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Info Node: (texinfo)Overfull hboxes

(texinfo)Overfull hboxes


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Overfull "hboxes"
=================

  TeX is sometimes unable to typeset a line without extending it into
the right margin.  This can occur when TeX comes upon what it
interprets as a long word that it cannot hyphenate, such as an
electronic mail network address or a very long title.  When this
happens, TeX prints an error message like this:

     Overfull @hbox (20.76302pt too wide)

(In TeX, lines are in "horizontal boxes", hence the term, "hbox".
`@hbox' is a TeX primitive not needed in the Texinfo language.)

  TeX also provides the line number in the Texinfo source file and the
text of the offending line, which is marked at all the places that TeX
considered hyphenation.  *Note Catching Errors with TeX Formatting:
Debugging with TeX, for more information about typesetting errors.

  If the Texinfo file has an overfull hbox, you can rewrite the sentence
so the overfull hbox does not occur, or you can decide to leave it.  A
small excursion into the right margin often does not matter and may not
even be noticeable.

  If you have many overfull boxes and/or an antipathy to rewriting, you
can coerce TeX into greatly increasing the allowable interword spacing,
thus (if you're lucky) avoiding many of the bad line breaks, like this:

     @tex
     \global\emergencystretch = .9\hsize
     @end tex

(You should adjust the fraction as needed.)  This huge value for
`\emergencystretch' cannot be the default, since then the typeset
output would generally be of noticeably lower quality; the default is
`.15\hsize'.  `\hsize' is the TeX dimension containing the current line
width.

  For what overfull boxes you have, however, TeX will print a large,
ugly, black rectangle beside the line that contains the overfull hbox
unless told otherwise.  This is so you will notice the location of the
problem if you are correcting a draft.

  To prevent such a monstrosity from marring your final printout, write
the following in the beginning of the Texinfo file on a line of its own,
before the `@titlepage' command:

     @finalout


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