Setting the column gap in a twocolumn (or multicol) document

Question

I have a document that uses twocolumn with scrbook. How can I set the width of the space between the two columns?

score 79 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 15 '20 at 07:30

79

Use \setlength{\columnsep}{<width>} in the preamble of your document, i.e. before \begin{document}.

Changing \columnsep also works if you use the multicol package.

edited Nov 15 '20 at 07:30

Stefan Pinnow

29,535

answered Jul 31 '11 at 15:36

lockstep

250,273

3

I used \setlength{\columnsep}{5 in} but it didn't make any difference. I'm a beginner to latex. I think there's a problem with dimensions. Please help. – meteors Aug 27 '13 at 05:00
1

In the case of the multicol package, the \setlength command need not necessarily appear in the preamble; it can appear inside the body as well, as long as it precedes the \multicols or multicols* environment that it is intended to apply to. Consider, for instance, a document with two \multicols environments. These environments can have different inter-column spaces, but then the \columnsep parameter must be set inside the body. – Evan Aad Jun 11 '17 at 09:19
3

Thank you, but no matter where in the document I set it—in the preamble, in the body, before the environment, after the environment (which wouldn't make sense anyway, but I tried it just in case)—this command has no effect on my document. The columns always stay quite far apart. Nor does setting the width make a difference, as suggested by Muaz Khan below. I am using \begin{multicols}{3}. – Vincent Oostelbos Sep 25 '17 at 11:54

NWaters · Answer 2 · 2018-03-24T22:54:06.733

4

I ran into this problem earlier today. As Mauz Khan and Evan Aad note, the solution of adding \setlength{\columnsep}{<width>} to the preamble or in the body (prior to starting the multicol environment) does not always work. If you are in certain modes (Beamer, for instance) where \usepackage{multicol} is being called in your .sty file (rather that in the preamble of your actual document), modifying \columnsep in your document's preamble will not work. In this case, you would need to modify the length in the preamble of the .sty file by adding \setlength{\columnsep}{<width>} there instead, rather than in your document.

I hope this helps someone else! Perhaps its more of a comment, but this is what I am limited to.

edited Mar 24 '18 at 22:54

answered Mar 24 '18 at 14:27

NWaters

141

Welcome to TeX.SX! This is more of a comment rather than an answer. – TeXnician Mar 24 '18 at 15:31
This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review – Bobyandbob Mar 24 '18 at 20:25
Hi @Bobyandbob, I think it is worth leaving here because the accepted answer will not work in all cases, as I have noted above. Sorry for the ambiguity! – NWaters Mar 24 '18 at 22:55
If you set it to a negative value, e.g.
\setlength{\columnsep}{-3.0mm}

it should work.
– Tony Power Dec 07 '18 at 13:41

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 11 '17 at 08:53

3

As meteors mentioned in his comment, \setlength{\columnsep}{5 in} also did not work for me. I was using \twocolumn command. Instead of separating the two column, I adjusted the widths of each column and it did work out well i.e.,

\setlength{\columnwidth}{<width>}

edited Jun 11 '17 at 08:53

Troy

13,741

answered May 25 '17 at 05:06

Muaz

303

Setting the column gap in a twocolumn (or multicol) document

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