Page layout, margins and paper size

Paper size, font size and columns come from the \documentclass options, such as \documentclass[a4paper,11pt,twocolumn]{article}; margins, orientation and any other page size come from the geometry package, such as \usepackage[a5paper,landscape,margin=1.5cm]{geometry}. Scissor LaTeX applies both.

Class options that work

The options in square brackets after \documentclass set up the page. Scissor LaTeX reads these:

A4 paper, 11 points, two columns

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\documentclass[a4paper,11pt,twocolumn]{article}
\title{Two Columns on A4}
\author{Erika Mustermann}
\date{}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
This document is set on A4 paper at 11 points in two columns.
The text fills the left column first and then continues in the
right one. Each column is a little less than half the text width.
\section{Method}
We measured 44 samples and wrote down every value.
\end{document}

In a two-column article the title block stays in the first column; it does not span the page.

Paper sizes and orientation

For a size the class options do not have, or to turn the page, load geometry. Name a paper (a0paper to a6paper, b5paper, letterpaper, legalpaper, executivepaper), or give any size with paperwidth and paperheight. landscape turns the page, and portrait turns it back.

A5 in landscape with 1.5 cm margins

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\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a5paper,landscape,margin=1.5cm]{geometry}
\begin{document}
\section*{A wide page}
This page is A5 turned on its side, with margins of 1.5 cm all
round. Erika Mustermann uses it for handouts that lie next to a
keyboard. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
Ut purus elit, vestibulum ut, placerat ac, adipiscing vitae, felis.
\end{document}

A DL envelope: any size with paperwidth and paperheight

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\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[paperwidth=220mm,paperheight=110mm,margin=12mm]{geometry}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
Erika Mustermann, Musterstraße 44, 12345 Musterstadt

\begin{flushright}
Hans Mustermann\\
Beispielweg 44\\
54321 Beispielstadt
\end{flushright}
\end{document}

In the editor, New project sets this up for you: the paper list has standard sizes, envelopes, cards, posters and slides, and a Portrait / Landscape switch. Standard sizes go into the class options; the others, and landscape, into a geometry line.

Margins

Without geometry, the margins follow the paper size, close to the standard LaTeX classes:

With geometry you set them yourself, in the preamble with \usepackage[...]{geometry} or \geometry{...}:

As in the geometry package, two of margin, text block and margin on each axis are enough: left=2cm, textwidth=15cm gives the right margin. With one margin only, the other is the same across the page and half as large again down the page (geometry's ratios 1:1 and 2:3). On a page that is not a standard size and has no margins given, the text block takes 70 % of the page, as with geometry's scale=0.7.

A5 with 1 cm margins

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\documentclass[a5paper]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry}
\begin{document}
This page asks for 1 cm margins on A5 paper, and gets them: the text
runs almost to the edge of the paper, as it does in a TeX
installation. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing
elit. Ut purus elit, vestibulum ut, placerat ac, adipiscing vitae,
felis. Curabitur dictum gravida mauris.
\end{document}

Options that change nothing on screen, such as showframe, drivers (pdftex, dvips), twoside and the margin note settings, are accepted quietly. Any other option is ignored, and one note in the Problems tab names it. \newgeometry and \restoregeometry in the body are ignored: the whole document keeps the page of the preamble.

Headers, footers and page numbers

Every page of an ordinary document has its number centred at the bottom.

The conference layouts draw their own running heads and footers where their formats have them.

Line spacing and paragraphs

Line spacing and paragraph settings come from the class:

Spacing settings do not change the text

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\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{setspace}
\onehalfspacing
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\begin{document}
The first paragraph is set with the normal line spacing,
although the preamble asks for one and a half.

The second paragraph still starts with an indent, although
the preamble sets the indent to zero.
\end{document}

Page breaks

\newpage, \clearpage and \cleardoublepage start a new page. \pagebreak does too. \enlargethispage and \nopagebreak are ignored.

What differs from a TeX installation

A document laid out here keeps its options in a TeX installation, where fancyhdr and setspace then take effect too. See geometry for the package page; the full manuals are on CTAN: geometry, fancyhdr and setspace.

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