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I have looked into the documentation of enumitem but couldn't figure out how to handle this.

I just want a list that aligns the item names to a standard indent from the left and then aligns the item texts according to the longest item name. Isn’t this the natural way you would put a list in typesetting?

But enumitem does something else wihtout configuration: It aligns the item’s text to a standard indent and then puts the name left from it, so that long item names produce overfull boxes to the left.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}

\begin{document}

\begin{enumerate}

\item[QuiteLongItemName] Item text...
\item[OtherItem]

\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

How do you change this?

Guido
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user905686
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  • Welcome to TeX.SE. If the above does not answer your question please edit the question. Also related: How to align description item labels on the right?. – Peter Grill May 30 '14 at 14:19
  • @PeterGrill Ok, this works. What is left is: Why is it that complicated? I find it strange that (even for small item names) the indent from the left depends on the length... So I thought having a standard indent and then left aligned item names would be the more reasonable way. – user905686 May 30 '14 at 15:49
  • "Why is it that complicated?" is a separate question. I can't answer that. Am sure most people have many questions like that as you use LaTeX more often, and the answer is that you have to change your thinking to be more like TeX. But perhaps for this there is a good reason, but the important thing is that you know now how to accomplish what you want. Happy TeXing.... – Peter Grill May 30 '14 at 15:55

0 Answers0