Differences from a TeX installation

Scissor LaTeX does not run TeX: it converts your LaTeX into another typesetting language in the browser and typesets that, so documents appear instantly and never stop at a single error, but layout comes from the class, packages are look-alikes rather than real code, and some commands are ignored.

How a document becomes pages

A TeX installation runs the TeX program on your source. TeX reads the class and package files, which are themselves programs, and every command you write is executed by them.

Scissor LaTeX works differently. Everything happens in your browser, in two steps:

1. Conversion. Your LaTeX is read by a converter that knows the common commands, environments and packages, and is rewritten in Typst, a modern typesetting language.
2. Typesetting. The Typst text is laid out into pages with the fonts that ship with the editor. Math is read by a separate math converter, and TikZ and pgfplots pictures are drawn by Scissor LaTeX's own renderer.

No .cls or .sty file is ever run. A package is "supported" when the converter knows what its commands mean, not because its code was loaded. Most differences on this page follow from that.

Errors and messages

EPS images stop the whole document; see When the whole document does not typeset and Troubleshooting. Every message is explained in Common errors.

The total is \fancytotal{44} kilograms.
\begin{shadedbox}
This text stays, without a box around it.
\end{shadedbox}

Classes and page layout

See Page layout, Document classes, Paragraphs and spacing and Floats.

Text and fonts

Size switches work, text colour is ignored

LaTeXCopyOpen in editor (opens in a new tab)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\begin{document}
{\large This sentence is large,} and
\textcolor{red}{this one asked to be red}. In a formula the
colour works: $\textcolor{red}{x} + 44$.
\end{document}

See Text formatting, Colours and Languages and fonts.

Math

Math is read by its own converter, which knows about a thousand commands from LaTeX, amsmath, amssymb and mathtools. The differences:

• A command it does not know turns that formula red. Define it with \newcommand and it works, because your macros are expanded first.
• A formula never stops the whole document. \partial, \langle, \oplus, \hbar and Vmatrix, which did in earlier versions, work; see When the whole document does not typeset.
• \sideset shows a red formula, and after \intertext the columns of the next rows are aligned on their own.

See Math basics, Equations and alignment and the Symbols reference.

Figures, tables and drawings

See Figures and images, Tables, pgfplots basics and Drawings with TikZ.

References, citations and links

See Labels and cross-references, Bibliographies, Links and Footnotes.

Your own commands and files

See Your own commands, Projects with several files, Code listings and Algorithms.

What works here but not in a TeX installation

Scissor LaTeX is lenient, so a document can work here and fail elsewhere. These are the usual cases:

• Theorem environments such as theorem, lemma and definition work without \newtheorem.
• Unicode math characters such as ∂ and ⟨ work in formulas without unicode-math.
• Unknown commands, unclosed environments, a lone & and x_1 outside math do not stop anything.
• Conference layouts work without the conference's .sty or .cls file in the project.

If the document must also compile in a TeX installation, declare what you use and check it there before you submit. The checklist is in Troubleshooting.

\begin{theorem}
Every multiple of 44 is even.
\end{theorem}

HTML and Markdown export

The preview and the PDF come from the typesetter and always match. The HTML and Markdown exports use the converter alone: numbers for sections and equations are not printed, citations show their key, images are referenced by name, and pictures stay as LaTeX source. Math there goes through a different math converter, so a formula can differ from the PDF. See Export.

Package by package

Each package has its own page with what works, what does not and what to write instead: see the Package reference. For the conference look-alikes, see Conference templates.

Every example on this page is typeset by Scissor LaTeX when the site is built. Last updated 2026-11-07.