Adjusting the book document class for large volume writings

Question

Given that my writing is relatively large in volume, I would like to make more efficient use of space. I therefore set \documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{book}, but I suppose that there is a way to use a bit more of margins. What would be the way to it? Could I manually set the parameter, relative to default.

Instead of manually changing the margins, I recommend the typearea package, see my answers http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/61847/4012 and http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/42169/4012. — doncherry, Aug 15 '12 at 13:27

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '12 at 12:28

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You can use the geometry class to specify the dimensions for the margins, for example

\usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry}

set all margins to 1cm. See the documentation for the various options, you can set all margins independently.

answered Aug 15 '12 at 12:28

Guido

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Thanks. What is the default value of a margin (such that I do not deviate much)? – boy Aug 15 '12 at 12:34
if you use the oneside option the left and right margin are about 4cm. – Guido Aug 15 '12 at 12:55

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 23 '14 at 16:33

2

Use the fullpage package: this package sets all 4 margins to be either 1 inch or 1.5 cm, and specifies the page style.

answered May 23 '14 at 16:33

user26732

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered May 23 '14 at 17:11

The margins of the book (and similar) LaTeX package are set up according to literally centuries of fiddling by professional book designers. They balance good use of the paper with readability (extremely important for larger documents).

Leave it alone.

Adjusting the book document class for large volume writings

3 Answers3