Same indentation of itemize and itemize in columns

Question

How can I get the indentation to be the same for normal itemize and itemize in columns? Like in the example code below, the itemize in a column is less indented.

\documentclass{beamer}

\begin{document}

\frame {
  \begin{itemize}
    \item foo
    \item bar
    \item baz
  \end{itemize}
}

\frame {
  \begin{columns}
    \column{.5\textwidth}
      \begin{itemize}
        \item foo
        \item bar
        \item baz
      \end{itemize}
    \column{.5\textwidth}
      A picture
  \end{columns}
}

\end{document}

Is there a simple solution?

Answer 1

Not sure if there is an official way to do this, but adding the following to the preamble fixes the alignment it for me:

\makeatletter
\setlength{\beamer@rightmargin}{0em}
\setlength{\beamer@leftmargin}{0em}
\makeatother

To limit the effect of this it is best to only use this where needed. Below I defined a command \AdjustMargins which needs to be executed at the beginning of the \frame so that those changes are only to that frame.

\documentclass{beamer}

\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\AdjustMargins}{%
    \setlength{\beamer@rightmargin}{0em}%
    \setlength{\beamer@leftmargin}{0em}%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\frame {
  \begin{itemize}
    \item foo
    \item bar
    \item baz
  \end{itemize}
}

\frame {\AdjustMargins% Ensure changes are local
  \begin{columns}[r]
    \column{.5\textwidth}
      \begin{itemize}
        \item foo
        \item bar
        \item baz
      \end{itemize}
    \column{.5\textwidth}
      A picture
  \end{columns}
}
\end{document}

Answer 2

The problem lies indeed in the fact that 0.5\textwidth + \beamer@rightmargin + \beamer@leftmargin + 0.5\textwidth > \textwidth...

You can either set those margins to 0, as pointed by Peter (but that will cause the columns to glued together, which is not always want you want), or you can use smaller columns.

See the following question for a very similar problem : margins in beamer columns

In your case, the following "magic number" .455 should be working approximately (at least for this MWE...)

\documentclass{beamer}

\begin{document}

\frame{
  \begin{itemize}
    \item foo     
    \item \rule{\linewidth}{1mm}
    \item baz
  \end{itemize}
    \rule{\linewidth}{1mm}
  \begin{columns}
    \column{.455\textwidth}
      \begin{itemize}
        \item foo
        \item \rule{\linewidth}{1mm}
        \item baz
      \end{itemize}
      \rule{\linewidth}{1mm}
    \column{.455\textwidth}
      \begin{itemize}
        \item foo
        \item \rule{\linewidth}{1mm}
        \item baz
      \end{itemize}
        \rule{\linewidth}{1mm}
  \end{columns}
}

\end{document}