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What is the difference between LaTeX and Overleaf? I am definitely so lost. Is it recommended to install anything or working online is just fine?

David Carlisle
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Sofía Hornillos
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    Welcome to tex,sx. LaTeX is the software. Overleaf is a company that provides the ability to use LaTeX online. – barbara beeton Jan 26 '24 at 14:27
  • Welcome. // If you work alone, both options can be useful, while I'm happy with my local installation. If you co-work with others on the same documents, then Overleaf already provides much of what you need then, where the features correlate with the price, including "free". – MS-SPO Jan 26 '24 at 15:45
  • If my grandmother had wheels she'd be a bicycle! – Captain Giraffe Jan 26 '24 at 23:27
  • For normal use Overleaf is sufficient and easy to use. However, if you want to answer questions on TeX.SE then a local installation is more or less necessary, as it allows you to easily see and edit package code, use latexdef, halt-on-error, use installed fonts etc :D – Marijn Jan 27 '24 at 15:08

3 Answers3

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LaTeX is a typesetting system and Overleaf is a company that provides a web server that hosts Linux docker containers on which you can run LaTeX if you do not have LaTeX installed on your local machine (or even if you do).

"Working online is just fine" depends on you mostly. Overleaf provides a pretty full TeX Live system and being online can be convenient especially if collaborating with people remotely, but an in-browser editor doesn't always have the same features as your favourite locally installed editor and the service has time limits, especially in its free version. The allowed time per document may or not be an issue, depending how large your project gets.

If just getting started I would start with the online version then install a local version if and when you decide you need it, all your documents will work unchanged locally.

David Carlisle
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    (Tom from Overleaf Support here) I just want to mention that this is pretty accurate :) – yo' Jan 26 '24 at 15:16
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    Overleaf may also be unsuitable if you're handling confidential data, need to be able to work offline or want easy integration with custom scripts etc. But it is enormously useful for teaching. – cfr Jan 26 '24 at 16:13
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    @cfr You can host overleaf yourself. You don't need to use their service. In fact, our faculty hosts our own overleaf to address any privacy issues. – Polygnome Jan 28 '24 at 15:23
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    @Polygnome for a faculty yes, but for anyone reading this who is starting out (like the originator of the question) installing tex locally or using the online overleaf service are both viable beginner options. Installing a self hosted overleaf on a private webserver probably isn't. – David Carlisle Jan 28 '24 at 15:56
  • One caveat, which is really a minor issue nowadays: Overleaf does not work with *.tex files with input encoding other than utf8. – Jakub Narębski Jan 30 '24 at 22:30
  • @JakubNarębski Actually Overleaf can (if you really must) it's just that the in browser editor (same as this site) can only handle UTF-8. But re-coding a legacy encoded document to utf-8 is not difficult, you could for example just upload it here and and then copy it to overleaf – David Carlisle Jan 30 '24 at 22:39
  • @DavidCarlisle the problem is that if you upload *.tex file with non-UTF8 encoding, then all different characters in that encoding that do not correspond to a valid character as encoded by UTF8 gets turned into "replacement character". But iconv is your friend... – Jakub Narębski Feb 01 '24 at 01:15
  • no what I meant is that overleaf can process files in other encodings correctly, it just can not show them in the source editor. But it's a small issue really as converting the file to utf-8 is simpler and a better idea in almost all cases. @JakubNarębski – David Carlisle Feb 01 '24 at 08:34
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LaTeX is software which allows you to create documents using special commands which you write in the text, unlike an application like Microsoft Word, where you format the text using special buttons.

The LaTeX software is used inside many different applications. There is only one Microsoft Word, but there is not only one LaTeX application. Instead, there are multiple different applications you can use, which allow you to write the LaTeX commands, to create your document.

One of those applications is called Overleaf. This is a website where you write LaTeX commands. Overleaf is sort of like Google Docs: Google Docs lets you make documents like in Microsoft Word, but online, on a website. That’s what Overleaf is, but for the LaTeX way of making documents: making them online.

I recommend you start with Overleaf. You don’t need to understand how or what to install, that way. For a beginner, I don’t think you will have any significant benefit from installing a LaTeX application onto your computer. Once you get better at LaTeX, then you might want to do that, since it does have some advantages, like more customization, features, and offline use.

Joseph Wright
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Julius Hamilton
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    There is exactly one LaTeX (that's the entire point of the LPPL), but LaTeX is only one component of a complete typesetting system. A minor difference perhaps, but an important one nonetheless. I'd rather say something like "There are many different programs that you can use to edit (add/change the content) or compile (convert to PDF) a LaTeX document, but this document will appear the same for everyone (unlike a Word ..docx document that will look different in all of Microsoft Office for Windows, MS Office for Mac, LibreOffice, and Google Docs)." – Max Chernoff Jan 27 '24 at 05:51
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    this is very misleading. Google docs is a new implementation of the entire application slightly compatible with word, overleaf runs a standard Linux tex, it is exactly the same code as if you install latex locally. – David Carlisle Jan 27 '24 at 08:29
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LaTex is a typesetting systems that allows you to professionally typeset texts and produce high-quality documents. It is often used in scientific articles, but also in other fields.

Compared to MS Word (or Word 365), LibeOffice Writer, Google Docs or OnlyOffice Docs, it is not however a WYSIWYG ("What you see is what you get") text editor. On the contrary, in LaTex you write markup that annotates your text with information, and then in a separate compilation step LaTex creates your final document.

In order to actually use Latex (and prior to Overleaf/ShareLatex), you needed to install a LaTex distribution in order to be able to run the commands that actually compiles the document.

Cue ShareLatex, and nowadays Overleaf. Overleaf self-describes as "an open-source online real-time collaborative LaTeX editor". Overleaf runs Latex for you. It runs in your browser, you do not need to install anything. The company behind the open-source editor runs a hosted, always online version of it at overleaf.com.

There is no difference between LaTex and Overleaf. Overleaf uses LaTex. You write LaTex documents in Overleaf. Whenever you have a problem with your document not looking like it should, yo can do a web search for LaTex, and you can apply all information you get regarding LaTex in Overleaf, because thats what Overleaf is.

What Overleaf show you is on the left side the LaTex source code, and on the right side the compiled document. And whenever you change something, it automatically re-compiles everything for you and shows you the changes document on the right.

Its a great way to write LaTex for beginners, and in fact one of the ways I'd recommend. I shamelessly refer to my own other answer here: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/573732/146315

Paŭlo Ebermann
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Polygnome
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