How do I make wrapfig and multicol play nicely together?

Question

To see my issue, you will need an image at this path: ../images/a_random_image, presumably in a jpg or png format.

My issue is visible on page two of the resulting file generated by running pdflatex mwe.tex and can be described as:

(1) the wrapfig package is failing to play well with the multicol package, leading to my copy overwriting the image; and of more concern,

(2) the first several words of the copy intended to follow the image are wrapping to the right of the image, but are over-writing other copy placed in that space by the multicol package.

I'd really like to see the image at least this large, but am willing to sacrifice that and shrink it to the width of a single column IF I can resolve that second issue. But I'd love to sort out both issues, actually.

This is my mwe.tex file:

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[width=4.375in, height=7.0in, top=1.0in, papersize={5.5in,8.5in}]{geometry}
\usepackage[toc]{}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\lipsum[5-8]
\end{multicols}
\begin{wrapfigure}{L}{0.70\textwidth}
    \includegraphics[width=.65\textwidth]{example-image}
    \caption{This is a roughly seven word caption.}
\end{wrapfigure}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\columnbreak
\lipsum[1-4]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

Any guidance on how to resolve at least the second issue, but hopefully both of them would be appreciated!

Thanks, -- Hugh Esco

Answer 1

I would not use wrapfig at all here

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[width=4.375in, height=7.0in, top=1.0in, papersize={5.5in,8.5in}]{geometry}
\usepackage[toc]{}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\lipsum[5-8]
\end{multicols}
\begin{figure}[htp]
\centering
    \includegraphics[width=.65\textwidth]{example-image}
    \caption{This is a roughly seven word caption.}
\end{figure}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\columnbreak
\lipsum[1-4]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

---

If you really want wrapfig, you can force the layout:

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[width=4.375in, height=7.0in, top=1.0in, papersize={5.5in,8.5in}]{geometry}
\usepackage[toc]{}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\lipsum[5-8]
\end{multicols}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\vspace*{14\baselineskip}
enough text enough text enough text
enough text enough text enough text
enough text enough text enough text
enough text enough text enough text
enough text enough text enough text
enough text enough text enough text
\columnbreak
\begin{wrapfigure}{l}[.5\textwidth]{.7\textwidth}
\centering
    \includegraphics[width=.65\textwidth]{example-image}
    \caption{This is a roughly seven word caption.}
\end{wrapfigure}
\lipsum[2-4]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}