When the whole document does not typeset

Very little stops a whole document: a formula that cannot be read is shown in red and named in the Problems tab, and \partial, \langle, \oplus, \hbar and Vmatrix typeset as in LaTeX; the one known cause left is an EPS image, which you convert to PDF, PNG or SVG.

What you see

Normally a problem in one place stays in that place: an unknown command is skipped, a formula that cannot be read is shown in red, and the rest of the document is typeset. When the whole document fails instead, the preview shows no new pages and the error bar at the top names what went wrong.

What still stops the document

One cause is known: an EPS image included with its extension, as in \includegraphics{figure.eps}. The error says unknown image format. Convert the file to PDF, PNG or SVG and change the name in \includegraphics. Troubleshooting shows an example.

To find the line in a long document, look at the line number in the error, or comment out half of the document with % and see whether the pages come back. Repeat with the half that still fails.

A formula never stops the document

A formula the math converter cannot read, because it uses a command the converter does not know or its brackets do not match, is shown as its own source in red. The Problems tab names it with its line, for example "This formula could not be read: \symbf{v} (unknown command: \symbf)". The first ten such formulas are named one by one, then one more line gives the count of the rest. A \label on a red formula names nothing, so \eqref to it prints ?? and is listed with the missing labels. See Red formulas for the usual replacements.

Commands that used to stop the document

Earlier versions of Scissor LaTeX stopped the whole document on a group of math commands whose symbol names the typesetting library had renamed, with errors such as unknown variable: diff or unknown symbol modifier. They all typeset now, exactly as you write them in LaTeX:

\frac{\partial f}{\partial x}

\langle u, v \rangle, \quad \left\langle \frac{a}{b} \right\rangle

V \oplus W, \quad A \otimes B, \quad \bigcap_{i} A_i

The commands that are fixed include \partial; \langle, \rangle, \lang, \rang; \cap, \bigcap, \Cap, \doublecap, \sqcap; \oplus, \ominus, \otimes, \odot and their big forms; \circledast, \circledcirc, \circleddash; \llbracket, \rrbracket; \hbar, \hslash, \mho; \dashleftarrow, \dashrightarrow; \bra, \ket, \braket; the built-in \argmax and \argmin; the Vmatrix environment; and \hspace* inside a formula. If you replaced any of them with Unicode characters, you can keep those or go back to the commands.

Unicode characters work too

Scissor LaTeX also accepts Unicode math characters directly in formulas. Delimiters such as ⟨ and ⟩ grow with \left and \right.

\frac{∂ f}{∂ x}, \quad ⟨ u, v ⟩, \quad \left⟨ \frac{a}{b} \right⟩,
\quad V ⊕ W, \quad A ∩ B, \quad ℏ \omega

Unicode characters and an operator of your own

LaTeXCopyOpen in editor (opens in a new tab)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\DeclareMathOperator*{\argmax}{arg\,max}
\begin{document}
\[
  ⋂_{i=1}^{n} A_i, \quad ⨁_{i} V_i, \quad ⟦ x ⟧, \quad
  ⟨ \psi \vert \phi ⟩, \quad a ⇢ b, \quad
  \argmax_{x} f(x), \quad
  \begin{Vmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{Vmatrix}
\]
\end{document}

A TeX installation with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX and the unicode-math package reads these characters as they are. With pdfLaTeX, tell LaTeX what each character means with \DeclareUnicodeCharacter in the preamble. Scissor LaTeX accepts these lines and ignores them, so one source works in both places:

One source for Scissor LaTeX and pdfLaTeX

LaTeXCopyOpen in editor (opens in a new tab)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{2202}{\partial}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{27E8}{\langle}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{27E9}{\rangle}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{2295}{\oplus}
\begin{document}
The gradient has the parts $\frac{∂ f}{∂ x_i}$, the inner product
is $⟨ u, v ⟩$, and the sum is $V ⊕ W$.
\end{document}

The complete list

The list below is made when the site is built: each math command the typesetter has in its table is tried on its own in a formula, and every one that does not work is listed with what happens. When a command is fixed in the engine, it drops off this list by itself.

None at the moment: all 789 math commands in the table typeset on their own in a formula.

Related pages

• Common errors and how to fix them: the messages of the Problems tab.
• Troubleshooting by symptom: from what you see to the fix.
• Differences from a TeX installation: all the limits in one place.
• Brackets and delimiters and Operators and binary symbols: the symbols, with their commands.

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