Position text boxes on the right or left of the main body text

Question

I frequently need to position a text box containing a small amount of text on either the right or left of the page, and wrap text around it. In this example I attempted to use wrapfig (though i have no image or figures). Only the first text box floats on the right. Perhaps wrapfig is not the correct approach?

Sample code and ouptut below.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{tcolorbox}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\newtcolorbox{mybox}{colback=white,colframe=black,sharp corners}  %framed box
\newcommand{\mytext}{ \lipsum[1] }
\newenvironment{icfloatbox}   %A box to float text around the left of.
{\begin{wrapfigure}{R}{2cm}\begin{mybox} another box in the icfloatbox.}
{\end{mybox} \end{wrapfigure}}
\begin{document}
%works
\begin{wrapfigure}{R}{5cm}
\begin{mybox}
Expected on the right 1\end{mybox}
\end{wrapfigure}
\mytext%
\begin{wrapfigure}{R}{5cm}
\begin{mybox}
Expected on the right 2\end{mybox}
\end{wrapfigure}
\mytext%
\begin{wrapfigure}{R}{5cm}
\begin{mybox}
Expected on the right 3\end{mybox}
\end{wrapfigure}
\mytext%
\end{document}

Uhm, your code works fine for me. (However, I've got an old system.) — campa, Nov 18 '21 at 16:46
@campa so all your boxes are positioned on the right the page? that is what I am attempting in the example. — Doug Ransom, Nov 18 '21 at 17:04
The results are the same with pdflatext or xelatex. both at version 3.141592653 — Doug Ransom, Nov 18 '21 at 17:06
Yes, I get all boxes placed on the right with the text wrapping around them. But as I said I've got an older system, so newer updates might have broken something... — campa, Nov 18 '21 at 17:08
If I leave an empty line between \mytext and \begin{wrapfigure} second and third boxes are shown on the right. (I'm using pdflatex with a yesterday updated miktex system) — Ignasi, Nov 18 '21 at 18:19

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 18 '21 at 18:33

I found insbox worked more reliably. Hopefully with that and tcolorbox I can do everything i used to do in word (floating boxes with some info to the right or left).

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\input{insbox}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{tcolorbox}
\newtcolorbox{mybox}{colback=white,colframe=black,sharp corners,width=3in}  %framed box
\newcommand{\dobox} {\begin{mybox}Box box box\end{mybox}}
\begin{document}
\dobox
ok
blah blah
\InsertBoxR{5}{\dobox}
\lipsum[1]
\InsertBoxR{2}{\dobox}
the end.
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}

Simon Dispa · Answer 2 · 2021-11-18T19:13:07.527

This is solution to wrap a paragraph around a box flushed to the right (or left) margin based on my previous answer.

No other packages were needed.

The command \InsertBox was defined, with 4 parameters.

\InsertBox[<l or r (default} >]{<box content>}{<box width>}{<text to be shaped>}

(optional) where to place the box in the text area: r or l (r,right, is the default);
content of the box;
desired box width;
paragraph to be shaped.

See wrapping without extra packages

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}% dummy text
%***************************************************************************************************
\newlength{\AboveSkipbox}
\setlength{\AboveSkipbox}{0.7\baselineskip}  % above space <<<<
\newlength{\Sidesepbox}
\setlength{\Sidesepbox}{1.5em} % side space <<<
\newlength{\BoxHeight}
\newlength{\ParHeight}

\newlength{\FirstIndent}
\newlength{\FigureBoxWidth}
\newlength{\FigIndent}

\newsavebox{\mybox} 
\newsavebox{\tmpbox}
%% From https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/127504/more-condensed-version-of-parshape
\makeatletter
\let\SavedIndent\parindent

\let@afterindentfalse@afterindenttrue
@afterindenttrue
\def\newparshape{\parshape@npshape0{}}
\def@npshape#1#2#3{\ifx\#3\expandafter@@@npshape\else\expandafter@@npshape\fi
    {#1}{#2}{#3}}
\def@@npshape#1#2#3#4#5{%
    \ifnum#3>\z@\expandafter@firstoftwo\else\expandafter@secondoftwo\fi
    {\expandafter@@npshape\expandafter{\the\numexpr#1+1\relax}{#2 #4 #5}{\numexpr#3-1\relax}{#4}{#5}}%
    {@npshape{#1}{#2}}}
\def@@@npshape#1#2#3{#1 #2}
\def\SetFirstIndent{\if@afterindent\FirstIndent\SavedIndent\else\FirstIndent\z@\fi}
\makeatother
\newcommand{\nlines}[1]{\the\numexpr#1/\baselineskip +1 \relax}

\newcommand{\TypesetBox}[1]{\makebox[\linewidth][#1]{\raisebox{\dimexpr-\ht\mybox-\AboveSkipbox\relax}[0pt][0pt]{\usebox{\mybox}}}}

\newcommand{\TypesetTextShortLong}[1]{%
    \hspace*{\parindent}
    \ifdim\dimexpr\ht\tmpbox+\dp\tmpbox<\dimexpr\ht\mybox+\dp\mybox+2\baselineskip\relax%short
    \hspace{-\parindent}\usebox{\tmpbox}\vspace{\dimexpr\ht\mybox+\dp\mybox+\AboveSkipbox-\ht\tmpbox-\dp\tmpbox\relax}
    \else%long
    #1\fi
}
\newcommand{\MakeFigureSpace}[1]{%
    \ifx#1l% left
    \setlength{\FigIndent}{\FigureBoxWidth}
    \else% right
    \setlength{\FigIndent}{0pt} 
    \fi
}
\newcommand{\InsertBox}[4][r]{%
    \SetFirstIndent%

    \setlength{\FigureBoxWidth}{\dimexpr#3+\Sidesepbox\relax}

    \sbox{\tmpbox}{\parbox[t]{\dimexpr\linewidth-\FigureBoxWidth\relax}{\hspace{\FirstIndent}#4}}
    \sbox{\mybox}{\fbox{\parbox{#3}{#2}}}%
    \MakeFigureSpace{#1}% Figure Indent = \parindent or Fig Box width
    \vspace{-\baselineskip} 
    \hspace{\dimexpr-\FigIndent-\parindent\relax}\TypesetBox{#1}

    \newparshape% shape paragraph text
    {\nlines{\dimexpr\ht\mybox+\dp\mybox+\baselineskip\relax}}{\FigIndent}{\dimexpr\linewidth-\FigureBoxWidth\relax}%
    {1}{0pt}{\linewidth}\
    \TypesetTextShortLong{#4} 
}
%***************************************************************************************************
\begin{document}
\InsertBox{Expected on the right 1}{0.3\textwidth}{\kant[2]}

\kant[9]

\InsertBox[l]{\bfseries \large As I have shown elsewhere, Aristotle tells
    us that the objects in space and time, in the full sense of these
    terms, would be falsified.}{0.4\textwidth}{\kant[4]}


\end{document}

Position text boxes on the right or left of the main body text

2 Answers2