Prevent page break when using multicols at end of page

Question

I have a section with columns near the end of a page, and when compiling it breaks page. I'd like to keep my columns on the first page. How to do it ? Thanks

\section{Section}
\begin{multicols}{4}
    \begin{itemize}
        \item a
        \item b
        \item c
        \item d
    \end{itemize}
\end{multicols}

Try \enlargethispage{5em} or a more suitable length. – Peter Wilson Mar 19 '22 at 17:24 — Peter Wilson, Mar 19 '22 at 17:24
@PeterWilson thanks! that worked like a charm – diiaeac Mar 19 '22 at 17:42 — diiaeac, Mar 19 '22 at 17:42

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 19 '22 at 18:57

An extension to my comment. \enlargethispage can be helpful but unfortunately is not a universal panacea.

% enlargeprob.tex  SE 637686
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\enlargethispage{1\baselineskip}  %% extends text by one line
%\enlargethispage{2\baselineskip}  %% extends text by two lines, bumping into the footer
%\enlargethispage{3\baselineskip}  %% extends text by three lines, overprinting the footer
\lipsum[1-6]
\end{document}

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 20 '22 at 16:03

While you are definitely not using a standard \section, with no MWE I had to make do (your mileage may vary). Without special treatment, anything over 38\baselineskip will force a page break.

The main problem is that multicols adds extra space before and after. One way to remove these spaces it to put it into a minipage, which absorbs spaces at the top and bottom.

\documentclass[letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{showframe}
\begin{document}
\noindent\rule{\textwidth}{39\baselineskip}
\section{Section}\everypar{}% disable @afterheading
\hrule
\noindent\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\begin{multicols}{4}
    \begin{itemize}
        \item a
        \item b
        \item c
        \item d
    \end{itemize}
\end{multicols}\end{minipage}
\hrule
\end{document}

Prevent page break when using multicols at end of page

2 Answers2

Linked