Too many unprocessed floats

Question

I'm trying to a large number of figures. The code is

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.5]{m2T4.pdf}
\caption{M2T, Problem Size 513}
\end{figure}

I'm not able to compile, I get the error

! LaTeX Error: Too many unprocessed floats.
See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
Type H <return> for immediate help.
...
l.113 \includegraphics
[scale=0.5]{m2T4.pdf}
You've lost some text. Try typing <return> to proceed.
If that doesn't work, type X <return> to quit.
! Undefined control sequence.
\@float@Hx ...ltovf \fi \global \setbox \@currbox
\color@vbox \normalcolor \...
l.113 \includegraphics
[scale=0.5]{m2T4.pdf}
The control sequence at the end of the top line
of your error message was never \def'ed. If you have
misspelled it (e.g., `\hobx'), type `I' and the correct
spelling (e.g., `I\hbox'). Otherwise just continue,
and I'll forget about whatever was undefined.
! Missing number, treated as zero.
<to be read again>
\vbox
l.113 \includegraphics
[scale=0.5]{m2T4.pdf}
A number should have been here; I inserted `0'.
(If you can't figure out why I needed to see a number,
look up `weird error' in the index to The TeXbook.)
pdfTeX warning: pdflatex (file ./m2T4.pdf): PDF inclusion: found PDF version <1
.5>, but at most version <1.4> allowed
<m2T4.pdf, id=1121, 538.28104pt x 212.1526pt>
File: m2T4.pdf Graphic file (type pdf)
<use m2T4.pdf>

you may want to take a look at the theory behind it at http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/how-to-influence-the-position-of-float-environments-like-figure-and-table-in-lat — Frank Mittelbach, Mar 02 '12 at 16:41

score 119 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 02 '12 at 15:08

119

You can use the command \clearpage. This prints all floats that are not yet placed and starts a new page.

answered Mar 02 '12 at 15:08

Marco

26,055

3

Hi, where is supposed I must put the \clearpage command. – slackmart Jan 30 '14 at 19:56
8

where do you put \clearpage ? – cmo Feb 26 '14 at 15:36
@cmo, somewhere in your document where it would make sense to start a new page (it's really up to you). – Steven C. Howell Aug 20 '15 at 23:11

score 44 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 18 '17 at 13:50

44

Try the morefloats package. From the README:

LaTeX can, by default, only cope with 18 outstanding floats; any more, and you get the error "too many unprocessed floats". This package releases the limit; TeX itself imposes limits (which are interdependent of the help offered by e-TeX). However, if your floats can’t be placed anywhere, extending the number of floats merely delays the arrival of the inevitable error message.

edited Oct 18 '17 at 13:50

sheß

3,622

answered Mar 06 '13 at 03:10

user26934

441
4
2

1

Can there be any adverse consequence from using this package? – Daneel Olivaw Jan 06 '20 at 14:37
@DaneelOlivaw the package has been essentially obsolete since 2015, latex has built in features now. – David Carlisle Sep 17 '22 at 12:20

David Carlisle · Answer 3 · 2015-10-19T18:33:39.817

29

For LaTeX releases from 2015/01/01 onwards you can allocate more (several thousand more) floats than the standard 18, using a command such as

\extrafloats{100}

in the preamble. As this mechanism uses the etex extended box registers it can allocate many more float boxes than the morefloats package mechanism (which uses \newinsert and is thus restricted to the classic TeX registers 0-255).

If for some reason you are using a LaTeX format built on tex rather than etex, \extrafloats is still defined, but falls back to using \newinsert so fewer float boxes are available.

Edit, from the 2015/10/01 LaTeX release the default number of floats is increased from 18 to 52, and these reserved floats may also be used by \newinsert once the classic TeX registers run out.

edited Oct 19 '15 at 18:33

answered Apr 28 '15 at 11:08

David Carlisle

757,742

2

After using \extrafloats{100} I got a message ! Output loop---100 consecutive dead cycles. – Viesturs Jan 03 '18 at 01:41
@Viesturs then some document that you have not shown has an error. If you need help with that then ask a question with a small example that shows the error. – David Carlisle Jan 03 '18 at 01:46
Adding \extrafloats{200}, then got the message ! Output loop---100 consecutive dead cycles, then I added \maxdeadcycles=500, it worked for me. I'm using tufte-handout Bible text annotations, I use too many \footnote which causes the problems. It seems morefloats didn't work for my situation. It might be better than use \clearpage from time to time. But I need a programming solution, that I cannot afford to add such manually. – Yu Shen Jan 11 '20 at 16:24
@YuShen (late response, sorry). \footnote are not floats so are not related to this message. – David Carlisle Sep 27 '23 at 07:05

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 06 '15 at 11:09

5

I would suggest using the float package and then the [H] option for your figure.

\usepackage{float}

...

\begin{figure}[H]
\centering
\includegraphics{slike/visina8}
\caption{Write some caption here}\label{visina8}
\end{figure}

edited Aug 06 '15 at 11:09

Torbjørn T.

206,688

answered Aug 06 '15 at 11:03

Victoria James

51

2

Welcome to TeX.SE. Can you think of any potentially serious downsides to the method you've proposed? If so, you should probably mention them so that readers who come across your posting are fully aware of the pros and cons of the solution you're proposing. – Mico Aug 06 '15 at 11:35

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 01 '17 at 00:07

Another solution, which can also help you control where your figures end up in relation to your text, is to us a \FloatBarrier. As the name suggests, it prevents floats from crossing the barrier such that all of your figures above the barrier will be above that point in the document and all of the figures below will be below.

\usepackage[section]{placeins} %Float Barriers
\FloatBarrier

Too many unprocessed floats

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