Synchronized paracol columns don't align

Question

I've been confounded for a while about an issue with paracol. When one uses the synchronization feature * the columns are supposed to synchronize, which they do even in my simple MWE below. What they don't do, however, is align perfectly with each other. The first line does but subsequent paragraphs don't.

I've asked a related question before, but now I'm not really asking for my specific example but rather in general. Why is this happening, and is there a generic fix?

MWE:

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage[twoside]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{paracol}
    \twosided[pc]

\columnratio{0.71}
\setlength{\columnsep}{1.0em}

\begin{document}
    \begin{paracol}{2}
        \begin{leftcolumn*}\noindent
            \lipsum[1]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\footnotesize
            \lipsum[2]
        \end{rightcolumn}

        \begin{leftcolumn*}\noindent
            \lipsum[3]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\footnotesize
            \lipsum[4]
        \end{rightcolumn}

        \begin{leftcolumn*}\noindent
            \lipsum[5]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\footnotesize
            \lipsum[6]
        \end{rightcolumn}

        \begin{leftcolumn*}\noindent
            \lipsum[7]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\footnotesize
            \lipsum[8]
        \end{rightcolumn}

    \end{paracol}
\end{document}

As you can see below, the left and right columns don't align perfectly. Is there a generic solution to this problem so that no matter what you or I put in the opposing columns the top lines will align?

Output:

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 16 '18 at 15:25

The boxes don't align along the first baseline but along their real top. So you need to ensure that the first line has identical height:

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage[twoside]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{paracol}
    \twosided[pc]

\columnratio{0.71}
\setlength{\columnsep}{1.0em}

\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand\mystrut{\rule{0pt}{14pt}}  
\begin{document}
    \begin{paracol}{2}
        \begin{leftcolumn*}\noindent
            \lipsum[1]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\footnotesize
            \lipsum[2]
        \end{rightcolumn}

        \begin{leftcolumn*}[]\noindent\mystrut
            \tikz[overlay]\draw[red](0,0)--++(20,0);xxx %\lipsum[3]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\mystrut
            xxx %\lipsum[4]
        \end{rightcolumn}

        \begin{leftcolumn*}\noindent\mystrut
           \tikz[overlay]\draw[red](0,0)--++(20,0);xxx %\lipsum[3]
            \lipsum*[5]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\mystrut\footnotesize            
            \lipsum*[6]
        \end{rightcolumn}

        \begin{leftcolumn*}\noindent\mystrut
           \tikz[overlay]\draw[red](0,0)--++(20,0);xxx %\lipsum[3]
            \lipsum*[7]
        \end{leftcolumn*}
        \begin{rightcolumn}\noindent\mystrut\footnotesize           
            \lipsum*[8]
        \end{rightcolumn}

    \end{paracol}
\end{document}

Synchronized paracol columns don't align

1 Answers1