C0. LaTeX Basics

30 min

C0.1. Texlive

• Download Texlive overnight and install.
  • We will use a small tool “latexmk” that comes with texlive. Last time I check latexmk is written in Perl.
  • latexmk.exe is located here: D:\Programs\texlive\2021\bin\win32\latexmk.exe. I often add this directory to my path variable and I can execute latexmk.exe in cmd.exe
  • To use latexmk to do the dirty job for ya, execute following commands in the diretory where your .tex file locates:
    • latexmk -quiet -pdf -synctex=1 -pvc -view=none main.tex
  • If your .tex file contains Chinese characters, use this instead:
    • latexmk -quiet --xelatex -synctex=1 -pvc -view=none main.tex

C0.2. SumatraPDF

• Download SumatraPDF and install.
• I recommend to use SumatraPDF 2.

C0.3. WinEdt

I am aware that there are a lot of options for LaTeX editor, and I am also aware VS code is one of them. However, I would still suggest you trying out WinEdt. It seems since WinEdt 11 it is no longer free, so download WinEdt 10.

• You can make it work with SumatraPDF.
  • See my tips for using WinEdt.

C0.4. Overleaf

Overleaf provides you web browser based editor and compiler experience. If you are IEEE member, you can use the full capability of overleaf including collaborate with multiple authors and git service.

YOU CAN LEARN LaTeX by going through the documentation of Overleaf, or of course there is a “Learn LaTeX in one video” video by Derek Banas.