How can I align my list (enumerate) with the start of my paragraph?

Question

I am having an issue aligning the left side of my list with the left side of my paragraph. Here is my current code:

Code:

\documentclass[draft, 12pt]{article}
\usepackage{fullpage}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\parindent = 0pt

\begin{document}

This is a random and long sentence that apparently takes up two lines just so that I 
can see what happens with alignment and indentation. Note my \texttt{parindent = 0pt}.

\begin{enumerate}
    \item This is list one first item.
\end{enumerate}

\begin{enumerate}[leftmargin = 0pt]
    \item This is list two first item.
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

Visual representation:

This is a random and long sentence that apparently takes up two lines just so that I can see what happens with alignment and indentation. Note my parindent = 0pt.

1. This is list one first item.

1. This is list two first item.

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 10 '20 at 12:32

5

The solution depends on how many items you are expecting in the list. If the number of items is 9 or less than use:

labelindent=0pt,labelwidth=0.75em,leftmargin=!

but for 10 thru 99 you should use a larger labelwidth=1.25em

enter image description here

Notes:

The showframe package was used just to show the page margins. It is not needed in your actual use case.
Manually setting \parskip is considered a "deadly sin" as per Too much whitespace before lists when changing the \parskip length. Use the parskip package instead.
A good reference for the horizontal spacing parameters is can someone please explain the enumitem horizontal spacing parameters?.

Code:

\documentclass[draft, 12pt]{article}
\usepackage{fullpage,showframe}
\usepackage{enumitem}
%\parindent = 0pt
\usepackage[parfill]{parskip}% Use this instead of \parindent = 0pt
\begin{document}
This is a random and long sentence that apparently takes up two lines just so that I 
can see what happens with alignment and indentation. Previously \verb|parindent = 0pt|, but
now this uses the \verb|parskip| package.
\begin{enumerate}[labelindent=0pt,labelwidth=1.25em,leftmargin=!]
    \item This is list one first item.
    \item This is list one second item.
    \item \ldots
    \item[9.] This is list one ninth item.
    \item[10.] This is list one tenth item.
\end{enumerate}
\bigskip
If you don't expect to go past 9 then use:
\begin{enumerate}[labelindent=0pt,labelwidth=0.75em,leftmargin=!]
    \item This is list two first item.
    \item \ldots
    \item[9.] This is list two ninth item.
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

edited Jun 10 '20 at 12:32

Community

1

answered Sep 26 '14 at 19:42

Peter Grill

223,288

2

ex? I thought the best unit for this was em. – egreg Sep 26 '14 at 20:15
1

@egreg: "I thought?" You are too modest :-) Fixing now... – Peter Grill Sep 26 '14 at 20:22
Thanks @PeterGrill! Upon reviewing your code, it got me to look into showframe (something I was wondering how to do), the parskip package, and the link on spacing. My question is, if I use \usepackage[parfill]{parskip} what changes does \noindent make? Maybe I didn't catch it, but I couldn't figure out the difference between including \noindent and removing it. – dahiana Sep 27 '14 at 04:05
1

The \noindent is not needed, and have removed it in the MWE. – Peter Grill Sep 27 '14 at 04:10
Also, what about using \usepackage[parfill]{parskip} versus just \usepackage{parskip}? I didn't seem to find a difference. – dahiana Sep 27 '14 at 04:24
@dahiana: As the thrust of this question was about aligning list items, you should post a new question on parskip. We like to keep it to one question per post as then the answers are easier to find and more likely to be of help to a larger audience. – Peter Grill Sep 27 '14 at 20:01
no problem, I just wanted to clarify some other questions. Nonetheless, this was exactly what I was looking for! The labelindent, labelwidth, and leftmargin options really helped. Thank you so much! – dahiana Sep 27 '14 at 22:05

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 26 '14 at 23:15

You also can have item numbers left aligned, and thus aligned withe the left side of the text area, using the wide option:

\documentclass[draft, 12pt]{article}
\usepackage[showframe, nomarginpar]{geometry}
\usepackage{enumitem}

\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}

This is a random and long sentence that apparently takes up two lines just so that I
can see what happens with alignment and indentation.

\noindent
\begin{enumerate}[wide = 0pt, labelwidth = 1.3333em, labelsep = 0.3333em, leftmargin = \dimexpr\labelwidth + \labelsep\relax ]%
    \item This is list one first item.
    \item This is list one second item.
    \item \ldots
    \item[9.] \lipsum[9]
    \item[10.] \lipsum[10]
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

enter image description here

I actually really like this version too. Thank you so much for pointing out the wide option. I think I'll play around with it and see what works best. — dahiana, Sep 27 '14 at 22:07

How can I align my list (enumerate) with the start of my paragraph?

2 Answers2

Notes:

Code: