation of labels was not mandatory but just meant to show you an option. See the update. — , Mar 03 '15 at 14:05

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

You may scale the whole figure to column width like this:

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.11}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage{siunitx}

\newsavebox{\measuredSize}
\newcommand{\resizeToWidth}[2]{%
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\pgfplotswidth}{#2}%
    \begin{lrbox}{\measuredSize}#1\end{lrbox}%
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\pgfplotswidth}{2*\pgfplotswidth-\wd\measuredSize}%
    #1%
}

\begin{document}
%
\section*{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]
A \enquote{balanced} risk strategy investing in a diversified range of asset classes with a return objective of UK cash deposits (LIBOR) + \SIrange{3}{4}{\percent} p.a.\ over the medium term with target volatility of \SIrange{6}{8}{\percent}. The portfolio is designed to map to the ARC PCI Balanced and the STEP TMPI Medium Risk benchmarks, but at the lower end of the balanced risk range.
%   
\begin{multicols}{2}
    \section*{Risk and Reward Profile}
    \lipsum[2-4]

\noindent   
\resizeToWidth{%
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[%
    ,yticklabel style={%
        ,text width=1.4cm % this is optional here... reduce as much as you like or leave it away
        ,align=right
        ,inner sep=0 % gets rid of the space around the labels
        ,xshift=-0.3em % puts some space back to the rith side of the labels. Adapt that to your needs
        }
    ,width=\pgfplotswidth
    ,symbolic y coords={Equities, Absolute Return, Fixed Income, Property, Cash}
    ,ytick=data
    ]
    \addplot[xbar,fill=blue] coordinates {
        (51.3,Equities) (32.1,Absolute Return) (10.2,Fixed Income) (4.0,Property) (2.5,Cash)
    };
    \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}}{\columnwidth}

    \lipsum[7]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

enter image description here

I have no idea how that works but it does the trick. Many thanks — harryg, Mar 03 '15 at 13:43
@harryg please see my edit. I changed it completely. Now, the font is not scaled any more. — LaRiFaRi, Mar 03 '15 at 14:07

Sizing a pgfplot so it fits in a multicol column

3 Answers3