Pause in beamer multicols does not fill the first colmn first

Question

I have a code like this:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{multicol}
\newcommand{\bm}{\begin{multicols*}{2}}
\newcommand{\em}{\end{multicols}}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\bm

First sentence. \pause

Second sentence. \pause

Third sentence. \pause

Fourth sentence.

\em
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Although in regular documents \begin{multicols*} fills the first column, then fills the second column, it does not work when I insert pauses.

I understand why it doesn't work, because there is nothing else to fill yet. I also know some workarounds such as using \only<2-> or \uncover<2-> etc.

However, the codes are already written by many people, and I would love to add something to the preamble instead of manually changing every line, or perhaps changing something in the newcommands. Thank you for any help.

Does this answer your question? How to propely use the multicols package in beamer? — user1146332, Apr 04 '20 at 17:06
@user1146332 Thanks, it tells me that \begin{multicols*} is meaningless, and it uses \begin{multicols} anyway, because there is no vertical space. Now the question becomes whether there is a way to actually define a maximal height. — ThePortakal, Apr 04 '20 at 17:14
I don't think that you need a way to limit the height because you are the one who puts the content inside the frame. If there is to much content in the multicol environment it will always break your layout. Where should the exceeding content be placed? Beamer doesn't know the concept of page breaks. — user1146332, Apr 04 '20 at 17:49

BambOo · Answer 1 · 2020-04-19T11:32:28.853

Maybe not answer yet, but this snippet works fine, is this what you expect ? I changed the \em and \bm names because beamer complains \em is already defined. Also, your multicols* is not necessary, as already stated in previous comments.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{multicol}
\newcommand{\bmult}{\begin{multicols}{2}}
\newcommand{\emult}{\end{multicols}}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\bmult

First sentence. \pause

Second sentence. \pause

Third sentence. \pause

Fourth sentence.

\emult
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Pause in beamer multicols does not fill the first colmn first

1 Answers1