Text in two columns on the same level

Question

I have a code with sections, subsections, enumerations in two-columns style:

\RequirePackage{fix-cm}
\documentclass[fontsize=8.5pt,DIV=calc]{scrbook}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{helvet}

\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{a4paper,left=15mm,right=15mm, top=26mm, bottom=17mm} 

\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
\usepackage{multicol} 
\usepackage{xcolor}

\usepackage{mdframed}   
\usepackage{paralist}    

\setlength\parindent{0pt}
\setlength\columnsep{5mm}

\renewcommand\familydefault{\sfdefault}
\renewcommand{\labelitemi}{\textcolor{black!60}{\raisebox{0.5mm}{\rule{1.8mm}{1.8mm}}}}
\newcommand{\zitiert}[1]{\flqq{#1}\frqq}

\usepackage{enumitem}
\setitemize{leftmargin=*}

%FOR GREY RECTANGLE
\addtokomafont{section}{\large}
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\sectionlinesformat[4]{%
  \ifstr{#1}{section}
    {\setlength\fboxsep{1.75mm}%
      \colorbox{black!15}{\raisebox{0pt}[\height][0pt]{%
        \parbox[b]{\dimexpr\linewidth-2\fboxsep\relax}{%
          \raggedsection\@hangfrom{\hskip#2#3}{#4}%
    }}}}
    {\@hangfrom{\hskip#2#3}{#4}}%
}
\renewcommand\sectionformat{%
  \makebox[10mm][r]{\thesection\autodot\hspace{5mm}}
}
\makeatother

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
Some random text....
\subsection{One}

\section{Two}

\subsection{Three}

\lipsum[1]
\subsection{Four}

\lipsum[1]
\subsection{Five}

\lipsum[1]
\subsection{Six}

\lipsum[1]
With an enumeration:
\begin{compactenum}[a)]
\item \lipsum[1]
\item \lipsum[1]

\end{compactenum}
\ \\
\lipsum[1]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

Unfortunately, the rows of the two columns are not on the same "level" (as you can see in the picture below - marked with the red line).

Is there a way (general) way to solve this problem?

There are similar questions which were asked earlier. Take a look at http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/1418/grid-system-in-latex or http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/98081/using-fixed-space-aroung-headings-to-get-text-in-sync-with-baseline-grid. — Sergei Golovan, Feb 10 '17 at 08:12
Part of the problem is that multicols forces the bottoms of the two columns to align. Since the number of lines are not the same, at least some of the gaps are going to be stretched to fit. — John Kormylo, Feb 10 '17 at 18:28

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 10 '17 at 18:44

Just for fun, the following uses tikzpagenodes to align selected locations to multiples of \baselineskip. It uses \vspace*{\fill} at the bottom of each column as a more powerful version of \raggedbottom. Otherwise the y location for the lines would never be the same from one run to the next. It will still take many runs before the alignment can work its way to the bottom of the page.

\RequirePackage{fix-cm}
\documentclass[fontsize=8.5pt,DIV=calc]{scrbook}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{helvet}

\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{a4paper,left=15mm,right=15mm, top=26mm, bottom=17mm} 

\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
\usepackage{multicol} 
\usepackage{xcolor}

\usepackage{mdframed}   
\usepackage{paralist}    

\setlength\parindent{0pt}
\setlength\columnsep{5mm}

\renewcommand\familydefault{\sfdefault}
\renewcommand{\labelitemi}{\textcolor{black!60}{\raisebox{0.5mm}{\rule{1.8mm}{1.8mm}}}}
\newcommand{\zitiert}[1]{\flqq{#1}\frqq}

\usepackage{enumitem}
\setitemize{leftmargin=*}

%FOR GREY RECTANGLE
\addtokomafont{section}{\large}
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\sectionlinesformat[4]{%
  \ifstr{#1}{section}
    {\setlength\fboxsep{1.75mm}%
      \colorbox{black!15}{\raisebox{0pt}[\height][0pt]{%
        \parbox[b]{\dimexpr\linewidth-2\fboxsep\relax}{%
          \raggedsection\@hangfrom{\hskip#2#3}{#4}%
    }}}}
    {\@hangfrom{\hskip#2#3}{#4}}%
}
\renewcommand\sectionformat{%
  \makebox[10mm][r]{\thesection\autodot\hspace{5mm}}
}
\makeatother

\usepackage{tikzpagenodes}
\newlength{\baselineoffset}

\newcommand{\resetbase}% put baseline a multiple of \baselineskip below top of page
  {\strut\tikz[remember picture, overlay]{\pgfextracty{\baselineoffset}%
    {\pgfpointdiff{\pgfpointorigin}{\pgfpointanchor{current page text area}{north}}}
    \global\baselineoffset=\baselineoffset}%
  \advance\baselineoffset by \dimexpr \baselineskip-\topskip\relax
  \loop\ifdim\baselineoffset>\baselineskip
    \advance\baselineoffset by -\baselineskip
  \repeat
  \vspace{-\baselineoffset}\par}

%\let\resetbase\relax

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\resetbase Some random text....
\subsection{One}

\section{Two}

\subsection{Three}

\resetbase\lipsum[1]
\subsection{Four}

\resetbase\lipsum[1]

\subsection{Five}
\resetbase\lipsum[1]
\vspace*{\fill}\columnbreak
\subsection{Six}

\resetbase\lipsum[1]
With an enumeration:
\begin{compactenum}[a)]
\item \resetbase\lipsum[1]
\item \resetbase\lipsum[1]

\end{compactenum}
\ \\
\resetbase\lipsum[1]
\vspace*{\fill}
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

Text in two columns on the same level

1 Answers1

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