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I am writing a report using two columns for the first time. I am wondering if it is possible to keep the page layout as it is (so keep the figure and the same text on the right side as it is right now) but remove the large white areas in the left column (below the header and above and below the figure). I don't mind if there is leftover white area at the bottom of the left column.

Here is a small code which gives the same problem:

\documentclass[twoside]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage{multicol}

\begin{document}
\begin{multicols*}{2}

\section*{Discussion}
TEXT HERE

\columnbreak
\section*{Conclusion and Recommendations}
OTHER TEXT HERE


\end{multicols*}
\end{document}
Rutger Bosmans
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  • Welcome to TeX.SX! Could you please add a minimal working example (MWE) that shows how you achieved the output you show? There a multiple ways to get a twocolumn document. – leandriis Mar 30 '20 at 20:04
  • @leandriis Hi, I am using the multicols package. At the start of my document this is used: \begin{multicols}{2}. I have tried using \vfill at the end of the left column, I have also tried \columnbreak and \vspace{} but those did not work for me. – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:06
  • multicol tries to balance the height of the two columns. Probably this is the reason for the white space. If you don't want balanced columns, take a look at the multicols* environment. – leandriis Mar 30 '20 at 20:08
  • Thanks for your reply. Could you explain to me where I can define this? I have the \usepackage{multicol} before beginning my document but if I change this to multicols instead of multicol the document does not compile anymore and an error is given. Sorry for bothering you, I am quite the newbie when it comes to LaTeX – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:13
  • Leave the \usepackage{multicols} as it is and replace \begin{multicol}{2} with \begin{multicol*}{2}, as well as \end{multicol} with \end{multicol*}. – leandriis Mar 30 '20 at 20:14
  • I just figured out myself that that is what you meant but unfortunately that did not fix the problem. Nothing changed with the layout. – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:15
  • I have added an extra example, I would like my conclusion on the right but not have the white gap below the discussion header – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:17
  • Without seeing a complete but small document that allows others to recreate the output you get, it is hard to help. Therefore, please prepare a minimal working example (MWE) and add it to your question. – leandriis Mar 30 '20 at 20:18
  • I have just added once, I would like the 'TEXT HERE' to be right below the header instead of at the bottom of the page. – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:24
  • Do you always want to determine which part of the text should be at the top of the right column or are there cases in which you want the text to just fiill up the left column and when this is filled, start filling up the right column? How did you add the images and their captions in the second screenshot? Do you want your whole document to be printed in two columns? – leandriis Mar 30 '20 at 20:29
  • It is okay if I just fill up the left column and then the next part starts in the right column – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:32
  • I see you want the whole article in twocolumn format. So rather than loading and using multicol commands, why don't you simply just use twocolumn option in the main document class like this \documentclass[twoside,twocolumn]{article}? – hesham Mar 30 '20 at 20:36
  • @hesham There is an abstract at the top of my report which is not in twocolumn format so that did unfortunately not work. – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:41
  • If it is an option to you, you may consider switching to elsarticle class, place the twocolumn option in the doc class, then everything is automatically adjusted: Title, Author, Abstract, and Keywords are in single column, rest of the document double column. – hesham Mar 30 '20 at 20:49
  • @hesham That did also not fix the problem unfortunately and made me get 22 errors upon trying to compile so I undid it. – Rutger Bosmans Mar 30 '20 at 20:54
  • If you would like to use elsarticle class with twocolumn, have a look at this example: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/536045/91556 – hesham Mar 30 '20 at 20:57
  • This is another more comprehensive example for elsarticledocumentation http://ctan.yazd.ac.ir/macros/latex/contrib/elsarticle/doc/elsdoc.pdf – hesham Mar 30 '20 at 21:01
  • An abstract in one column like here? – Fran Apr 01 '20 at 19:30

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