Word – have LaTeX-style floats in Word

latexmicrosoft word

I'm a (rather experimented) LaTeX-user… but unfortunately, I have to use Word (2000 (!)) at work. One of the things I miss the most (I mean, except the typographic quality, the macros and the math stuff :P) is the LaTeX-style float. Is there some way to put a picture in a floating position (eg, like with \begin{figure}[htp]) in Word?

Thanks,

Antony

Best Answer

You can, I think it's described as the "text wrapping style". See here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/209944

EDIT: Actually, checking on my own copy of Word2k, it seems that there is nothing corresponding exactly to a LaTeX "float", even though it can do what Word calls floating. LaTeX, as I understand it, can intelligently locate best place on the page to put an image. The options you get with Word aren't intelligent like that, although you have a lot of options for placing an image and having text wrap around it. Right click on the picture and choose "Format Picture", then go to the layout tab. Or read more about "format picture" in help.

So whether Word can do "LaTeX-style floats" would depend on what you mean by LaTeX style floats. I think you can get something close enough, though not quite the real thing, since there's no "intelligent" placement.

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Create latex style files

There's not much special about sty or cls files; they're just LaTeX files with a special purpose and another file extension. You could use any editor to write them, preferably your favourite LaTeX editor. I'm not aware of any dedicated editor just for style and class files; and I'm not really sure how the WYSIWYG concept could be applied to styles/classes anyway.

If you just want to collect some LaTeX settings/definitions in a common file, use your favourite editor to write them (or copy them from a document where they're already working). Insert \ProvidesFile{packagename} at the beginning of the file. Save it with a .sty extension in a place where TeX can find it. Then you can invoke \usepackage{packagename} in your LaTeX documents, and your package will be loaded right away.

Here's an example where I put together my settings for letters with the scrlettr class:

\ProvidesFile{FJ-Brief-CB}

\name{Florian Jenn}
\signature{\bigskip Florian Jenn}

\address{Some street 123 \quad 03\,044 Cottbus}

\subjecton

% and so on...

For “real” packages, consult “LaTeX2e for class and package writers” at http://www.latex-project.org/guides/clsguide.pdf, as already mentioned by user33872. Additionally, there's a short overview by Joseph Wright: http://www.texdev.net/2009/10/05/the-dtx-format/. Basically, you'll have to write a doc (dtx) file, from which the sty and documentation files can be generated.

Any editors that can be used for LaTeX should do; however, it's nice to have explicit dtx (docTeX) support. AFAIK, Emacs (docTeX mode in AUCTeX) or WinEdt (see http://www.winedt.org/Config/modes/DTX.php) have it. I've had a quick look at Kile and TeXmaker – they don't have explicit modes (editing dtx is still possible, just not so nice). See also Joseph Wright's notes on editing dtx: http://www.texdev.net/2009/10/11/working-with-dtx-files/

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Create latex style files

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