Beamer User Guide

The beamer class
User Guide for version 3.63.
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{There Is No Largest Prime Number}
\framesubtitle{The proof uses \textit{reductio ad absurdum}.}
\begin{theorem}
There is no largest prime number.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
\begin{enumerate}
\item<1-| alert@1> Suppose $p$ were the largest prime number.
\item<2-> Let $q$ be the product of the first $p$ numbers.
\item<3-> Then $q+1$ is not divisible by any of them.
\item<1-> Thus $q+1$ is also prime and greater than $p$.\qedhere
\end{enumerate}
\end{proof}
\end{frame}
Results
There Is No Largest Prime Number There Is No Largest Prime Number

The proof uses reductio ad absurdum. The proof uses reductio ad absurdum.
Theorem Theorem
There is no largest prime number. There is no largest prime number.
Proof.
Proof.
1 Suppose p were the largest prime number.
2 Let q be the product of the first p numbers.
3 Then q + 1 is not divisible by any of them.
4 Thus q + 1 is also prime and greater than p.
1
Für alle, die die Schönheit von Wissenschaft anderen zeigen wollen.
Copyright 2003–2007 by Till Tantau

Copyright 2010,2011 by Joseph Wright and Vedran Miletić
Copyright 2016,2017 by Joseph Wright
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the documentation under the terms of the gnu Free
Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the
section entitled gnu Free Documentation License.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the code of the package under the terms of the gnu
General Public License, Version 2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of
the license is included in the section entitled gnu General Public License.
Permission is also granted to distribute and/or modify both the documentation and the code under the conditions
of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c of this license or (at your option) any later version. A
copy of the license is included in the section entitled LATEX Project Public License.
2
The beamer class
https://github.com/josephwright/beamer
User Guide for version 3.63.
Till Tantau, Joseph Wright, Vedran Miletić

May 26, 2021
Contents
1 Introduction 9
1.1 Main Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 How to Read this User’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
I Getting Started 13
2 Installation 14
2.1 Versions and Dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2 Installation of Pre-bundled Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.1 TEX Live and MacTEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.2 MiKTEX and proTEXt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.3 Debian and Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.4 Fedora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3 Installation in a texmf Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4 Updating the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.5 Testing the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.6 Compatibility with Other Packages and Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Tutorial: Euclid’s Presentation 21

3.1 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Solution Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Title Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4 The Title Page Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.5 Creating the Presentation PDF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.6 The Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.7 Sections and Subsections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.8 Creating a Simple Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.9 Creating Simple Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.10 Using Overlay Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.11 Structuring a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.12 Adding References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.13 Verbatim Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.14 Changing the Way Things Look I: Theming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.15 Changing the Way Things Look II: Colors and Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3
4 Workflow For Creating a Beamer Presentation 29
4.1 Step One: Setup the Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2 Step Two: Structure Your Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.3 Step Three: Creating a PDF or PostScript File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3.1 Creating PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3.2 Creating PostScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3.3 Ways of Improving Compilation Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.4 Step Four: Create Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.5 Step Five: Test Your Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6 Step Six: Create a Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6.1 Creating the Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6.2 Printing the Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5 Guidelines for Creating Presentations 33

5.1 Structuring a Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.1 Know the Time Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.2 Global Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.3 Frame Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1.4 Interactive Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2 Using Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.3 Using Animations and Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.4 Choosing Appropriate Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.5 Choosing Appropriate Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.6 Choosing Appropriate Fonts and Font Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.6.1 Font Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.6.2 Font Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.6.3 Font Shapes: Italics and Small Capitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.6.4 Font Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6 Solution Templates 43
7 Licenses and Copyright 44

7.1 Which License Applies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.2 The GNU General Public License, Version 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.2.1 Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.2.2 Terms and Conditions For Copying, Distribution and Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7.2.3 No Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.3 The GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3, 3 November 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.3.1 Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.3.2 Applicability and definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
7.3.3 Verbatim Copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7.3.4 Copying in Quantity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7.3.5 Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7.3.6 Combining Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
7.3.7 Collection of Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.3.8 Aggregating with Independent Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.3.9 Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.3.10 Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.3.11 Future Revisions of this License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.3.12 Relicensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.3.13 Addendum: How to use this License for your documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.4 The LATEX Project Public License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7.4.1 Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7.4.2 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7.4.3 Conditions on Distribution and Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4
7.4.4 No Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.4.5 Maintenance of The Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.4.6 Whether and How to Distribute Works under This License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.4.7 Choosing This License or Another License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.4.8 A Recommendation on Modification Without Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.4.9 How to Use This License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.4.10 Derived Works That Are Not Replacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.4.11 Important Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
II Building a Presentation 58
8 Creating Frames 59
8.1 The Frame Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
8.2 Components of a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8.2.1 The Headline and Footline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8.2.2 The Sidebars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
8.2.3 Navigation Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.2.4 The Navigation Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
8.2.5 The Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
8.2.6 The Frame Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
8.2.7 The Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
8.3 Frame and Margin Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
8.4 Restricting the Slides of a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9 Creating Overlays 80
9.1 The Pause Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
9.2 The General Concept of Overlay Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
9.3 Commands with Overlay Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
9.4 Environments with Overlay Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
9.5 Dynamically Changing Text or Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
9.6 Advanced Overlay Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
9.6.1 Making Commands and Environments Overlay Specification-Aware . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
9.6.2 Mode Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
9.6.3 Action Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.6.4 Incremental Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
10 Structuring a Presentation: The Static Global Structure 94

10.1 Adding a Title Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
10.2 Adding Sections and Subsections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
10.3 Adding Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
10.4 Splitting a Course Into Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
10.5 Adding a Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
10.6 Adding a Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
10.7 Adding an Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
11 Structuring a Presentation: The Interactive Global Structure 107

11.1 Adding Hyperlinks and Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
11.2 Repeating a Frame at a Later Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
11.3 Adding Anticipated Zooming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5
12 Structuring a Presentation: The Local Structure 113
12.1 Itemizations, Enumerations, and Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
12.2 Highlighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.3 Block Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
12.4 Theorem Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
12.5 Framed and Boxed Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
12.6 Figures and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
12.7 Splitting a Frame into Multiple Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
12.8 Positioning Text and Graphics Absolutely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
12.9 Verbatim and Fragile Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
12.10Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
12.11Verse, Quotations, Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
12.12Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
13 Graphics 134
13.1 Including External Graphic Files Versus Inlines Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
13.2 Including Graphic Files Ending .eps or .ps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
13.3 Including Graphic Files Ending .pdf, .jpg, .jpeg or .png . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
13.4 Including Graphic Files Ending .mps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
13.5 Including Graphic Files Ending .mmp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
14 Animations, Sounds, and Slide Transitions 137

14.1 Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
14.1.1 Including External Animation Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
14.1.2 Animations Created by Showing Slides in Rapid Succession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
14.1.3 Including External Animations Residing in Multiple Image Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
14.2 Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
14.3 Slide Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
III Changing the Way Things Look 147

15 Themes 148
15.1 Five Flavors of Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
15.2 Presentation Themes without Navigation Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
15.3 Presentation Themes with a Tree-Like Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
15.4 Presentation Themes with a Table of Contents Sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
15.5 Presentation Themes with a Mini Frame Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
15.6 Presentation Themes with Section and Subsection Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
15.7 Presentation Themes Included For Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
16 Inner Themes, Outer Themes, and Templates 163

16.1 Inner Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
16.2 Outer Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
16.3 Changing the Templates Used for Different Elements of a Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
16.3.1 Overview of Beamer’s Template Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
16.3.2 Using Beamer’s Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
16.3.3 Setting Beamer’s Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
17 Colors 178
17.1 Color Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
17.1.1 Default and Special-Purpose Color Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
17.1.2 Complete Color Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
17.1.3 Inner Color Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
17.1.4 Outer Color Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6
17.2 Changing the Colors Used for Different Elements of a Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
17.2.1 Overview of Beamer’s Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
17.2.2 Using Beamer’s Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
17.2.3 Setting Beamer’s Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
17.3 The Color of Mathematical Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
17.4 The Color Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
17.5 Miscellaneous Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
17.6 Transparency Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
18 Fonts 196
18.1 Font Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
18.2 Font Changes Made Without Using Font Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
18.2.1 Choosing a Font Size for Normal Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
18.2.2 Choosing a Font Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
18.2.3 Choosing a Font Encodings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
18.3 Changing the Fonts Used for Different Elements of a Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
18.3.1 Overview of Beamer’s Font Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
18.3.2 Using Beamer’s Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
18.3.3 Setting Beamer’s Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
IV Creating Supporting Material 203

19 Adding Notes for Yourself 204
19.1 Specifying Note Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
19.2 Specifying Contents for Multiple Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
19.3 Specifying Which Notes and Frames Are Shown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
20 Creating Transparencies 208
21 Creating Handouts and Lecture Notes 209

21.1 Creating Handouts Using the Handout Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
21.2 Creating Handouts Using the Article Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
21.2.1 Starting the Article Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
21.2.2 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
21.2.3 Including Slides from the Presentation Version in the Article Version . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
21.3 Details on Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
22 Taking Advantage of Multiple Screens 217

22.1 Showing Notes on the Second Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
22.2 Showing Second Mode Material on the Second Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
22.3 Showing the Previous Slide on the Second Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
V Howtos 220
23 How To Uncover Things Piecewise 221
23.1 Uncovering an Enumeration Piecewise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
23.2 Highlighting the Current Item in an Enumeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
23.3 Changing Symbol Before an Enumeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
23.4 Uncovering Tagged Formulas Piecewise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
23.5 Uncovering a Table Rowwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
23.6 Uncovering a Table Columnwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
7
24 How To Import Presentations Based on Other Packages and Classes 225
24.1 Prosper, HA-Prosper and Powerdot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
24.2 Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
24.3 FoilTEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
24.4 TEXPower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Index 238
8
1 Introduction
beamer is a LATEX class for creating presentations that are held using a projector, but it can also be used
to create transparency slides. Preparing presentations with beamer is different from preparing them with
wysiwyg programs like OpenOffice.org Impress, Apple Keynote, KOffice KPresenter or Microsoft PowerPoint.
A beamer presentation is created like any other LATEX document: It has a preamble and a body, the body
contains \sections and \subsections, the different slides (called frames in beamer) are put in environments,
they are structured using itemize and enumerate environments, and so on. The obvious disadvantage of this
approach is that you have to know LATEX in order to use beamer. The advantage is that if you know LATEX,
you can use your knowledge of LATEX also when creating a presentation, not only when writing papers.
1.1 Main Features

The list of features supported by beamer is quite long (unfortunately, so is presumably the list of bugs supported
by beamer). The most important features, in our opinion, are:
• You can use beamer with pdflatex, latex+dvips, lualatex and xelatex. latex+dvipdfm isn’t sup-
ported (but we accept patches!).
• The standard commands of LATEX still work. A \tableofcontents will still create a table of contents,
\section is still used to create structure, and itemize still creates a list.
• You can easily create overlays and dynamic effects.

• Themes allow you to change the appearance of your presentation to suit your purposes.
• The themes are designed to be usable in practice, they are not just for show. You will not find such
nonsense as a green body text on a picture of a green meadow.
• The layout, the colors, and the fonts used in a presentation can easily be changed globally, but you still
also have control over the most minute detail.
• A special style file allows you to use the LATEX-source of a presentation directly in other LATEX classes like
article or book. This makes it easy to create presentations out of lecture notes or lecture notes out of
presentations.
• The final output is typically a pdf-file. Viewer applications for this format exist for virtually every
platform. When bringing your presentation to a conference on a memory stick, you do not have to worry
about which version of the presentation program might be installed there. Also, your presentation is going
to look exactly the way it looked on your computer.
1.2 History
Till Tantau created beamer mainly in his spare time. Many other people have helped by sending him emails
containing suggestions for improvement or corrections or patches or whole new themes (by now, this amounts
to over a thousand emails concerning beamer). Indeed, most of the development was only initiated by feature
requests and bug reports. Without this feedback, beamer would still be what it was originally intended to be:
a small private collection of macros that make using the seminar class easier. Till created the first version of
beamer for his PhD defense presentation in February 2003. A month later, he put the package on ctan at the
request of some colleagues. After that, things somehow got out of hand.
After being unmaintained since 2007, in April 2010 Till handed over the maintenance to Joseph Wright and
Vedran Miletić, who are still maintaining it: improving code, fixing bugs, adding new features and helping users.
9
1.3 Acknowledgments
Till Tantau: “Where to begin? beamer’s development depends not only on me, but on the feedback I get from
other people. Many features have been implemented because someone requested them and I thought that these
features would be nice to have and reasonably easy to implement. Other people have given valuable feedback on
themes, on the user’s guide, on features of the class, on the internals of the implementation, on special LATEX
features, and on life in general. A small selection of these people includes (in no particular order and I have
surely forgotten to name lots of people who really, really deserve being in this list): Carsten (for everything),
Birgit (for being the first person to use beamer besides me), Tux (for his silent criticism), Rolf Niepraschk
(for showing me how to program LATEX correctly), Claudio Beccari (for writing part of the documentation on
font encodings), Thomas Baumann (for the emacs stuff), Stefan Müller (for not loosing hope), Uwe Kern (for
xcolor), Hendri Adriaens (for ha-prosper), Ohura Makoto (for spotting typos). People who have contributed
to the themes include Paul Gomme, Manuel Carro, and Marlon Régis Schmitz.”
Joseph Wright: “Thanks to Till Tantau for the huge development effort in creating beamer. Sincere thanks
to Vedran Miletić for taking the lead in continuing development.”
Vedran Miletić: “First, I would like to thank Karl Berry and Sanda Bujačić for encouragement, without
which I wouldn’t ever be anything but a LATEX user. I would also like to thank Ana Meštrović, my colleague,
who was excited by the prospect of using beamer for preparing class material; Ivona Franković and Marina
Rajnović, my students at Department of Informatics, who were the first to hear about LATEX, beamer and how
it can help in preparing class material. I would like to thank Heiko Oberdiek (for hyperref), Johannes Braams
(for babel) and Philipp Lehman (for biblatex). Above all, I owe a lot to Till Tantau for developing beamer
in the first place and to Joseph Wright for developing siunitx and for helping me develop beamer further.”
1.4 How to Read this User’s Guide

You should start with the first part. If you have not yet installed the package, please read Section 2 first. If you
are new to beamer, you should next read the tutorial in Section 3. When you sit down to create your first real
presentation using beamer, read Section 4 where the technical details of a possible workflow are discussed. If
you are still new to creating presentations in general, you might find Section 5 helpful, where many guidelines
are given on what to do and what not to do. Finally, you should browse through Section 6, where you will find
ready-to-use solution templates for creating talks, possibly even in the language you intend to use.
The second part of this user’s guide goes into the details of all the commands defined in beamer, but it
also addresses other technical issues having to do with creating presentations (like how to include graphics or
animations).
The third part explains how you can change the appearance of your presentation easily either using themes
or by specifying colors or fonts for specific elements of a presentation (like, say, the font used for the numbers in
an enumeration).
The fourth part talks about handouts and lecture notes, so called “support material”. You will frequently
have create some kind of support material to give to your audience during the talk or after it, and this part will
explain how to do it using the same source that you created your presentation from.
The last part contains “howtos,” which are explanations of how to get certain things done using beamer.
This user’s guide contains descriptions of all “public” commands, environments, and concepts defined by the
beamer-class. The following examples show how things are documented. As a general rule, red text is defined,
green text is optional, blue text indicates special mode considerations.
\somebeamercommand[⟨optional arguments⟩]{⟨first argument⟩}{⟨second argument⟩}

Here you will find the explanation of what the command \somebeamercommand does. The green argument(s)
is optional. The command of this example takes two parameters.
Example: \somebeamercommand[opt]{my arg}{xxx}
\begin{somebeamerenvironment}[⟨optional arguments⟩]{⟨first argument⟩}

⟨environment contents⟩
10
\end{somebeamerenvironment}
Here you will find the explanation of the effect of the environment somebeamerenvironment. As with
commands, the green arguments are optional.
Example:
\begin{somebeamerenvironment}{Argument}
Some text.
\end{somebeamerenvironment}
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font some beamer element

Here you will find an explanation of the template, color, and/or font some beamer element. A “beamer-
element” is a concept that is explained in more detail in Section 16. Roughly speaking, an element is a part
of a presentation that is potentially typeset in some special way. Examples of elements are frame titles, the
author’s name, or the footnote sign. For most elements there exists a template, see Section 16 once more,
and also a beamer-color and a beamer-font.
For each element, it is indicated whether a template, a beamer-color, and/or a beamer-font of the name
some beamer element exist. Typically, all three exist and are employed together when the element needs
to be typeset, that is, when the template is inserted the beamer-color and -font are installed first. However,
sometimes templates do not have a color or font associated with them (like parent templates). Also, there
exist beamer-colors and -fonts that do not have an underlying template.
Using and changing templates is explained in Section 16.3. Here is the essence: To change a template, you
can say
\setbeamertemplate{some beamer element}{your definition for this template}
Unfortunately, it is not quite trivial to come up with a good definition for some templates. Fortunately,
there are often predefined options for a template. These are indicated like this:
• [square] causes a small square to be used to render the template.
• [circle]{⟨radius⟩} causes circles of the given radius to be used to render the template.
You can install such a predefined option like this:
\setbeamertemplate{some beamer element}[square]
% Now squares are used
\setbeamertemplate{some beamer element}[circle]{3pt}

% Now a circle is used
beamer-colors are explained in Section 17. Here is the essence: To change the foreground of the color to,
say, red, use
\setbeamercolor{some beamer element}{fg=red}
To change the background to, say, black, use:
\setbeamercolor{some beamer element}{bg=black}
You can also change them together using fg=red,bg=black. The background will not always be “honoured,”
since it is difficult to show a colored background correctly and an extra effort must be made by the templates
(while the foreground color is usually used automatically).
beamer-fonts are explained in Section 18. Here is the essence: To change the size of the font to, say, large,
use:
\setbeamerfont{some beamer element}{size=\large}
In addition to the size, you can use things like series=\bfseries to set the series, shape=\itshape to
change the shape, family=\sffamily to change the family, and you can use them in conjunction. Add a
star to the command to first “reset” the font.
11
presen- As next to this paragraph, you will sometimes find the word presentation in blue next to some paragraph. This
tation means that the paragraph applies only when you “normally typeset your presentation using LAT X or pdfLAT X.”
E E
article Opposed to this, a paragraph with article next to it describes some behavior that is special for the article
mode. This special mode is used to create lecture notes out of a presentation (the two can coexist in one file).
1.5 Getting Help

When you need help with beamer, please do the following:
1. Read the user guide, at least the part that has to do with your problem.
2. If that does not solve the problem, try searching TeX-sx (tex.stackexchange.com). Perhaps someone
has already reported a similar problem and someone has found a solution.
3. If you find no answers there, or if you are sure you have found a bug in beamer, please report it via
github.com/josephwright/beamer/issues.
4. Before you file a bug report, especially a bug report concerning the installation, make sure that this is
really a bug. In particular, have a look at the .log file that results when you TEX your files. This .log file
should show that all the right files are loaded from the right directories. Nearly all installation problems
can be resolved by looking at the .log file.
If you can, before reporting the bug, retest using latest version of beamer with latest version of TEX Live.
This can help isolate bugs from other packages that might affect beamer.
5. As a last resort you can try emailing authors. We do not mind getting emails, we simply get way too
many of them. Because of this, we cannot guarantee that your emails will be answered timely or even at
all. Reporting an issue is usually a better approach as they don’t get lost.
12
Part I
Getting Started
This part helps you getting started. It starts with an explanation of how to install the class. Hopefully, this will
be very simple, with a bit of luck the whole class is already correctly installed! You will also find an explanation
of special things you should consider when using certain other packages.
Next, a short tutorial is given that explains most of the features that you’ll need in a typical presentation.
Following the tutorial you will find a “possible workflow” for creating a presentation. Following this workflow
may help you avoid problems later on.
This part includes a guidelines sections. Following these guidelines can help you create good presentations
(no guarantees, though). This guideline section is kept as general as possible; most of what is said in that section
applies to presentations in general, independent of whether they have been created using beamer or not.
At the end of this part you will find a summary of the solutions templates that come with beamer. You
can use solutions templates to kick-start the creation of your presentation.
13
2 Installation
There are different ways of installing the beamer class, depending on your installation and needs. When
installing the class, you may have to install some other packages as well as described below. Before installing,
you may wish to review the licenses under which the class is distributed, see Section 7.
Fortunately, most likely your system will already have beamer preinstalled, so you can skip this section.
2.1 Versions and Dependencies

This documentation is part of version 3.63 of the beamer class. beamer needs a reasonably recent version of
several standard packages to run and also the following versions of two special packages (later versions should
work, but not necessarily):
• pgf.sty version 1.00,
• xcolor.sty version 2.00.
If you use pdflatex, which is optional, you need
• pdflatex version 0.14 or higher. Earlier versions do not work.
2.2 Installation of Pre-bundled Packages

We do not create or manage pre-bundled packages of beamer, but, fortunately, other nice people do. We cannot
give detailed instructions on how to install these packages, since we do not manage them, but we can tell you
where to find them and we can tell you what these nice people told us on how to install them. If you have a
problem with installing, you might wish to have a look at the following first.
2.2.1 TEX Live and MacTEX

In TEX Live, use the tlmgr tool to install the packages called beamer, pgf, and xcolor. If you have a fairly
recent version of TEX Live, and you have done full installation, beamer is included.
2.2.2 MiKTEX and proTEXt

For MiKTEX and proTEXt, use the update wizard or package manager to install the (latest versions of the)
packages called beamer, pgf, and xcolor.
2.2.3 Debian and Ubuntu

The command “aptitude install latex-beamer” should do the trick. If necessary, the packages pgf and
latex-xcolor will be automatically installed. Sit back and relax. In detail, the following packages are installed:
http://packages.debian.org/latex-beamer
http://packages.debian.org/pgf
http://packages.debian.org/latex-xcolor
Debian 5.0 “lenny” includes TEX Live 2007, and version 6.0 “squeeze” will include TEX Live 2009. This also
allows you to manually install newer versions of beamer (into your local directory, see below) without having
to update any other LATEX packages.
Ubuntu 8.04, 9.04 and 9.10 include TEX Live 2007, and version 10.04 includes TEX Live 2009.
2.2.4 Fedora
Fedora 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 include TEX Live 2007, which includes beamer. It can be installed by running the
command “yum install texlive-texmf-latex”. As with Debian, this allows you to manually install newer
versions of beamer into your local directory (explained below).
Jindrich Novy provides TEX Live 2010 rpm packages for Fedora 12 and 13, at
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/TeXLive
Fedora 14 will contain TEX Live 2010 once it’s released.
14
2.3 Installation in a texmf Tree
If, for whatever reason, you do not wish to use a prebundled package, the “right” way to install beamer is to
put it in a so-called texmf tree. In the following, we explain how to do this.
Obtain the latest source version (ending .tar.gz or .zip) of the beamer package from
https://github.com/josephwright/beamer
(most likely, you have already done this). Next, you also need the pgf package and the xcolor packages, which
you need to install separately (see their installation instructions).
The package contains a bunch of files; beamer.cls is one of these files and happens to be the most important
one. You now need to put these files in an appropriate texmf tree.
When you ask TEX to use a certain class or package, it usually looks for the necessary files in so-called texmf
trees. These trees are simply huge directories that contain these files. By default, TEX looks for files in three
different texmf trees:
• The root texmf tree, which is usually located at /usr/share/texmf/, /usr/local/texlive/texmf/,
c:\texmf\, or c:\texlive\texmf\.
• The local texmf tree, which is usually located at /usr/local/share/texmf/,
/usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/, c:\localtexmf\, or c:\texlive\texmf-local\.
• Your personal texmf tree, which is usually located in your home directory at ~/texmf/ or ~/Library/texmf/.
You should install the packages either in the local tree or in your personal tree, depending on whether you
have write access to the local tree. Installation in the root tree can cause problems, since an update of the whole
TEX installation will replace this whole tree.
Inside whatever texmf directory you have chosen, create the sub-sub-sub-directory
texmf/tex/latex/beamer
and place all files of the package in this directory.

Finally, you need to rebuild TEX’s filename database. This is done by running the command texhash or
mktexlsr (they are the same). In MiKTEX package manager and TEX Live tlmgr, there is a menu option to do
this.
For a more detailed explanation of the standard installation process of packages, you might wish to consult
http://www.ctan.org/installationadvice/. However, note that the beamer package does not come with a
.ins file (simply skip that part).
2.4 Updating the Installation

To update your installation from a previous version, simply replace everything in the directory
texmf/tex/latex/beamer
with the files of the new version. The easiest way to do this is to first delete the old version and then to proceed
as described above.
Note that if you have two versions installed, one in texmf and other in texmf-local directory, TEX distribu-
tion will prefer one in texmf-local directory. This generally allows you to update packages manually without
administrator privileges.
2.5 Testing the Installation

To test your installation, copy the file generic-ornate-15min-45min.en.tex from the directory
beamer/doc/solutions/generic-talks
to some place where you usually create presentations. Then run the command pdflatex several times on the
file and check whether the resulting pdf file looks correct. If so, you are all set.
15
2.6 Compatibility with Other Packages and Classes
When using certain packages or classes together with the beamer class, extra options or precautions may be
necessary.
\usepackage{AlDraTex}
Graphics created using AlDraTex must be treated like verbatim text. The reason is that DraTex fiddles
with catcodes and spaces much like verbatim does. So, in order to insert a picture, either add the fragile
option to the frame or use the \defverbatim command to create a box containing the picture.
\usepackage{alltt}
Text in an alltt environment must be treated like verbatim text. So add the fragile option to frames
containing this environment or use \defverbatim.
\usepackage{amsthm}
This package is automatically loaded since beamer uses it for typesetting theorems. If you do not wish it
to be loaded, which can be necessary especially in article mode if the package is incompatible with the
document class, you can use the class option noamsthm to suppress its loading. See Section 12.4 for more
details.
\usepackage[french]{babel}
When using the french style, certain features that clash with the functionality of the beamer class will
be turned off. For example, enumerations are still produced the way the theme dictates, not the way the
french style does.
\usepackage[spanish]{babel}
presen- When using the spanish style, certain features that clash with the functionality of the beamer class will
tation be turned off. In particular, the special behavior of the pointed brackets < and > is deactivated.
article To make the characters < and > active in article mode, pass the option activeospeccharacters to the
package beamerbasearticle. This will lead to problems with overlay specifications.
\usepackage{color}
presen- The color package is automatically loaded by beamer.cls. This makes it impossible to pass options to
tation color in the preamble of your document in the normal manner. To pass a ⟨list of options⟩ to color, you
can use the following class option:
\documentclass[color=⟨list of options⟩]{beamer}
Causes the ⟨list of options⟩ to be passed on to the color package. If the ⟨list of options⟩ contains more
than one option you must enclose it in curly brackets.
article The color package is not loaded automatically if beamerarticle is loaded with the noxcolor option.
\usepackage{colortbl}
presen- With newer versions of xcolor.sty, you need to pass the option table to xcolor.sty if you wish to use
tation colortbl. See the notes on xcolor below, on how to do this.
\usepackage{CJK}
presen- When using the CJK package for using Asian fonts, you must use the class option CJK.
tation
\usepackage{deluxetable}
presen- The caption generation facilities of deluxetable are deactivated. Instead, the caption template is used.
tation
16
\usepackage{DraTex}
See AlDraTex.
\usepackage{enumerate}
article This package is loaded automatically in the presentation modes, but not in the article mode. If you
use its features, you have to load the package “by hand” in the article mode.
\documentclass{foils}
If you wish to emulate the foils class using beamer, please see Section 24.3.
\usepackage[T1,TU]{fontenc}
Use the T1 option only with fonts that have outline fonts available in the T1 encoding like times or the
lmodern fonts. In a standard installation standard Computer Modern fonts (the fonts Donald Knuth
originally designed and which are used by default) are not available in the T1 encoding. Using this option
with them will result in very poor rendering of your presentation when viewed with pdf viewer applications
like Acrobat, xpdf, evince or okular. To use the Computer Modern fonts with the T1 encoding, make
sure you have installed cm-super package in your TEX distribution, or use Latin Modern fonts provided by
lmorden instead. See also Section 18.2.3. This applies both to latex+dvips and pdflatex.
The newest version of LATEX 2𝜀 kernel has introduced TU encoding for xelatex and lualatex. Note
that xelatex and lualatex support OpenType fonts, and font encodings work very different compared to
pdflatex. Again, see Section 18.2.3 for more information.
\usepackage{fourier}
The package switches to a T1 encoding, but it does not redefine all fonts such that outline fonts (non-
bitmapped fonts) are used by default. For example, the sans-serif text and the typewriter text are not
replaced. To use outline fonts for these, write \usepackage{lmodern} before including the fourier package.
\usepackage{HA-prosper}
You cannot use this package with beamer. However, you might try to use the package beamerprosper
instead, see Section 24.1.
\usepackage{hyperref}
presen- The hyperref package is automatically loaded by beamer.cls and certain options are set up. In order to
tation pass additional options to hyperref or to override options, you can use the following class option:
\documentclass[hyperref=⟨list of options⟩]{beamer}
Causes the ⟨list of options⟩ to be passed on to the hyperref package.
Example: \documentclass[hyperref={bookmarks=false}]{beamer}
Alternatively, you can also use the \hypersetup command.

article In the article version, you must include hyperref manually if you want to use it. You can do so by
passing option hyperref to beamerarticle. It is not included automatically.
\usepackage[utf8,utf8x]{inputenc}
presen- When using Unicode, you may wish to use some of the following class options:
tation
\documentclass[ucs]{beamer}
Loads the package ucs and passes the correct Unicode options to hyperref. Also, it preloads the
Unicode code pages zero and one.
17
\documentclass[utf8x]{beamer}
Same as the option ucs, but also sets the input encoding to utf8x. You could also use the option ucs
and say \usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc} in the preamble. This also automatically loads ucs package
in most TEX systems.
If you use a Unicode character outside the first two code pages (which includes the Latin alphabet
and the extended Latin alphabet) in a section or subsection heading, you have to use the command
\PreloadUnicodePage{⟨code page⟩} to give ucs a chance to preload these code pages. You will know
that a character has not been preloaded, if you get a message like “Please insert into preamble.” The code
page of a character is given by the unicode number of the character divided by 256.
\documentclass[utf8]{beamer}
This option sets the input encoding to utf8. It’s designed to be used without ucs. It’s the same as
saying \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} in the preamble.
Note that none of these options apply to lualatex and xelatex, since both support Unicode natively
without any extra packages. Most of the time using these options actually harms output quality, so be
careful about what you use. If you want to have a document that allows compiling with multiple drivers,
take a look at iftex, ifxetex and ifluatex packages.
article Passing option utf8 to beamerarticle has the same effect as saying \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} in
the preamble.
Again, take care if you use lualatex or xelatex.
\usepackage{listings}
presen- Note that you must treat lstlisting environments exactly the same way as you would treat verbatim
tation environments. When using \defverbatim that contains a colored lstlisting, use the colored option of
\defverbatim.
Example:
\usepackage{listings}
\begin{document}
\defverbatim[colored]\mycode{%
\begin{lstlisting}[frame=single, emph={cout}, emphstyle={\color{blue}}]
cout << "Hello world!";
\end{lstlisting}
}
\begin{frame}
\mycode
\end{frame}
\end{document}
\usepackage{msc}
presen- Since this package uses pstricks internally, everything that applies to pstricks also applies to msc.
tation
\usepackage{musixtex}
When using MusiXTEX to typeset musical scores, you have to have 𝜀-TEX extensions enabled. Most modern
distributions enable that by default both in pdflatex and latex. However, if you have an older distribution,
the document must be compiled with pdfelatex or elatex instead of pdflatex or latex.
Inside a music environment, the \pause is redefined to match MusiXTEX’s definition (a rest during one
quarter of a whole). You can use the \beamerpause command to create overlays in this environment.
18
\usepackage{paralist}
presen- beamer automatically patches list-related commands using beamerpatchparalist package at the begin-
tation ning of document. Besides, beamer also supports using compactitem and compactenum environments with
overlays, just like the usage of enumerate environments:
\begin{compactitem}[<+->][$\bullet$]
\item Alpha
\item Bravo
\end{compactitem}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
Commands like \includepdf only work outside frames as they produce pages “by themselves.” You may
also wish to say
\setbeamercolor{background canvas}{bg=}
when you use such a command since the background (even a white background) will otherwise be printed
over the image you try to include.
Example:
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\titlepage
\end{frame}
{
\includepdf{somepdfimages.pdf}
}
\begin{frame}
A normal frame.
\end{frame}
\end{document}
\usepackage{⟨professional font package⟩}

presen- If you use a professional font package, beamer’s internal redefinition of how variables are typeset may
tation interfere with the font package’s superior way of typesetting them. In this case, you should use the class
option professionalfonts to suppress any font substitution. See Section 18.2.2 for details.
\documentclass{prosper}
If you wish to (partly) emulate the prosper class using beamer, please see Section 24.1.
\usepackage{pstricks}
You should add the option xcolor=pst to make xcolor aware of the fact that you are using pstricks.
\documentclass{seminar}
If you wish to emulate the seminar class using beamer, please see Section 24.2.
\usepackage{texpower}
You cannot use this package with beamer. However, you might try to use the package beamertexpower
instead, see Section 24.4.
\usepackage{textpos}
presen- beamer automatically installs a white background behind everything, unless you install a different back-
tation ground template. Because of this, you must use the overlay option when using textpos, so that it will
place boxes in front of everything. Alternatively, you can install an empty background template, but this
may result in an incorrect display in certain situations with older versions of the Acrobat Reader.
19
\usepackage{ucs}
See \usepackage[utf8,utf8x]{inputenc}.
\usepackage{xcolor}
presen- The xcolor package is automatically loaded by beamer.cls. The same applies as to color.
tation
\documentclass[xcolor=⟨list of options⟩]{beamer}
Causes the ⟨list of options⟩ to be passed on to the xcolor package.
When using beamer together with the pstricks package, be sure to pass the xcolor=pst option to
beamer (and hence to xcolor).
article The color package is not loaded automatically if beamerarticle is loaded with the noxcolor option.
20
3 Tutorial: Euclid’s Presentation
This section presents a short tutorial that focuses on those features of beamer that you are likely to use when
you start using beamer. It leaves out all the glorious details that are explained in great detail later on.
3.1 Problem Statement

We wish to help Prof. Euclid of the University of Alexandria to create a presentation on his latest discovery: There
are infinitely many prime numbers! Euclid wrote a paper on this and it got accepted at the 27th International
Symposium on Prime Numbers −280 (ISPN ’80). Euclid wishes to use the beamer class to create a presentation
for the conference. On the conference webpage he found out that he will have twenty minutes for his talk,
including questions.
3.2 Solution Template

The first thing Euclid should do is to look for a solution template for his presentation. Having a look at Section 6,
he finds that the file
beamer/doc/solutions/conference-talks/conference-ornate-20min.en.tex
might be appropriate. He creates a subdirectory presentation in the directory that contains the actual paper
and copies the solution template to this subdirectory, renaming to main.tex.
He opens the file in his favorite editor. It starts
\documentclass{beamer}
which Euclid finds hardly surprising. Next comes a line reading

\mode<presentation>
which Euclid does not understand. Since he finds more stuff in the file that he does not understand, he decides
to ignore all of that for time being, hoping that it all serves some good purpose.
3.3 Title Material

The next thing that seems logical is the place where the \title command is used. Naturally, he replaces it with
\title{There Is No Largest Prime Number}
since this was the title of the paper. He sees that the command \title also takes an optional “short” argument
in square brackets, which is shown in places where there is little space, but he decides that the title is short
enough by itself.
Euclid next adjusts the \author and \date fields as follows:
\author{Euclid of Alexandria}
\date[ISPN ’80]{27th International Symposium of Prime Numbers}
For the date, he felt that the name was a little long, so a short version is given (ISPN ’80). On second thought,
Euclid decides to add his email address and replaces the \author field as follows:
\author[Euclid]{Euclid of Alexandria \\ \texttt{euclid@alexandria.edu}}
Somehow Euclid does not like the fact that there is no “\email” command in beamer. He decides to write an
email to beamer’s author, asking him to fix this, but postpones this for later when the presentation is finished.
There are two fields that Euclid does not know, but whose meaning he can guess: \subtitle and \institute.
He adjusts them. (Euclid does not need to use the \and command, which is used to separate several authors,
nor the \inst command, which just makes its argument a superscript).
21
3.4 The Title Page Frame
The next thing in the file that seems interesting is where the first “frame” is created, right after the
\begin{document}:
\begin{frame}
\titlepage
\end{frame}
In beamer, a presentation consists of a series of frames. Each frame in turn may consist of several slides (if there
is more than one, they are called overlays). Normally, everything between \begin{frame} and \end{frame} is
put on a single slide. No page breaking is performed. So Euclid infers that the first frame is “filled” by the title
page, which seems quite logical.
3.5 Creating the Presentation PDF File

Eager to find out how the first page will look, he invokes pdflatex on his file main.tex (twice). He could also
use latex (twice), followed by dvips, and then possibly ps2pdf, or lualatex (twice), or xelatex (twice). Then
he uses the Acrobat Reader, xpdf, evince or okular to view the resulting main.pdf. Indeed, the first page
contains all the information Euclid has provided until now. It even looks quite impressive with the colorful title
and the rounded corners and the shadows, but he is doubtful whether he should leave it like that. He decides
to address this problem later.
Euclid is delighted to find out that clicking on a section or subsection in the navigation bar at the top
hyperjumps there. Also, the small symbols at the bottom seem to be clickable. Toying around with them for
a while, he finds that clicking on the arrows left or right of a symbol hyperjumps him backward or forward one
slide / frame / subsection / section. He finds the symbols quite small, but decides not to write an email to
beamer’s authors since he also thinks that bigger symbols would be distracting.
3.6 The Table of Contents

The next frame contains a table of contents:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Outline}
\tableofcontents
\end{frame}
Furthermore, this frame has an individual title (Outline). A comment in the frame says that Euclid might wish
to try to add the [pausesections] option. He tries this, changing the frame to:
\begin{frame}
\tableofcontents[pausesections]
\end{frame}
After re-pdfLATEXing the presentation, he finds that instead of a single slide, there are now two “table
of contents” slides in the presentation. On the first of these, only the first section is shown, on the second
both sections are shown (scanning down in the file, Euclid finds that, indeed, there are \section commands
introducing these sections). The effect of the pausesections seems to be that one can talk about the first
section before the second one is shown. Then, Euclid can press the down- or right-key, to show the complete
table of contents and can talk about the second section.
3.7 Sections and Subsections

The next commands Euclid finds are
\section{Motivation}
\subsection{The Basic Problem That We Studied}
22
These commands are given outside of frames. So Euclid assumes that at the point of invocation they have no
direct effect, they only create entries in the table of contents. Having a “Motivation” section seems reasonable
to Euclid, but he changes the \subsection title.
As he looks at the presentation, he notices that his assumption was not quite true: each \subsection
command seems to insert a frame containing a table of contents into the presentation. Doubling back he
finds the command that causes this: The \AtBeginSubsection inserts a frame with only the current subsec-
tion highlighted at the beginning of each section. If Euclid does not like this, he can just delete the whole
\AtBeginSubsection stuff and the table of contents at the beginning of each subsection disappears.
The \section and \subsection commands take optional short arguments. These short arguments are used
whenever a short form of the section of subsection name is needed. While this is in keeping with the way beamer
treats the optional arguments of things like \title, it is different from the usual way LATEX treats an optional
argument for sections (where the optional argument dictates what is shown in the table of contents and the
main argument dictates what is shown everywhere else; in beamer things are exactly the other way round).
3.8 Creating a Simple Frame

Euclid then modifies the next frame, which is the first “real” frame of the presentation, as follows:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{What Are Prime Numbers?}
A prime number is a number that has exactly two divisors.
\end{frame}
This yields the desired result. It might be a good idea to put some emphasis on the object being defined (prime
numbers). Euclid tries \emph but finds that too mild an emphasis. beamer offers the command \alert, which
is used like \emph and, by default, typesets its argument in bright red.
Next, Euclid decides to make it even clearer that he is giving a definition by putting a definition environ-
ment around the definition.
\begin{frame}
\begin{definition}
A \alert{prime number} is a number that has exactly two divisors.
\end{definition}
\end{frame}
Other useful environments like theorem, lemma, proof, corollary, or example are also predefined by
beamer. As in amsmath, they take optional arguments that they show in brackets. Indeed, amsmath is au-
tomatically loaded by beamer.
Since it is always a good idea to add examples, Euclid decides to add one:
\begin{frame}
\begin{definition}
A \alert{prime number} is a number that has exactly two divisors.
\end{definition}
\begin{example}
\begin{itemize}
\item 2 is prime (two divisors: 1 and 2).
\item 4 is not prime (\alert{three} divisors: 1, 2, and 4).
\end{itemize}
\end{example}
\end{frame}
3.9 Creating Simple Overlays

The frame already looks quite nice, though, perhaps a bit colorful. However, Euclid would now like to show the
three items one after another, not all three right away. To achieve this, he adds \pause commands after the
23
first and second items:
\begin{itemize}
\pause
\pause
\item 4 is not prime (\alert{three} divisors: 1, 2, and 4).
\end{itemize}
By showing them incrementally, he hopes to focus the audience’s attention on the item he is currently talking
about. On second thought, he deletes the \pause stuff once more since in simple cases like the above the pausing
is rather silly. Indeed, Euclid has noticed that good presentations make use of this uncovering mechanism only
in special circumstances.
Euclid finds that he can also add a \pause between the definition and the example. So, \pauses seem to
transcend environments, which Euclid finds quite useful. After some experimentation he finds that \pause only
does not work in align environments. He immediately writes an email about this to beamer’s author, but
receives a polite answer stating that the implementation of align does wicked things and there is no fix for this.
Also, Euclid is pointed to the last part of the user’s guide, where a workaround is described.
3.10 Using Overlay Specifications

The next frame is to show his main argument and is put in a “Results” section. Euclid desires a more complicated
overlay behavior for this frame: In an enumeration of four points he wishes to uncover the points one-by-one,
but he wishes the fourth point to be shown at the same time as the first. The idea is to illustrate his new
proof method, namely proof by contradiction, where a wrong assumption is brought to a contradiction at the
end after a number of intermediate steps that are not important at the beginning. For this, Euclid uses overlay
specifications:
\begin{frame}
\framesubtitle{The proof uses \textit{reductio ad absurdum}.}
\begin{theorem}
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
\begin{enumerate}
\item<1-> Suppose $p$ were the largest prime number.
\item<2-> Let $q$ be the product of the first $p$ numbers.
\item<3-> Then $q + 1$ is not divisible by any of them.
\item<1-> But $q + 1$ is greater than $1$, thus divisible by some prime
number not in the first $p$ numbers.\qedhere
\end{enumerate}
\end{proof}
\uncover<4->{The proof used \textit{reductio ad absurdum}.}
\end{frame}
The overlay specifications are given in pointed brackets. The specification <1-> means “from slide 1 on.”
Thus, the first and fourth item are shown on the first slide of the frame, but the other two items are not shown.
Rather, the second point is shown only from the second slide onward. beamer automatically computes the
number of slides needed for each frame. More generally, overlay specification are lists of numbers or number
ranges where the start or ending of a range can be left open. For example -3,5-6,8- means “on all slides,
except for slides 4 and 7.”
The \qedhere is used to put the qed symbol at the end of the line inside the enumeration. Normally, the
qed symbol is automatically inserted at the end of a proof environment, but that would be on an ugly empty
line here.
24
The \item command is not the only command that takes overlay specifications. Another useful command
that takes one is the \uncover command. It only shows its argument on the slides specified in the overlay
specification. On all other slides, the argument is hidden (though it still occupies space). The command \only
is similar and Euclid could also have tried
\only<4->{The proof used \textit{reductio ad absurdum}.}
On non-specified slides the \only command simply “throws its argument away” and the argument does not
occupy any space. This leads to different heights of the text on the first three slides and on the fourth slide. If
the text is centered vertically, this will cause the text to “wobble” and thus \uncover should be used. However,
you sometimes wish things to “really disappear” on some slides and then \only is useful. Euclid could also have
used the class option t, which causes the text in frames to be vertically flushed to the top. Then a differing
text height does not cause wobbling. Vertical flushing can also be achieved for only a single frame by giving the
optional argument [t] like this to the frame environment as in
\begin{frame}[t]
...
\end{frame}
Vice versa, if the t class option is given, a frame can be vertically centered using the [c] option for the frame.
It turns out that certain environments, including the theorem and proof environments above, also take
overlay specifications. If such a specification is given, the whole theorem or proof is only shown on the specified
slides.
3.11 Structuring a Frame

On the next frame, Euclid wishes to contrast solved and open problems on prime numbers. Since there is no
“Solved problem” environment similar to the theorem environment, Euclid decides to use the block environment,
which allows him to give an arbitrary title:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{What’s Still To Do?}
\begin{block}{Answered Questions}
How many primes are there?
\end{block}
\begin{block}{Open Questions}
Is every even number the sum of two primes?
\end{block}
\end{frame}
He could also have defined his own theorem-like environment by putting the following in the preamble:
\newtheorem{answeredquestions}[theorem]{Answered Questions}
\newtheorem{openquestions}[theorem]{Open Questions}
The optional argument [theorem] ensures that these environments are numbered the same way as everything
else. Since these numbers are not shown anyway, it does not really matter whether they are given, but it’s a
good practice and, perhaps, Euclid might need these numbers some other time.
An alternative would be nested itemize:
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item Answered Questions
\begin{itemize}
\item How many primes are there?
\end{itemize}
\item Open Questions
\begin{itemize}
25
\item Is every even number the sum of two primes?
\end{itemize}
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
Pondering on the problem some more, Euclid decides that it would be even nicer to have the “Answered
Questions” on the left and the “Open Questions” on the right, so as to create a stronger visual contrast. For
this, he uses the columns environment. Inside this environment, \column commands create new columns.
\begin{frame}
\begin{columns}
\column{.5\textwidth}
\begin{block}{Answered Questions}
How many primes are there?
\end{block}
\column{.5\textwidth}
\end{block}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
Trying this, he is not quite satisfied with the result as the block on the left has a different height than the
one on the right. He thinks it would be nicer if they were vertically top-aligned. So he adds the [t] option to
the columns environment.
Euclid is somewhat pleased to find out that a \pause at the end of the first column allows him to “uncover”
the second column only on the second slide of the frame.
3.12 Adding References

Euclid decides that he would like to add a citation to his open questions list, since he would like to attribute
the question to his good old friend Christian. Euclid is not really sure whether using a bibliography in his talk
is a good idea, but he goes ahead anyway.
To this end, he adds an entry to the bibliography, which he fortunately already finds in the solution file.
Having the bibliography in the appendix does not quite suit Euclid, so he removes the \appendix command. He
also notices <presentation> overlay specifications and finds them a bit strange, but they don’t seem to hurt
either. Hopefully they do something useful. His bibliography looks like this:
\begin{thebibliography}{10}
\bibitem{Goldbach1742}[Goldbach, 1742]
Christian Goldbach.
\newblock A problem we should try to solve before the ISPN ’43 deadline,
\newblock \emph{Letter to Leonhard Euler}, 1742.
\end{thebibliography}
and he can then add a citation:

\cite{Goldbach1742}
\end{block}
3.13 Verbatim Text

On another frame, Euclid would like to show a listing of an algorithm his friend Eratosthenes has sent him (saying
he came up with it while reorganizing his sieve collection). Euclid normally uses the verbatim environment and
26
sometimes also similar environments like lstlisting to typeset listings. He can also use them in beamer, but
he must add the fragile option to the frame:
\begin{frame}[fragile]
\frametitle{An Algorithm For Finding Prime Numbers.}
\begin{verbatim}
int main (void)
{
std::vector<bool> is_prime (100, true);
for (int i = 2; i < 100; i++)
if (is_prime[i])
{
std::cout << i << " ";
for (int j = i; j < 100; is_prime [j] = false, j+=i);
}
return 0;
}
\end{verbatim}
\begin{uncoverenv}<2>
Note the use of \verb|std::|.
\end{uncoverenv}
\end{frame}
On second thought, Euclid would prefer to uncover part of the algorithm stepwise and to add an emphasis
on certain lines or parts of lines. He can use package like alltt for this, but in simple cases the environment
{semiverbatim} defined by beamer is more useful: It works like {verbatim}, except that \, {, and } retain
their meaning (one can typeset them by using \\, \{, and \}). Euclid might now typeset his algorithm as
follows:
\begin{frame}[fragile]
\frametitle{An Algorithm For Finding Primes Numbers.}
\begin{semiverbatim}
\uncover<1->{\alert<0>{int main (void)}}
\uncover<1->{\alert<0>{\{}}
\uncover<1->{\alert<1>{ \alert<4>{std::}vector<bool> is_prime (100, true);}}
\uncover<1->{\alert<1>{ for (int i = 2; i < 100; i++)}}
\uncover<2->{\alert<2>{ if (is_prime[i])}}
\uncover<2->{\alert<0>{ \{}}
\uncover<3->{\alert<3>{ \alert<4>{std::}cout << i << " ";}}
\uncover<3->{\alert<3>{ for (int j = i; j < 100;}}
\uncover<3->{\alert<3>{ is_prime [j] = false, j+=i);}}
\uncover<2->{\alert<0>{ \}}}
\uncover<1->{\alert<0>{ return 0;}}
\uncover<1->{\alert<0>{\}}}
\end{semiverbatim}
\visible<4->{Note the use of \alert{\texttt{std::}}.}

\end{frame}
The \visible command does nearly the same as \uncover. However one difference occurs if the command
\setbeamercovered{transparent} has been used to make covered text “transparent” instead, \visible still
makes the text completely “invisible” on non-specified slides. Euclid has the feeling that the naming convention
is a bit strange, but cannot quite pinpoint the problem.
27
3.14 Changing the Way Things Look I: Theming
With the contents of this talk fixed, Euclid decides to have a second look at the way things look. He goes back
to the beginning and finds the line
\usetheme{Warsaw}
By substituting other cities (he notices that these cities seem to have in common that there has been a
workshop or conference on theoretical computer science there at which always the same person had a paper,
attended, or gave a talk) Euclid can change the way his presentation is going to look. He decides to choose some
theme that is reasonably simple but, since his talk is not too short, shows a bit of navigational information.
He settles on the Frankfurt theme but decides that the light-dark contrast is too strong. He adds
\usecolortheme{seahorse}
\usecolortheme{rose}
The result seems some more subdued to him.

Euclid decides that the font used for the titles is not quite classical enough (classical fonts are the latest chic
in Alexandria). So, he adds
\usefonttheme[onlylarge]{structuresmallcapsserif}
Euclid notices that the small fonts in the navigation bars are a bit hard to read as they are so thin. Adding the
following helps:
\usefonttheme[onlysmall]{structurebold}
3.15 Changing the Way Things Look II: Colors and Fonts
Since Euclid wants to give a perfect talk, he decides that the font used for the title simply has to be a serif
italics. To change only the font used for the title, Euclid uses the following command:
\setbeamerfont{title}{shape=\itshape,family=\rmfamily}
He notices that the font is still quite large (which he likes), but wonders why this is the case since he did not
specify this. The reason is that calls of \setbeamerfont accumulate and the size was already set to \large by
some font theme. Using the starred version of \setbeamerfont “resets” the font.
Euclid decides that he would also like to change the color of the title to a dashing red, though, perhaps, with
a bit of black added. He uses the following command:
\setbeamercolor{title}{fg=red!80!black}
Trying the following command, Euclid is delighted to find that specifying a background color also has an effect:
\setbeamercolor{title}{fg=red!80!black,bg=red!20!white}
Finally, Euclid is satisfied with the presentation and goes ahead and gives a great talk at the conference,
making many new friends. He also writes that email to beamer’s author containing that long list of things that
he missed in beamer or that do not work. He is a bit disappointed to learn that it might take till ISPN ’79 for
all these things to be taken care of, but he also understands that beamer’s authors also need some time to do
research or otherwise he would have nothing to give presentations about.
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4 Workflow For Creating a Beamer Presentation
This section presents a possible workflow for creating a beamer presentation and possibly a handout to go along
with it. Technical questions are addressed, like which programs to call with which parameters.
4.1 Step One: Setup the Files

presen- It is advisable that you create a folder for each presentation. Even though your presentation will usually reside
tation in a single file, T X produces so many extra files that things can easily get very confusing otherwise. The
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folder’s name should ideally start with the date of your talk in ISO format (like 2003-12-25 for a Christmas
talk), followed by some reminder text of what the talk is all about. Putting the date at the front in this format
causes your presentation folders to be listed nicely when you have several of them residing in one directory. If
you use an extra directory for each presentation, you can call your main file main.tex.
To create an initial main.tex file for your talk, copy an existing file from the beamer/doc/solutions directory
and adapt it to your needs. A list of possible beamer solutions that contain templates for presentation TEX-files
can be found below.
If you wish your talk to reside in the same file as some different, non-presentation article version of your text,
it is advisable to setup a more elaborate file scheme. See Section 21.2.2 for details.
4.2 Step Two: Structure Your Presentation

The next step is to fill the presentation file with \section and \subsection to create a preliminary outline.
You’ll find some hints on how to create a good outline in Section 5.1.
Put \section and \subsection commands into the (more or less empty) main file. Do not create any frames
until you have a first working version of a possible table of contents. The file might look like this:
% This is the file main.tex
\usetheme{Berlin}
\title{Example Presentation Created with the Beamer Package}

\author{Till Tantau}
\date{\today}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\titlepage
\end{frame}
\section*{Outline}
\begin{frame}
\tableofcontents
\end{frame}
\section{Introduction}
\subsection{Overview of the Beamer Class}
\subsection{Overview of Similar Classes}
\section{Usage}
\subsection{...}
\subsection{...}
\section{Examples}
\subsection{...}
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\subsection{...}
\begin{frame}
\end{frame} % to enforce entries in the table of contents
\end{document}
The empty frame at the end (which should be deleted later) ensures that the sections and subsections are actually
part of the table of contents. This frame is necessary since a \section or \subsection command following the
last page of a document has no effect.
4.3 Step Three: Creating a PDF or PostScript File

presen- Once a first version of the structure is finished, you should try to create a first PDF or PostScript file of your
tation (still empty) talk to ensure that everything is working properly. This file will only contain the title page and
the table of contents.
4.3.1 Creating PDF
presen- To create a PDF version of this file, run the program pdflatex on main.tex at least twice. You need to run it
tation twice, so that T X can create the table of contents. (It may even be necessary to run it more often since all
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sorts of auxiliary files are created.) In the following example, the greater-than-sign is the prompt.
> pdflatex main.tex
... lots of output ...
> pdflatex main.tex
Alternatively, you can use lualatex or xelatex instead of pdflatex in above commands.
You can next use a program like the Acrobat Reader, xpdf, evince or okular to view the resulting presen-
tation.
> acroread main.pdf
4.3.2 Creating PostScript
presen- To create a PostScript version, you should first ascertain that the hyperref package (which is automatically
tation loaded by the beamer class) uses the option dvips or some compatible option, see the documentation of the
hyperref package for details. Whether this is the case depends on the contents of your local hyperref.cfg
file. You can enforce the usage of this option by passing dvips or a compatible option to the beamer class
(write \documentclass[dvips]{beamer}), which will pass this option on to the hyperref package.
You can then run latex twice, followed by dvips.
> latex main.tex
> latex main.tex
> dvips -P pdf main.dvi
The option (-P pdf) tells dvips to use Type 1 outline fonts instead of the usual Type 3 bitmap fonts. You
may wish to omit this option if there is a problem with it.
You can convert a PostScript file to a pdf file using
> ps2pdf main.ps main.pdf
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4.3.3 Ways of Improving Compilation Speed
While working on your presentation, it may sometimes be useful to TEX your .tex file quickly and have the
presentation contain only the most important information. This is especially true if you have a slow machine.
In this case, you can do several things to speed up the compilation. First, you can use the draft class option.
\documentclass[draft]{beamer}
Causes the headlines, footlines, and sidebars to be replaced by gray rectangles (their sizes are still computed,
though). Many other packages, including pgf and hyperref, also “speed up” when this option is given.
Second, you can use the following command:
\includeonlyframes{⟨frame label list⟩}

This command behaves a little bit like the \includeonly command: Only the frames mentioned in the list
are included. All other frames are suppressed. Nevertheless, the section and subsection commands are still
executed, so that you still have the correct navigation bars. By labeling the current frame as, say, current
and then saying \includeonlyframes{current}, you can work on a single frame quickly.
The ⟨frame label list⟩ is a comma-separated list (without spaces) of the names of frames that have been
labeled. To label a frame, you must pass the option label=⟨name⟩ to the \frame command or frame
environment.
Example:
\includeonlyframes{example1,example3}
\frame[label=example1]
{This frame will be included. }
\frame[label=example2]
{This frame will not be included. }
\frame{This frame will not be included.}
\againframe{example1} % Will be included
4.4 Step Four: Create Frames

Once the table of contents looks satisfactory, start creating frames for your presentation by adding frame
environments. You’ll find guidelines on what to put on a frame in Section 5.1.3.
4.5 Step Five: Test Your Presentation

Always test your presentation. For this, you should vocalize or subvocalize your talk in a quiet environment.
Typically, this will show that your talk is too long. You should then remove parts of the presentation, such
that it fits into the allotted time slot. Do not attempt to talk faster in order to squeeze the talk into the given
amount of time. You are almost sure to lose your audience this way.
Do not try to create the “perfect” presentation immediately. Rather, test and retest the talk and modify it
as needed.
4.6 Step Six: Create a Handout

4.6.1 Creating the Handout
Once your talk is fixed, you can create a handout, if this seems appropriate. For this, you can use the class
option handout as explained in Section 21.1. Typically, you might wish to put several handout slides on one
page, see below on how to do this easily.
You may also wish to create an article version of your talk. An “article version” of your presentation is a
normal TEX text typeset using, for example, the document class article or perhaps llncs or a similar document
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class. The beamer class offers facilities to have this version coexist with your presentation version in one file
and to share code. Also, you can include slides of your presentation as figures in your article version. Details
on how to setup the article version can be found in Section 21.2.
4.6.2 Printing the Handout

The easiest way to print a presentation is to user the Acrobat Reader with the option “expand small pages to
paper size” form the printer dialog enabled. This is necessary, because slides are by default only 128mm by
96mm large.
For the PostScript version and for printing multiple slides on a single page this simple approach does not
work. In such cases you can use the pgfpages package, which works directly with pdflatex, lualatex, xelatex
and latex plus dvips. Note however that this package destroys hyperlinks. This is due to fundamental flaws in
the pdf-specification and it is not likely to change.
The pgfpages can do all sorts of tricks with pages. The most important one for printing beamer slides is
the following command:
\usepackage{pgfpages}
\pgfpagesuselayout{resize to}[a4paper,border shrink=5mm,landscape]
This says “Resize all pages to landscape A4 pages, no matter what their original size was, but shrink the pages
by 5mm, so that there is a bit of a border around everything.” Naturally, instead of a4paper you can also use
letterpaper or any of the other standard paper sizes. For further options and details see the documentation
of pgfpages.
The second thing you might wish to do is to put several slides on a single page. This can be done as follows:
\pgfpagesuselayout{2 on 1}[a4paper,border shrink=5mm]
This says “Put two pages on one page and then resize everything so that it fits on A4 paper.” Note that this
time we do not need landscape as the resulting page is, after all, not in landscape mode.
Instead of 2 on 1 you can also use 4 on 1, but then with landscape once more, and also 8 on 1 and even
16 on 1 to get a grand (though unreadable) overview.
If you put several slides on one page and if these slides normally have a white background, it may be useful
to write the following in your preamble:
\mode<handout>{\setbeamercolor{background canvas}{bg=black!5}}
This will cause the slides of the handout version to have a very light gray background. This makes it easy to
discern the slides’ border if several slides are put on one page.
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5 Guidelines for Creating Presentations
In this section we sketch the guidelines that we try to stick to when we create presentations. These guidelines
either arise out of experience, out of common sense, or out of recommendations by other people or books. These
rules are certainly not intended as commandments that, if not followed, will result in catastrophe. The central
rule of typography also applies to creating presentations: Every rule can be broken, but no rule may be ignored.
5.1 Structuring a Presentation

5.1.1 Know the Time Constraints
When you start to create a presentation, the very first thing you should worry about is the amount of time you
have for your presentation. Depending on the occasion, this can be anything between 2 minutes and two hours.
• A simple rule for the number of frames is that you should have at most one frame per minute.
• In most situations, you will have less time for your presentation than you would like.
• Do not try to squeeze more into a presentation than time allows for. No matter how important some detail
seems to you, it is better to leave it out, but get the main message across, than getting neither the main
message nor the detail across.
In many situations, a quick appraisal of how much time you have will show that you won’t be able to mention
certain details. Knowing this can save you hours of work on preparing slides that you would have to remove
later anyway.
5.1.2 Global Structure

To create the “global structure” of a presentation, with the time constraints in mind, proceed as follows:
• Make a mental inventory of the things you can reasonably talk about within the time available.
• Categorize the inventory into sections and subsections.
• For very long talks (like a 90 minute lecture), you might also divide your talk into independent parts (like
a “review of the previous lecture part” and a “main part”) using the \part command. Note that each part
has its own table of contents.
• Do not feel afraid to change the structure later on as you work on the talk.
Parts, Section, and Subsections.

• Do not use more than four sections and not less than two per part.
Even four sections are usually too much, unless they follow a very easy pattern. Five and more sections are
simply too hard to remember for the audience. After all, when you present the table of contents, the audience
will not yet really be able to grasp the importance and relevance of the different sections and will most likely
have forgotten them by the time you reach them.
• Ideally, a table of contents should be understandable by itself. In particular, it should be comprehensible
before someone has heard your talk.
• Keep section and subsection titles self-explaining.
• Both the sections and the subsections should follow a logical pattern.
• Begin with an explanation of what your talk is all about. (Do not assume that everyone knows this.
The Ignorant Audience Law states: Someone important in the audience always knows less than you think
everyone should know, even if you take the Ignorant Audience Law into account.)
• Then explain what you or someone else has found out concerning the subject matter.
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• Always conclude your talk with a summary that repeats the main message of the talk in a short and simple
way. People pay most attention at the beginning and at the end of talks. The summary is your “second
chance” to get across a message.
• You can also add an appendix part using the \appendix command. Put everything into this part that you
do not actually intend to talk about, but that might come in handy when questions are asked.
• Do not use subsubsections, they are evil.
Giving an Abstract In papers, the abstract gives a short summary of the whole paper in about 100 words.
This summary is intend to help readers appraise whether they should read the whole paper or not.
• Since your audience is unlikely to flee after the first slide, in a presentation you usually do not need to
present an abstract.
• However, if you can give a nice, succinct statement of your talk, you might wish to include an abstract.
• If you include an abstract, be sure that it is not some long text but just a very short message.
• Never, ever reuse a paper abstract for a presentation, except if the abstract is “We show P = NP” or “We
show P ̸= NP”
• If your abstract is one of the above two, double-check whether your proof is correct.
Numbered Theorems and Definitions. A common way of globally structuring (math) articles and books
is to use consecutively numbered definitions and theorems. Unfortunately, for presentations the situation is a
bit more complicated and we would like to discourage using numbered theorems in presentations. The audience
has no chance of remembering these numbers. Never say things like “now, by Theorem 2.5 that I showed you
earlier, we have . . . ” It would be much better to refer to, say, Kummer’s Theorem instead of Theorem 2.5. If
Theorem 2.5 is some obscure theorem that does not have its own name (unlike Kummer’s Theorem or Main
Theorem or Second Main Theorem or Key Lemma), then the audience will have forgotten about it anyway by
the time you refer to it again.
In our opinion, the only situation in which numbered theorems make sense in a presentation is in a lecture, in
which the students can read lecture notes in parallel to the lecture where the theorems are numbered in exactly
the same way.
If you do number theorems and definitions, number everything consecutively. Thus if there are one theorem,
one lemma, and one definition, you would have Theorem 1, Lemma 2, and Definition 3. Some people prefer all
three to be numbered 1. We would strongly like to discourage this. The problem is that this makes it virtually
impossible to find anything since Theorem 2 might come after Definition 10 or the other way round. Papers
and, worse, books that have a Theorem 1 and a Definition 1 are a pain.
• Do not inflict pain on other people.
Bibliographies. You may also wish to present a bibliography at the end of your talk, so that people can see
what kind of “further reading” is possible. When adding a bibliography to a presentation, keep the following in
mind:
• It is a bad idea to present a long bibliography in a presentation. Present only very few references. (Natu-
rally, this applies only to the talk itself, not to a possible handout.)
• If you present more references than fit on a single slide you can be almost sure that none of them will be
remembered.
• Present references only if they are intended as “further reading.” Do not present a list of all things you
used like in a paper.
• You should not present a long list of all your other great papers except if you are giving an application
talk.
34
• Using the \cite commands can be confusing since the audience has little chance of remembering the
citations. If you cite the references, always cite them with full author name and year like “[Tantau, 2003]”
instead of something like “[2,4]” or “[Tan01,NT02]”.
• If you want to be modest, you can abbreviate your name when citing yourself as in “[Nickelsen and T.,
2003]” or “[Nickelsen and T, 2003]”. However, this can be confusing for the audience since it is often not
immediately clear who exactly “T.” might be. We recommend using the full name.
5.1.3 Frame Structure

Just like your whole presentation, each frame should also be structured. A frame that is solely filled with some
long text is very hard to follow. It is your job to structure the contents of each frame such that, ideally, the
audience immediately sees which information is important, which information is just a detail, how the presented
information is related, and so on.
The Frame Title

• Put a title on each frame. The title explains the contents of the frame to people who did not follow all
details on the slide.
• The title should really explain things, not just give a cryptic summary that cannot be understood unless
one has understood the whole slide. For example, a title like “The Poset” will have everyone puzzled what
this slide might be about. Titles like “Review of the Definition of Partially Ordered Sets (Posets)” or “A
Partial Ordering on the Columns of the Genotype Matrix” are much more informative.
• Ideally, titles on consecutive frames should “tell a story” all by themselves.

• In English, you should either always capitalize all words in a frame title except for words like “a” or “the”
(as in a title), or you always use the normal lowercase letters. Do not mix this; stick to one rule. The same
is true for block titles. For example, do not use titles like “A short Review of Turing machines.” Either
use “A Short Review of Turing Machines.” or “A short review of Turing machines.” (Turing is still spelled
with a capital letter since it is a name).
• In English, the title of the whole document should be capitalized, regardless of whether you capitalize
anything else.
• In German and other languages that have lots of capitalized words, always use the correct upper-/lowercase
letters. Never capitalize anything in addition to what is usually capitalized.
How Much Can I Put On a Frame?
• A frame with too little on it is better than a frame with too much on it. A usual frame should have
between 20 and 40 words. The maximum should be at about 80 words.
• Do not assume that everyone in the audience is an expert on the subject matter. Even if the people
listening to you should be experts, they may last have heard about things you consider obvious several
years ago. You should always have the time for a quick reminder of what exactly a “semantical complexity
class” or an “𝜔-complete partial ordering” is.
• Never put anything on a slide that you are not going to explain during the talk, not even to impress anyone
with how complicated your subject matter really is. However, you may explain things that are not on a
slide.
• Keep it simple. Typically, your audience will see a slide for less than 50 seconds. They will not have the
time to puzzle through long sentences or complicated formulas.
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• Lance Fortnow, a professor of computer science, claims: PowerPoint users give better talks. His reason:
Since PowerPoint is so bad at typesetting math, they use less math, making their talks easier to understand.
There is some truth in this in our opinion. The great math-typesetting capabilities of TEX can easily lure
you into using many more formulas than is necessary and healthy. For example, instead of writing “Since
|{𝑥 ∈ {0, 1}* | 𝑥 ⊑ 𝑦}| < ∞, we have. . . ” use “Since 𝑦 has only finitely many prefixes, we have. . . ”
You will be surprised how much mathematical text can be reformulated in plain English or can just be
omitted. Naturally, if some mathematical argument is what you are actually talking about, as in a math
lecture, make use of TEX’s typesetting capabilities to your heart’s content.
Structuring a Frame
• Use block environments like block, theorem, proof, example, and so on.
• Prefer enumerations and itemize environments over plain text.
• Use description when you define several things.

• Do not use more than two levels of “subitemizing.” beamer supports three levels, but you should not use
that third level. Mostly, you should not even use the second one. Use good graphics instead.
• Do not create endless itemize or enumerate lists.
• Do not uncover lists piecewise.

• Emphasis is an important part of creating structure. Use \alert to highlight important things. This can
be a single word or a whole sentence. However, do not overuse highlighting since this will negate the effect.
• Use columns.
• Never use footnotes. They needlessly disrupt the flow of reading. Either what is said in the footnote is
important and should be put in the normal text; or it is not important and should be omitted (especially
in a presentation).
• Use quote or quotation to typeset quoted text.
• Do not use the option allowframebreaks except for long bibliographies.

• Do not use long bibliographies.
Writing the Text

• Use short sentences.
• Prefer phrases over complete sentences. For example, instead of “The figure on the left shows a Turing
machine, the figure on the right shows a finite automaton.” try “Left: A Turing machine. Right: A finite
automaton.” Even better, turn this into an itemize or a description.
• Punctuate correctly: no punctuation after phrases, complete punctuation in and after complete sentences.
• Never use a smaller font size to “fit more on a frame.” Never ever use the evil option shrink.
• Do not hyphenate words. If absolutely necessary, hyphenate words “by hand,” using the command \-.
• Break lines “by hand” using the command \\. Do not rely on automatic line breaking. Break where there
is a logical pause. For example, good breaks in “the tape alphabet is larger than the input alphabet” are
before “is” and before the second “the.” Bad breaks are before either “alphabet” and before “larger.”
• Text and numbers in figures should have the same size as normal text. Illegible numbers on axes usually
ruin a chart and its message.
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5.1.4 Interactive Elements
Ideally, during a presentation you would like to present your slides in a perfectly linear fashion, presumably by
pressing the page-down-key once for each slide. However, there are different reasons why you might have to
deviate from this linear order:
• Your presentation may contain “different levels of detail” that may or may not be skipped or expanded,
depending on the audience’s reaction.
• You are asked questions and wish to show supplementary slides.
• You present a complicated picture and you have to “zoom out” different parts to explain details.
• You are asked questions about an earlier slide, which forces you to find and then jump to that slide.
You cannot really prepare against the last kind of questions. In this case, you can use the navigation bars
and symbols to find the slide you are interested in, see 8.2.3.
Concerning the first three kinds of deviations, there are several things you can do to prepare “planned
detours” or “planned short cuts”.
• You can add “skip buttons.” When such a button is pressed, you jump over a well-defined part of your
talk. Skip button have two advantages over just pressing the forward key is rapid succession: first, you
immediately end up at the correct position and, second, the button’s label can give the audience a visual
feedback of what exactly will be skipped. For example, when you press a skip button labeled “Skip proof”
nobody will start puzzling over what he or she has missed.
• You can add an appendix to your talk. The appendix is kept “perfectly separated” from the main talk. Only
once you “enter” the appendix part (presumably by hyperjumping into it), does the appendix structure
become visible. You can put all frames that you do not intend to show during the normal course of your
talk, but which you would like to have handy in case someone asks, into this appendix.
• You can add “goto buttons” and “return buttons” to create detours. Pressing a goto button will jump to
a certain part of the presentation where extra details can be shown. In this part, there is a return button
present on each slide that will jump back to the place where the goto button was pressed.
• In beamer, you can use the \againframe command to “continue” frames that you previously started
somewhere, but where certain details have been suppressed. You can use the \againframe command at a
much later point, for example only in the appendix to show additional slides there.
• In beamer, you can use the \framezoom command to create links to zoomed out parts of a complicated
slide.
5.2 Using Graphics

Graphics often convey concepts or ideas much more efficiently than text: A picture can say more than a thousand
words. (Although, sometimes a word can say more than a thousand pictures.)
• Put (at least) one graphic on each slide, whenever possible. Visualizations help an audience enormously.
• Usually, place graphics to the left of the text. (Use the columns environment.) In a left-to-right reading
culture, we look at the left first.
• Graphics should have the same typographic parameters as the text: Use the same fonts (at the same size)
in graphics as in the main text. A small dot in a graphic should have exactly the same size as a small dot
in a text. The line width should be the same as the stroke width used in creating the glyphs of the font.
For example, an 11pt non-bold Computer Modern font has a stroke width of 0.4pt.
• While bitmap graphics, like photos, can be much more colorful than the rest of the text, vector graphics
should follow the same “color logic” as the main text (like black = normal lines, red = highlighted parts,
green = examples, blue = structure).
37
• Like text, you should explain everything that is shown on a graphic. Unexplained details make the audience
puzzle whether this was something important that they have missed. Be careful when importing graphics
from a paper or some other source. They usually have much more detail than you will be able to explain
and should be radically simplified.
• Sometimes the complexity of a graphic is intentional and you are willing to spend much time explaining
the graphic in great detail. In this case, you will often run into the problem that fine details of the graphic
are hard to discern for the audience. In this case you should use a command like \framezoom to create
anticipated zoomings of interesting parts of the graphic, see Section 11.3.
5.3 Using Animations and Transitions

• Use animations to explain the dynamics of systems, algorithms, etc.
• Do not use animations just to attract the attention of your audience. This often distracts attention away
from the main topic of the slide. No matter how cute a rotating, flying theorem seems to look and no
matter how badly you feel your audience needs some action to keep it happy, most people in the audience
will typically feel you are making fun of them.
• Do not use distracting special effects like “dissolving” slides unless you have a very good reason for using
them. If you use them, use them sparsely. They can be useful in some situations: For example, you might
show a young boy on a slide and might wish to dissolve this slide into a slide showing a grown man instead.
In this case, the dissolving gives the audience visual feedback that the young boy “slowly becomes” the
man.
5.4 Choosing Appropriate Themes

beamer comes with a number of different themes. When choosing a theme, keep the following in mind:
• Different themes are appropriate for different occasions. Do not become too attached to a favorite theme;
choose a theme according to occasion.
• A longer talk is more likely to require navigational hints than a short one. When you give a 90 minute
lecture to students, you should choose a theme that always shows a sidebar with the current topic high-
lighted so that everyone always knows exactly what’s the current “status” of your talk is; when you give
a ten-minute introductory speech, a table of contents is likely to just seem silly.
• A theme showing the author’s name and affiliation is appropriate in situations where the audience is likely
not to know you (like during a conference). If everyone knows you, having your name on each slide is just
vanity.
• First choose a presentation theme that has a layout that is appropriate for your talk.
• Next you might wish to change the colors by installing a different color theme. This can drastically change
the appearance of your presentation. A “colorful” theme like Berkeley will look much less flashy if you
use the color themes seahorse and lily.
• You might also wish to change the fonts by installing a different font theme.
5.5 Choosing Appropriate Colors

• Use colors sparsely. The prepared themes are already quite colorful (blue = structure, red = alert, green =
example). If you add more colors for things like code, math text, etc., you should have a very good reason.
• Be careful when using bright colors on white background, especially when using green. What looks good
on your monitor may look bad during a presentation due to the different ways monitors, beamers, and
printers reproduce colors. Add lots of black to pure colors when you use them on bright backgrounds.
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• Maximize contrast. Normal text should be black on white or at least something very dark on something
very bright. Never do things like “light green text on not-so-light green background.”
• Background shadings decrease the legibility without increasing the information content. Do not add a
background shading just because it “somehow looks nicer.”
• Inverse video (bright text on dark background) can be a problem during presentations in bright environ-
ments since only a small percentage of the presentation area is light up by the beamer. Inverse video is
harder to reproduce on printouts and on transparencies.
5.6 Choosing Appropriate Fonts and Font Attributes

Text and fonts literally surround us constantly. Try to think of the last time when there was no text around you
within ten meters. Likely, this has never happened in your life! (Whenever you wear clothing, even a swim suit,
there is a lot of text right next to your body.) The history of fonts is nearly as long as the history of civilization
itself. There are tens of thousands of fonts available these days, some of which are the product of hundreds of
years of optimization.
Choosing the right fonts for a presentation is by no means trivial and wrong choices will either just “look
bad” or, worse, make the audience have trouble reading your slides. This user’s guide cannot replace a good
book on typography, but in the present section you’ll find several hints that should help you setup fonts for a
beamer presentation that look good. A font has numerous attributes like weight, family, or size. All of these
have an impact on the usability of the font in presentations. In the following, these attributes are described and
advantages and disadvantages of the different choices are sketched.
5.6.1 Font Size

Perhaps the most obvious attribute of a font is its size. Fonts are traditionally measured in “points.” How much
a point is depends on whom you ask. TEX thinks a point is the 72.27th part of an inch, which is 2.54 cm. On
the other hand, PostScript and Adobe think a point is the 72th part of an inch (TEX calls this a big point).
There are differences between American and European points. Once it is settled how much a point is, claiming
that a text is in “11pt” means that the “height” of the letters in the font are 11pt. However, this “height” stems
from the time when letters where still cast in lead and refers to the vertical size of the lead letters. It thus does
not need to have any correlation with the actual height of, say, the letter x or even the letter M. The letter x of
an 11pt Times from Adobe will have a height that is different from the height of the letter x of an 11pt Times
from UTC and the letter x of an 11pt Helvetica from Adobe will have yet another height.
Summing up, the font size has little to do with the actual size of letters. Rather, these days it is a convention
that 10pt or 11pt is the size a font should be printed for “normal reading.” Fonts are designed so that they can
optimally be read at these sizes.
In a presentation the classical font sizes obviously lose their meaning. Nobody could read a projected text
if it were actually 11pt. Instead, the projected letters need to be several centimetres high. Thus, it does not
really make sense to specify “font sizes” for presentations in the usual way. Instead, you should try to think of
the number of lines that will fit on a slide if you were to fill the whole slide with line-by-line text (you are never
going to do that in practice, though). Depending on how far your audience is removed from the projection and
on how large the projection is, between 10 and 20 lines should fit on each slide. The less lines, the more readable
your text will be.
In beamer, the default sizes of the fonts are chosen in a way that makes it difficult to fit “too much” onto
a slide. Also, it will ensure that your slides are readable even under bad conditions like a large room and only
a small projection area. However, you may wish to enlarge or shrink the fonts a bit if you know this to be more
appropriate in your presentation environment.
Once the size of the normal text is settled, all other sizes are usually defined relative to that size. For this
reason, LATEX has commands like \large or \small. The actual size these commands select depends on the size
of normal text.
In a presentation, you will want to use a very small font for text in headlines, footlines, or sidebars since
the text shown there is not vital and is read at the audience’s leisure. Naturally, the text should still be large
39
enough that it actually can be read without binoculars. However, in a normal presentation environment the
audience will still be able to read even \tiny text when necessary.
However, using small fonts can be tricky. Many PostScript fonts are just scaled down when used at small
sizes. When a font is used at less than its normal size, the characters should actually be stroked using a slightly
thicker “pen” than the one resulting from just scaling things. For this reason, high quality multiple master fonts
or the Computer Modern fonts use different fonts for small characters and for normal characters. However, when
you use a normal Helvetica or Times font, the characters are just scaled down. A similar problem arises when
you use a light font on a dark background. Even when printed on paper in high resolution, light-on-dark text
tends to be “overflooded” by the dark background. When light-on-dark text is rendered in a presentation this
effect can be much worse, making the text almost impossible to read.
You can counter both negative effects by using a bold version for small text.
In the other direction, you can use larger text for titles. However, using a larger font does not always have
the desired effect. Just because a frame title is printed in large letters does not mean that it is read first. Indeed,
have a look at the cover of your favorite magazine. Most likely, the magazine’s name is the typeset in the largest
font, but your attention will nevertheless first go to the topics advertised on the cover. Likewise, in the table
of contents you are likely to first focus on the entries, not on the words “Table of Contents.” Most likely, you
would not spot a spelling mistake there (a friend of mine actually managed to misspell his own name on the
cover of his master’s thesis and nobody noticed until a year later). In essence, large text at the top of a page
signals “unimportant since I know what to expect.” So, instead of using a very large frame title, also consider
using a normal size frame title that is typeset in bold or in italics.
5.6.2 Font Families

The other central property of any font is its family. Examples of font families are Times or Helvetica or Futura.
As the name suggests, a lot of different fonts can belong to the same family. For example, Times comes in
different sizes, there is a bold version of Times, an italics version, and so on. To confuse matters, font families
like Times are often just called the “font Times.”
There are two large classes of font families: serif fonts and sans-serif fonts. A sans-serif font is a font in
which the letters do not have serifs (from French sans, which means “without”). Serifs are the little hooks at the
ending of the strokes that make up a letter. The font you are currently reading is a serif font. By comparison,
this text is in a sans-serif font. Sans-serif fonts are (generally considered to be) easier to read when used in a
presentation. In low resolution rendering, serifs decrease the legibility of a font. However, on projectors with
very high resolution serif text is just as readable as sans-serif text. A presentation typeset in a serif font creates
a more conservative impression, which might be exactly what you wish to create.
Most likely, you’ll have a lot of different font families preinstalled on your system. The default font used
by TEX (and beamer) is the Computer Modern font. It is the original font family designed by Donald Knuth
himself for the TEX program. It is a mature font that comes with just about everything you could wish for:
extensive mathematical alphabets, outline PostScript versions, real small caps, real oldstyle numbers, specially
designed small and large letters, and so on.
However, there are reasons for using font families other than Computer Modern:
• The Computer Modern fonts are a bit boring if you have seen them too often. Using another font (but
not Times!) can give a fresh look.
• Other fonts, especially Times and Helvetica, are sometime rendered better since they seem to have better
internal hinting.
• The sans-serif version of Computer Modern is not nearly as well-designed as the serif version. Indeed,
the sans-serif version is, in essence, the serif version with different design parameters, not an independent
design.
• Computer modern needs much more space than more economic fonts like Times (this explains why Times
is so popular with people who need to squeeze their great paper into just twelve pages). To be fair, Times
was specifically designed to be economic (the newspaper company publishing The Times needed robust,
but space-economic font).
A small selection of alternatives to Computer Modern:
40
• Latin Modern is a Computer Modern derivative that provides more characters, so it’s not considered a
real alternative. It’s recommended over Computer Modern, though.
• Helvetica is an often used alternative. However, Helvetica also tends to look boring (since we see it
everywhere) and it has a very large x-height (the height of the letter x in comparison to a letter like M).
A large x-height is usually considered good for languages (like English) that use uppercase letters seldom
and not-so-good for languages (like German) that use uppercase letters a lot. (We have never been quite
convinced by the argument for this, though.) Be warned: the x-height of Helvetica is so different from the
x-height of Times that mixing the two in a single line looks strange. The packages for loading Times and
Helvetica provide options for fixing this, though.
• Futura is, in our opinion, a beautiful font that is very well-suited for presentations. Its thick letters make
it robust against scaling, inversion, and low contrast. Unfortunately, while it is most likely installed on
your system somewhere in some form, getting TEX to work with it is a complicated process. However, it
has been made a lot simpler with modern typesetting engines such as luatex and xetex.
• Times is a possible alternative to Computer Modern. Its main disadvantage is that it is a serif font, which
requires a high-resolution projector. Naturally, it also used very often, so we all know it very well.
• DejaVu, a derivative of Bitstream Vera is also a very good and free alternative. TrueType version that
comes with OpenOffice.org is complicated to get to work with TEX, but arev LATEX package provides an
easy way to use Type 1 version named Bera. It has both sans-serif and serif versions; arev provides both.
Families that you should not use for normal text include:
• All monospaced fonts (like Courier).

• Script fonts (which look like handwriting). Their stroke width is way too small for a presentation.
• More delicate serif fonts like Stempel and possibly even Garamond (though Garamond is really a beautiful
font for books).
• Gothic fonts. Only a small fraction of your audience will be able to read them fluently.
There is one popular font that is a bit special: Microsoft’s Comic Sans. On the one hand, there is a website
lobbying for banning the use of this font. Indeed, the main trouble with the font is that it is not particularly
well-readable and that math typeset partly using this font looks terrible. On the other hand, this font does
create the impression of a slide “written by hand,” which gives the presentation a natural look. Think twice
before using this font, but do not let yourself be intimidated.
One of the most important rules of typography is that you should use as little fonts as possible in a text. In
particular, typographic wisdom dictates that you should not use more than two different families on one page.
However, when typesetting mathematical text, it is often necessary and useful to use different font families. For
example, it used to be common practice to use Gothic letters to denote vectors. Also, program texts are often
typeset in monospace fonts. If your audience is used to a certain font family for a certain type of text, use that
family, regardless of what typographic wisdom says.
A common practice in typography is to use a sans-serif fonts for titles and serif fonts for normal text (check
your favorite magazine). You can also use two different sans-serif fonts or two different serif fonts, but you then
have to make sure that the fonts look “sufficiently different.” If they look only slightly different, the page will look
“somehow strange,” but the audience will not be able to tell why. For example, do not mix Arial and Helvetica
(they are almost identical) or Computer Modern and Baskerville (they are quite similar). A combination of Gills
Sans and Helvetica is dangerous but perhaps possible. A combination like Futura and Optima is certainly OK,
at least with respect to the fonts being very different.
5.6.3 Font Shapes: Italics and Small Capitals

LATEX introduces the concept of the shape of a font. The only really important ones are italic and small caps.
An italic font is a font in which the text is slightly slanted to the right like this. Things to know about italics:
41
• Italics are commonly used in novels to express emphasis. However, especially with sans-serif fonts, italics
are typically not “strong enough” and the emphasis gets lost in a presentation. Using a different color or
bold text seems better suited for presentations to create emphasis.
• If you look closely, you will notice that italic text is not only slanted but that different letters are actually
used (compare a and a, for example). However, this is only true for serif text, not for sans-serif text. Text
that is only slanted without using different characters is called “slanted” instead of “italic.” Sometimes,
the word “oblique” is also used for slanted, but it sometimes also used for italics, so it is perhaps best to
avoid it. Using slanted serif text is very much frowned upon by typographers and is considered “cheap
computer typography.” However, people who use slanted text in their books include Donald Knuth.
In a presentation, if you go to the trouble of using a serif font for some part of it, you should also use
italics, not slanted text.
• The different characters used for serif italics have changed much less from the original handwritten letters
they are based on than normal serif text. For this reason, serif italics creates the impression of handwritten
text, which may be desirable to give a presentation a more “personal touch” (although you can’t get very
personal using Times italics, which everyone has seen a thousand times). However, it is harder to read
than normal text, so do not use it for text more than a line long.
The second font shape supported by TEX are small capital letters. Using them can create a conservative,
even formal impression, but some words of caution:
• Small capitals are different from all-uppercase text. A small caps text leaves normal uppercase letters
unchanged and uses smaller versions of the uppercase letters for normal typesetting lowercase letters.
Thus the word “German” is typeset as German using small caps, but as GERMAN using all uppercase
letters.
• Small caps either come as “faked” small caps or as “real” small caps. Faked small caps are created by
just scaling down normal uppercase letters. This leads to letters the look too thin. Real small caps are
specially designed smaller versions of the uppercase letters that have the same stroke width as normal text.
• Computer Modern fonts and expert version of PostScript fonts come with real small caps (though the small
caps of Computer Modern are one point size too large for some unfathomable reason—but your audience
is going to pardon this since it will not be noticed anyway). “Simple” PostScript fonts like out-of-the-box
Helvetica or Times only come with faked small caps.
• Text typeset in small caps is harder to read than normal text. The reason is that we read by seeing the
“shape” of words. For example, the word “shape” is mainly recognized by seeing one normal letter, one
ascending letter, a normal letter, one descending letter, and a normal letter. One has much more trouble
spotting a misspelling like “shepe” than “spape”. Small caps destroy the shape of words since shape,
shepe and spape all have the same shape, thus making it much harder to tell them apart. Your audience
will read small caps more slowly than normal text. This is, by the way, why legal disclaimers are often
written in uppercase letters: not to make them appear more important to you, but to make them much
harder to actually read.
5.6.4 Font Weight

The “weight” of a font refers to the thickness of the letters. Usually, fonts come as regular or as bold fonts.
There often also exist semibold, ultrabold (or black), thin, or ultrathin (or hair) versions.
In typography, using a bold font to create emphasis, especially within normal text, is frowned upon (bold
words in the middle of a normal text are referred to as “dirt”). For presentations this rule of not using bold
text does not really apply. On a presentation slide there is usually very little text and there are numerous
elements that try to attract the viewer’s attention. Using the traditional italics to create emphasis will often be
overlooked. So, using bold text, seems a good alternative in a presentation. However, an even better alternative
is using a bright color like red to attract attention.
As pointed out earlier, you should use bold text for small text unless you use an especially robust font like
Futura or DejaVu.
42
6 Solution Templates
In the subdirectories of the directory beamer/doc/solutions you will find solution templates in different lan-
guages. A solution template is a TEX-text that “solves” a specific problem. Such a problem might be “I need
to create a 20 minute talk for a conference” or “I want to create a slide that introduces the next speaker” or
“I want to create a table that is uncovered piecewise.” For such a problem, a solution template consists of a
mixture of a template and an example that can be used to solve this particular problem. Just copy the solution
template file (or parts of it) and freely adjust them to your needs.
The collecting of beamer solution templates has only begun and currently there are only very few of them.
We hope that in the future more solutions will become available and we would like to encourage users of the
beamer class to send us solutions they develop. We would also like to encourage users to help in translating
solutions to languages other than English and German. If you have written a solution or a translation, please
feel free to send it to us (make sure however, that it contains about the same amount of explanations and
justifications as do the existing solutions).
The following list of solution templates is sorted by the length of the talks for which they provide a template.
As always, the solutions can be found in the directory beamer/doc/solutions.
Solution Template short-talks/speaker_introduction-ornate-2min
• Introducing another speaker.

• Talk length is about 2min.
• Ornate style.
presen- TEX-version available in languages de, en, and fr.

tation
Solution Template generic-talks/generic-ornate-15min-45min
• Generic solution template for talks on any subject.

• Talk length is between 15min and 45min.
• Ornate style.

tation
Solution Template conference-talks/conference-ornate-20min
• Talk at a conference/colloquium.
• Talk length is about 20 minutes.
• Ornate style.

tation
43
7 Licenses and Copyright
7.1 Which License Applies?
Different parts of the beamer package are distributed under different licenses:
1. The code of the package is dual-license. This means that you can decide which license you wish to use
when using the beamer package. The two options are:
(a) You can use the gnu General Public License, Version 2 or any later version published by the Free
Software Foundation.
(b) You can use the LATEX Project Public License, version 1.3c or (at your option) any later version.
2. The documentation of the package is also dual-license. Again, you can choose between two options:
(a) You can use the gnu Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the
Free Software Foundation.
(b) You can use the LATEX Project Public License, version 1.3c or (at your option) any later version.
The “documentation of the package” refers to all files in the subdirectory doc of the beamer pack-
age. A detailed listing can be found in the file doc/licenses/manifest-documentation.txt. All files
in other directories are part of the “code of the package.” A detailed listing can be found in the file
doc/licenses/manifest-code.txt.
In the rest of this section, the licenses are presented. The following text is copyrighted, see the plain text
versions of these licenses in the directory doc/licenses for details.
7.2 The GNU General Public License, Version 2

7.2.1 Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast,
the gnu General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software—to
make sure the software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation’s software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software
Foundation software is covered by the gnu Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your
programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are
designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service
if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use
pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you
to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of
the software, or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the
recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code.
And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives
you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.
Also, for each author’s protection and ours, we want to make certain that everyone understands that there
is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its
recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not
reflect on the original authors’ reputations.
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that
redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary.
To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not licensed
at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.
44
7.2.2 Terms and Conditions For Copying, Distribution and Modification
0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder
saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The “Program”, below,
refers to any such program or work, and a “work based on the Program” means either the Program or
any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation
is included without limitation in the term “modification”.) Each licensee is addressed as “you”.
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are
outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is
covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by
running the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program’s source code as you receive it, in any medium,
provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice
and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any
warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty
protection in exchange for a fee.
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the
Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided
that you also meet all of these conditions:
(a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and
the date of any change.
(b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived
from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under
the terms of this License.
(c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when
started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement
including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that
you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and
telling the user how to view a copy of this License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive
but does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on the Program is not required
to print an announcement.)
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not
derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves,
then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works.
But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the
distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend
to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by
you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works
based on the Program.
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a
work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other
work under the scope of this License.
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or
executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
(a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be dis-
tributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software
interchange; or,
45
(b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge
no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable
copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above
on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
(c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source
code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the
program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsubsection b above.)
The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For
an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the
executable. However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is
normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and
so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies
the executable.
If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place,
then offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the
source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this
License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will
automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or
rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain
in full compliance.
5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants
you permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited
by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any
work based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and
conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.
6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically
receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these
terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients’ exercise of the rights
granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.
7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not
limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise)
that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License.
If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other
pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a
patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies
directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be
to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any particular circumstance, the balance
of the section is intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other property right claims
or to contest validity of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of
the free software distribution system, which is implemented by public license practices. Many people have
made generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance
on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to
distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.
This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a consequence of the rest of this
License.
46
8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by
copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add
an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted
only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if
written in the body of this License.
9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from
time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies a version number of
this License which applies to it and “any later version”, you have the option of following the terms and
conditions either of that version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the
Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by
the Free Software Foundation.
10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are
different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software
Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision
will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of
promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
7.2.3 No Warranty
10. Because the program is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty for the program, to the extent permitted
by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties
provide the program “as is” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not
limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk
as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you
assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.
11. In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder, or any other
party who may modify and/or redistribute the program as permitted above, be liable to you for damages,
including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to
use the program (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses
sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the program to operate with any other programs), even if
such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
7.3 The GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
Copyright ©2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
http://fsf.org/
Everyone is allowed to distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but modification of it is
not allowed.
7.3.1 Preamble
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document “free” in the
sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying
it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a
way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be
free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for
free software.
We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs
free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software
47
does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of
subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works
whose purpose is instruction or reference.
7.3.2 Applicability and definitions

This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright
holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-
free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The “Document”,
below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as “you”.
You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright
law.
A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either
copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language.
A “Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals ex-
clusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document’s overall subject
(or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the
Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The
relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal,
commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.
The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of
Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does
not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document
may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are
none.
The “Cover Texts” are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover
Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at
most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.
A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format whose
specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with
generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely
available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety
of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose
markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers
is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that
is not “Transparent” is called “Opaque”.
Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without markup, Texinfo input
format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and standard-conforming simple
HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include
PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited only by propri-
etary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally available,
and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes
only.
The “Title Page” means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are needed
to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do
not have any title page as such, “Title Page” means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work’s
title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
The “publisher” means any person or entity that distributes copies of the Document to the public.
A section “Entitled XYZ” means a named subunit of the Document whose title either is precisely XYZ or
contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ stands for a
specific section name mentioned below, such as “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, “Endorsements”,
or “History”.) To “Preserve the Title” of such a section when you modify the Document means that it
remains a section “Entitled XYZ” according to this definition.
The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies
48
to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but
only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void
and has no effect on the meaning of this License.
7.3.3 Verbatim Copying

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided
that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are
reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not
use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute.
However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies
you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.
7.3.4 Copying in Quantity

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering
more than 100, and the Document’s license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers
that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover
Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies.
The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add
other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve
the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.
If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as
many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent pages.
If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either
include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque
copy a computer-network location from which the general network-using public has access to download using
public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If you
use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in
quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least
one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that
edition to the public.
It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing
any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.
7.3.5 Modifications
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3
above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version
filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever
possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from those
of previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document).
You may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the
modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document
(all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.
D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.
49
F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use the
Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.
G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the
Document’s license notice.
H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.

I. Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the
title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no
section Entitled “History” in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of
the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in
the previous sentence.
J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy of the
Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based
on. These may be placed in the “History” section. You may omit a network location for a work that was
published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers
to gives permission.
K. For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve the Title of the section, and
preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or
dedications given therein.
L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section
numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
M. Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section may not be included in the Modified Version.
N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or to conflict in title with any Invariant
Section.
O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections
and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these
sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version’s license
notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your
Modified Version by various parties–for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved
by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.
You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a
Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover
Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the
Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made
by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on
explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names
for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
7.3.6 Combining Documents

You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in
section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections
of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in
its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections
may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different
50
contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the
original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to
the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.
In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History” in the various original documents,
forming one section Entitled “History”; likewise combine any sections Entitled “Acknowledgements”, and any
sections Entitled “Dedications”. You must delete all sections Entitled “Endorsements”.
7.3.7 Collection of Documents

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and
replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the
collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in
all other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License,
provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other
respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.
7.3.8 Aggregating with Independent Works

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in
or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an “aggregate” if the copyright resulting from the
compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the individual works
permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the
aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document
is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document’s Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket
the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form.
Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.
7.3.9 Translation
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under
the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their
copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original
versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices
in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of
this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the
translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or “History”, the requirement
(section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.
7.3.10 Termination
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided under this
License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void, and will automatically
terminate your rights under this License.
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is
reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license,
and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior
to 60 days after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder
notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation
of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your
receipt of the notice.
51
Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties who have received
copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have been terminated and not permanently reinstated,
receipt of a copy of some or all of the same material does not give you any rights to use it.
7.3.11 Future Revisions of this License

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from
time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address
new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a
particular numbered version of this License “or any later version” applies to it, you have the option of following
the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as
a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License,
you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document
specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of this License can be used, that proxy’s public statement
of acceptance of a version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.
7.3.12 Relicensing
“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any World Wide Web server that publishes
copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A public wiki that
anybody can edit is an example of such a server. A “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained
in the site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC site.
“CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license published by Creative Com-
mons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco, California,
as well as future copyleft versions of that license published by that same organization.
“Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as part of another Document.
An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this License, and if all works that were first
published under this License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently incorporated in whole or
in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior to
November 1, 2008.
The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under CC-BY-SA on the same
site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.
7.3.13 Addendum: How to use this License for your documents

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the
following copyright and license notices just after the title page:
Copyright ©year your name.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU
Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foun-
dation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the
license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.
If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the “with . . . Texts.” line
with this:
with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with the Front-Cover Texts being list, and
with the Back-Cover Texts being list.
52
If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two
alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in
parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use
in free software.
7.4 The LATEX Project Public License

LPPL Version 1.3c 2008-05-04
Copyright 1999, 2002–2008 LATEX3 Project
Everyone is allowed to distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but modification of it
is not allowed.
7.4.1 Preamble
The LATEX Project Public License (lppl) is the primary license under which the LATEX kernel and the base LATEX
packages are distributed.
You may use this license for any work of which you hold the copyright and which you wish to distribute.
This license may be particularly suitable if your work is TEX-related (such as a LATEX package), but it is written
in such a way that you can use it even if your work is unrelated to TEX.
The section ‘WHETHER AND HOW TO DISTRIBUTE WORKS UNDER THIS LICENSE’, below, gives
instructions, examples, and recommendations for authors who are considering distributing their works under
this license.
This license gives conditions under which a work may be distributed and modified, as well as conditions
under which modified versions of that work may be distributed.
We, the LATEX3 Project, believe that the conditions below give you the freedom to make and distribute
modified versions of your work that conform with whatever technical specifications you wish while maintaining
the availability, integrity, and reliability of that work. If you do not see how to achieve your goal while meeting
these conditions, then read the document ‘cfgguide.tex’ and ‘modguide.tex’ in the base LATEX distribution
for suggestions.
7.4.2 Definitions
In this license document the following terms are used:
Work Any work being distributed under this License.

Derived Work Any work that under any applicable law is derived from the Work.
Modification Any procedure that produces a Derived Work under any applicable law – for example, the
production of a file containing an original file associated with the Work or a significant portion of such a
file, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language.
Modify To apply any procedure that produces a Derived Work under any applicable law.
Distribution Making copies of the Work available from one person to another, in whole or in part. Distribution
includes (but is not limited to) making any electronic components of the Work accessible by file transfer
protocols such as ftp or http or by shared file systems such as Sun’s Network File System (nfs).
Compiled Work A version of the Work that has been processed into a form where it is directly usable on a
computer system. This processing may include using installation facilities provided by the Work, trans-
formations of the Work, copying of components of the Work, or other activities. Note that modification
of any installation facilities provided by the Work constitutes modification of the Work.
Current Maintainer A person or persons nominated as such within the Work. If there is no such explicit
nomination then it is the ‘Copyright Holder’ under any applicable law.
53
Base Interpreter A program or process that is normally needed for running or interpreting a part or the whole
of the Work.
A Base Interpreter may depend on external components but these are not considered part of the Base
Interpreter provided that each external component clearly identifies itself whenever it is used interactively.
Unless explicitly specified when applying the license to the Work, the only applicable Base Interpreter is
a ‘LATEX-Format’ or in the case of files belonging to the ‘LATEX-format’ a program implementing the ‘TEX
language’.
7.4.3 Conditions on Distribution and Modification

1. Activities other than distribution and/or modification of the Work are not covered by this license; they
are outside its scope. In particular, the act of running the Work is not restricted and no requirements are
made concerning any offers of support for the Work.
2. You may distribute a complete, unmodified copy of the Work as you received it. Distribution of only part
of the Work is considered modification of the Work, and no right to distribute such a Derived Work may
be assumed under the terms of this clause.
3. You may distribute a Compiled Work that has been generated from a complete, unmodified copy of the
Work as distributed under Clause 2 above, as long as that Compiled Work is distributed in such a way
that the recipients may install the Compiled Work on their system exactly as it would have been installed
if they generated a Compiled Work directly from the Work.
4. If you are the Current Maintainer of the Work, you may, without restriction, modify the Work, thus creating
a Derived Work. You may also distribute the Derived Work without restriction, including Compiled Works
generated from the Derived Work. Derived Works distributed in this manner by the Current Maintainer
are considered to be updated versions of the Work.
5. If you are not the Current Maintainer of the Work, you may modify your copy of the Work, thus creating
a Derived Work based on the Work, and compile this Derived Work, thus creating a Compiled Work based
on the Derived Work.
6. If you are not the Current Maintainer of the Work, you may distribute a Derived Work provided the
following conditions are met for every component of the Work unless that component clearly states in the
copyright notice that it is exempt from that condition. Only the Current Maintainer is allowed to add
such statements of exemption to a component of the Work.
(a) If a component of this Derived Work can be a direct replacement for a component of the Work when
that component is used with the Base Interpreter, then, wherever this component of the Work identi-
fies itself to the user when used interactively with that Base Interpreter, the replacement component of
this Derived Work clearly and unambiguously identifies itself as a modified version of this component
to the user when used interactively with that Base Interpreter.
(b) Every component of the Derived Work contains prominent notices detailing the nature of the changes
to that component, or a prominent reference to another file that is distributed as part of the Derived
Work and that contains a complete and accurate log of the changes.
(c) No information in the Derived Work implies that any persons, including (but not limited to) the
authors of the original version of the Work, provide any support, including (but not limited to) the
reporting and handling of errors, to recipients of the Derived Work unless those persons have stated
explicitly that they do provide such support for the Derived Work.
(d) You distribute at least one of the following with the Derived Work:
i. A complete, unmodified copy of the Work; if your distribution of a modified component is made by
offering access to copy the modified component from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the Work from the same or some similar place meets this condition, even though
third parties are not compelled to copy the Work along with the modified component;
ii. Information that is sufficient to obtain a complete, unmodified copy of the Work.
54
7. If you are not the Current Maintainer of the Work, you may distribute a Compiled Work generated from
a Derived Work, as long as the Derived Work is distributed to all recipients of the Compiled Work, and
as long as the conditions of Clause 6, above, are met with regard to the Derived Work.
8. The conditions above are not intended to prohibit, and hence do not apply to, the modification, by any
method, of any component so that it becomes identical to an updated version of that component of the
Work as it is distributed by the Current Maintainer under Clause 4, above.
9. Distribution of the Work or any Derived Work in an alternative format, where the Work or that Derived
Work (in whole or in part) is then produced by applying some process to that format, does not relax or
nullify any sections of this license as they pertain to the results of applying that process.
10. (a) A Derived Work may be distributed under a different license provided that license itself honors the
conditions listed in Clause 6 above, in regard to the Work, though it does not have to honor the rest
of the conditions in this license.
(b) If a Derived Work is distributed under a different license, that Derived Work must provide sufficient
documentation as part of itself to allow each recipient of that Derived Work to honor the restrictions
in Clause 6 above, concerning changes from the Work.
11. This license places no restrictions on works that are unrelated to the Work, nor does this license place any
restrictions on aggregating such works with the Work by any means.
12. Nothing in this license is intended to, or may be used to, prevent complete compliance by all parties with
all applicable laws.
7.4.4 No Warranty
There is no warranty for the Work. Except when otherwise stated in writing, the Copyright Holder provides
the Work ‘as is’, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and
performance of the Work is with you. Should the Work prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary
servicing, repair, or correction.
In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will The Copyright Holder, or any
author named in the components of the Work, or any other party who may distribute and/or modify the Work
as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential
damages arising out of any use of the Work or out of inability to use the Work (including, but not limited to,
loss of data, data being rendered inaccurate, or losses sustained by anyone as a result of any failure of the Work
to operate with any other programs), even if the Copyright Holder or said author or said other party has been
advised of the possibility of such damages.
7.4.5 Maintenance of The Work

The Work has the status ‘author-maintained’ if the Copyright Holder explicitly and prominently states near the
primary copyright notice in the Work that the Work can only be maintained by the Copyright Holder or simply
that it is ‘author-maintained’.
The Work has the status ‘maintained’ if there is a Current Maintainer who has indicated in the Work that
they are willing to receive error reports for the Work (for example, by supplying a valid e-mail address). It is
not required for the Current Maintainer to acknowledge or act upon these error reports.
The Work changes from status ‘maintained’ to ‘unmaintained’ if there is no Current Maintainer, or the person
stated to be Current Maintainer of the work cannot be reached through the indicated means of communication
for a period of six months, and there are no other significant signs of active maintenance.
You can become the Current Maintainer of the Work by agreement with any existing Current Maintainer to
take over this role.
If the Work is unmaintained, you can become the Current Maintainer of the Work through the following
steps:
55
1. Make a reasonable attempt to trace the Current Maintainer (and the Copyright Holder, if the two differ)
through the means of an Internet or similar search.
2. If this search is successful, then enquire whether the Work is still maintained.
(a) If it is being maintained, then ask the Current Maintainer to update their communication data within
one month.
(b) If the search is unsuccessful or no action to resume active maintenance is taken by the Current
Maintainer, then announce within the pertinent community your intention to take over maintenance.
(If the Work is a LATEX work, this could be done, for example, by posting to comp.text.tex.)
3. (a) If the Current Maintainer is reachable and agrees to pass maintenance of the Work to you, then this
takes effect immediately upon announcement.
(b) If the Current Maintainer is not reachable and the Copyright Holder agrees that maintenance of the
Work be passed to you, then this takes effect immediately upon announcement.
4. If you make an ‘intention announcement’ as described in 2b above and after three months your intention
is challenged neither by the Current Maintainer nor by the Copyright Holder nor by other people, then
you may arrange for the Work to be changed so as to name you as the (new) Current Maintainer.
5. If the previously unreachable Current Maintainer becomes reachable once more within three months of a
change completed under the terms of 3b or 4, then that Current Maintainer must become or remain the
Current Maintainer upon request provided they then update their communication data within one month.
A change in the Current Maintainer does not, of itself, alter the fact that the Work is distributed under the
lppl license.
If you become the Current Maintainer of the Work, you should immediately provide, within the Work, a
prominent and unambiguous statement of your status as Current Maintainer. You should also announce your
new status to the same pertinent community as in 2b above.
7.4.6 Whether and How to Distribute Works under This License

This section contains important instructions, examples, and recommendations for authors who are considering
distributing their works under this license. These authors are addressed as ‘you’ in this section.
7.4.7 Choosing This License or Another License

If for any part of your work you want or need to use distribution conditions that differ significantly from those
in this license, then do not refer to this license anywhere in your work but, instead, distribute your work under
a different license. You may use the text of this license as a model for your own license, but your license should
not refer to the lppl or otherwise give the impression that your work is distributed under the lppl.
The document ‘modguide.tex’ in the base LATEX distribution explains the motivation behind the conditions
of this license. It explains, for example, why distributing LATEX under the gnu General Public License (gpl)
was considered inappropriate. Even if your work is unrelated to LATEX, the discussion in ‘modguide.tex’ may
still be relevant, and authors intending to distribute their works under any license are encouraged to read it.
7.4.8 A Recommendation on Modification Without Distribution

It is wise never to modify a component of the Work, even for your own personal use, without also meeting the
above conditions for distributing the modified component. While you might intend that such modifications will
never be distributed, often this will happen by accident – you may forget that you have modified that component;
or it may not occur to you when allowing others to access the modified version that you are thus distributing it
and violating the conditions of this license in ways that could have legal implications and, worse, cause problems
for the community. It is therefore usually in your best interest to keep your copy of the Work identical with the
public one. Many works provide ways to control the behavior of that work without altering any of its licensed
components.
56
7.4.9 How to Use This License
To use this license, place in each of the components of your work both an explicit copyright notice including
your name and the year the work was authored and/or last substantially modified. Include also a statement
that the distribution and/or modification of that component is constrained by the conditions in this license.
Here is an example of such a notice and statement:
%% pig.dtx
%% Copyright 2005 M. Y. Name
%
% This work may be distributed and/or modified under the
% conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3
% of this license or (at your option) any later version.
% The latest version of this license is in
% https://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt
% and version 1.3 or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX
% version 2005/12/01 or later.
%
% This work has the LPPL maintenance status ‘maintained’.
%
% The Current Maintainer of this work is M. Y. Name.
%
% This work consists of the files pig.dtx and pig.ins
% and the derived file pig.sty.
Given such a notice and statement in a file, the conditions given in this license document would apply,
with the ‘Work’ referring to the three files ‘pig.dtx’, ‘pig.ins’, and ‘pig.sty’ (the last being generated from
‘pig.dtx’ using ‘pig.ins’), the ‘Base Interpreter’ referring to any ‘LATEX-Format’, and both ‘Copyright Holder’
and ‘Current Maintainer’ referring to the person ‘M. Y. Name’.
If you do not want the Maintenance section of lppl to apply to your Work, change ‘maintained’ above into
‘author-maintained’. However, we recommend that you use ‘maintained’ as the Maintenance section was added
in order to ensure that your Work remains useful to the community even when you can no longer maintain and
support it yourself.
7.4.10 Derived Works That Are Not Replacements

Several clauses of the lppl specify means to provide reliability and stability for the user community. They
therefore concern themselves with the case that a Derived Work is intended to be used as a (compatible or
incompatible) replacement of the original Work. If this is not the case (e.g., if a few lines of code are reused for
a completely different task), then clauses 6b and 6d shall not apply.
7.4.11 Important Recommendations

Defining What Constitutes the Work The lppl requires that distributions of the Work contain all the
files of the Work. It is therefore important that you provide a way for the licensee to determine which files
constitute the Work. This could, for example, be achieved by explicitly listing all the files of the Work near the
copyright notice of each file or by using a line such as:
% This work consists of all files listed in manifest.txt.
in that place. In the absence of an unequivocal list it might be impossible for the licensee to determine what is
considered by you to comprise the Work and, in such a case, the licensee would be entitled to make reasonable
conjectures as to which files comprise the Work.
57
Part II
Building a Presentation
This part contains an explanation of all the commands that are used to create presentations. It starts with a
section treating the commands and environments used to create frames, the basic building blocks of presentations.
Next, the creation of overlays is explained.
The following three sections concern commands and methods of structuring a presentation. In order, the
static global structure, the interactive global structure, and the local structure are treated.
Two further sections treat graphics and animations. Much of the material in these sections applies to other
packages as well, not just to beamer.
58
8 Creating Frames
8.1 The Frame Environment
A presentation consists of a series of frames. Each frame consists of a series of slides. You create a frame using
frame environment.1 All of the text that is not tagged by overlay specifications is shown on all slides of the
frame. (Overlay specifications are explained in more detail in later sections. For the moment, let’s just say
that an overlay specification is a list of numbers or number ranges in pointed brackets that is put after certain
commands as in \uncover<1,2>{Text}.) If a frame contains commands that have an overlay specification, the
frame will contain multiple slides; otherwise it contains only one slide.
\begin{frame}<⟨overlay specification⟩>[<⟨default overlay specification⟩>][⟨options⟩]{⟨title⟩}{⟨subtitle⟩}
\end{frame}
The ⟨overlay specification⟩ dictates which slides of a frame are to be shown. If left out, the number is
calculated automatically. The ⟨environment contents⟩ can be normal LATEX text, but may not contain
\verb commands or verbatim environments or any environment that changes the character codes, unless
the fragile option is given.
The optional ⟨title⟩ is detected by an opening brace, that is, if the first thing in the frame is an opening
brace then it is assumed that a frame title follows. Likewise, the optional ⟨subtitle⟩ is detected the same
way, that is, by an opening brace following the ⟨title⟩. The title and subtitle can also be given using the
\frametitle and \framesubtitle commands.
The normal LATEX command \frame is available inside frames with its usual meaning. Both outside and
inside frames it is always available as \framelatex.
Example:
\begin{frame}{A title}
Some content.
\end{frame}
% Same effect:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A title}
Some content.
\end{frame}
Example:
\begin{frame}<beamer>{Outline} % frame is only shown in beamer mode
\tabelofcontent[current]
\end{frame}
Normally, the complete ⟨environment contents⟩ is put on a slide. If the text does not fit on a slide, being too
high, it will be squeezed as much as possible, a warning will be issued, and the text just extends unpleasantly
over the bottom. You can use the option allowframebreaks to cause the ⟨frame text⟩ to be split among
several slides, though you cannot use overlays then. See the explanation of the allowframebreaks option
for details.
The ⟨default overlay specification⟩ is an optional argument that is “detected” according to the following rule:
If the first optional argument in square brackets starts with a <, then this argument is a ⟨default overlay
specification⟩, otherwise it is a normal ⟨options⟩ argument. Thus \begin{frame}[<+->][plain] would be
legal, but also \begin{frame}[plain].
The effect of the ⟨default overlay specification⟩ is the following: Every command or environment inside
the frame that accepts an action specification, see Section 9.6.3, (this includes the \item command, the
actionenv environment, \action, and all block environments) and that is not followed by an overlay specifi-
cation gets the ⟨default overlay specification⟩ as its specification. By providing an incremental specification
like <+->, see Section 9.6.4, this will essentially cause all blocks and all enumerations to be uncovered
piece-wise (blocks internally employ action specifications).
1 The command \frame is supported for legacy documents.
59
Example: In this frame, the theorem is shown from the first slide on, the proof from the second slide on,
with the first two itemize points shown one after the other; the last itemize point is shown together with
the first one. In total, this frame will contain four slides.
\begin{frame}[<+->]
\begin{theorem}
$A = B$.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
\begin{itemize}
\item Clearly, $A = C$.
\item As shown earlier, $C = B$.
\item<3-> Thus $A = B$.
\end{itemize}
\end{proof}
\end{frame}
The following ⟨options⟩ may be given:
• allowdisplaybreaks=⟨break desirability⟩ causes the AMSTEX command \allowdisplaybreaks[⟨break
desirability⟩] to be issued for the current frame. The ⟨break desirability⟩ can be a value between 0
(meaning formulas may never be broken) and 4 (the default, meaning that formulas can be broken
anywhere without any penalty). The option is just a convenience and makes sense only together with
the allowsframebreaks option.
• allowframebreaks=⟨fraction⟩. When this option is given, the frame will be automatically broken up
into several frames if the text does not fit on a single slide. In detail, when this option is given, the
following things happen:
1. Overlays are not supported.
2. Any notes for the frame created using the \note command will be inserted after the first page of
the frame.
3. Any footnotes for the frame will be inserted on the last page of the frame.
4. If there is a frame title, each of the pages will have this frame title, with a special note added
indicating which page of the frame that page is. By default, this special note is a Roman number.
However, this can be changed using the following template.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font frametitle continuation
The text of this template is inserted at the end of every title of a frame with the
allowframebreaks option set.
The following template options are predefined:
– [default] Installs a Roman number as the template. The number indicates the current
page of the frame.
– [roman] Alias for the default.
– [from second][⟨text⟩] Installs a template that inserts ⟨text⟩ from the second page of a
frame on. By default, the text inserted is \insertcontinuationtext, which in turn is
(cont.) by default.
The following inserts are available:
– \insertcontinuationcount inserts the current page of the frame as an arabic number.
– \insertcontinuationcountroman inserts the current page of the frame as an (uppercase)
Roman number.
– \insertcontinuationtext just inserts the text (cont.) or, possibly, a translation thereof
(like (Forts.) in German).
If a frame needs to be broken into several pages, the material on all but the last page fills only 95%
of each page by default. Thus, there will be some space left at the top and/or bottom, depending
on the vertical placement option for the frame. This yields a better visual result than a 100% filling,
which typically looks crowded. However, you can change this percentage using the optional argument
60
⟨fraction⟩, where 1 means 100% and 0.5 means 50%. This percentage includes the frame title. Thus,
in order to split a frame “roughly in half,” you should give 0.6 as ⟨fraction⟩.
Most of the fine details of normal TEX page breaking also apply to this option. For example, when
you wish equations to be broken automatically, be sure to use the \allowdisplaybreaks command.
You can insert \break, \nobreak, and \penalty commands to control where breaks should occur.
The commands \pagebreak and \nopagebreak also work, including their options. Since you typically
do not want page breaks for the frame to apply also to the article mode, you can add a mode
specification like <presentation> to make these commands apply only to the presentation modes.
The command \framebreak is a shorthand for \pagebreak<presentation> and \noframebreak is a
shorthand for \nopagebreak<presentation>.
The use of this option is evil. In a (good) presentation you prepare each slide carefully and think
twice before putting something on a certain slide rather than on some different slide. Using the
allowframebreaks option invites the creation of horrible, endless presentations that resemble more a
“paper projected on the wall” than a presentation. Nevertheless, the option does have its uses. Most
noticeably, it can be convenient for automatically splitting bibliographies or long equations.
Example:
\begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]{References}
\begin{thebibliography}{XX}
\bibitem...
\bibitem...
...
\bibitem...
\end{frame}
Example:
\begin{frame}[allowframebreaks,allowdisplaybreaks]{A Long Equation}
\begin{align}
\zeta(2) &= 1 + 1/4 + 1/9 + \cdots \\
&= ... \\
...
&= \pi^2/6.
\end{align}
\end{frame}
• b, c, t will cause the frame to be vertically aligned at the bottom/center/top. This overrides the global
placement policy, which is governed by the class options t and c.
• noframenumbering tells beamer not to step the framenumber counter for this frame.
• fragile=singleslide tells beamer that the frame contents is “fragile.” This means that the frame
contains text that is not “interpreted as usual.” For example, this applies to verbatim text, which is,
obviously, interpreted somewhat differently from normal text.
If a frame contains fragile text, different internal mechanisms are used to typeset the frame to ensure
that inside the frame the character codes can be reset. The price of switching to another internal
mechanism is that either you cannot use overlays or an external file needs to be written and read back
(which is not always desirable).
In detail, the following happens when this option is given for normal (pdf)LATEX: The contents of
the frame is scanned and then written to a special file named ⟨jobname⟩.vrb or, if a label has been
assigned to the frame, ⟨jobname⟩.⟨current frame number⟩.vrb. Then, the frame is started anew and
the content of this file is read back. Since, upon reading of a file, the character codes can be modified,
this allows you to use both verbatim text and overlays.
To determine the end of the frame, the following rule is used: The first occurrence of a single line
containing exactly \end{⟨frame environment name⟩} ends the frame. The ⟨environment name⟩ is
61
normally frame, but it can be changed using the environment option. This special rule is needed since
the frame contents is, after all, not interpreted when it is gathered.
You can also add the optional information =singleslide. This tells beamer that the frame contains
only a single slide. In this case, the frame contents is not written to a special file, but interpreted
directly, which is “faster and cleaner.”
• environment=⟨frame environment name⟩. This option is useful only in conjunction with the fragile
option (but it is not used for fragile=singleslide, only for the plain fragile). The ⟨frame
environment name⟩ is used to determine the end of the scanning when gathering the frame con-
tents. Normally, the frame ends when a line reading \end{frame} is reached. However, if you use
\begin{frame} inside another environment, you need to use this option:
Example:
\newenvironment{slide}[1]
{\begin{frame}[fragile,environment=slide]
\frametitle{#1}}
{\end{frame}}
\begin{slide}{My title}
Text.
\end{slide}
If you did not specify the option environment=slide in the above example, TEX would “miss” the
end of the slide since it does not interpret text while gathering the frame contents.
• label=⟨name⟩ causes the frame’s contents to be stored under the name ⟨name⟩ for later resumption
using the command \againframe. Furthermore, on each slide of the frame a label with the name
⟨name⟩<⟨slide number⟩> is created. On the first slide, furthermore, a label with the name ⟨name⟩ is
created (so the labels ⟨name⟩ and ⟨name⟩<1> point to the same slide). Note that labels in general,
and these labels in particular, can be used as targets for hyperlinks.
You can use this option together with fragile.
• plain causes the headlines, footlines, and sidebars to be suppressed. This is useful for creating single
frames with different head- and footlines or for creating frames showing big pictures that completely
fill the frame.
Example: A frame with a picture completely filling the frame:
\begin{frame}[plain]
\begin{centering}%
\pgfimage[height=\paperheight]{somebigimagefile}%
\par%
\end{centering}%
\end{frame}
Example: A title page, in which the head- and footlines are replaced by two graphics.
\setbeamertemplate{title page}
{
\pgfuseimage{toptitle}
\vskip0pt plus 1filll
\begin{centering}
{\usebeamerfont{title}\usebeamercolor[fg]{title}\inserttitle}
\insertdate
\end{centering}
\vskip0pt plus 1filll

\pgfuseimage{bottomtitle}
62
}
\begin{frame}[plain]
\titlepage
\end{frame}
• shrink=⟨minimum shrink percentage⟩. This option will cause the text of the frame to be shrunk if it
is too large to fit on the frame. beamer will first normally typeset the whole frame. Then it has a
look at vertical size of the frame text (excluding the frame title). If this vertical size is larger than
the text height minus the frame title height, beamer computes a shrink factor and scales down the
frame text by this factor such that the frame text then fills the frame completely. Using this option
will automatically cause the squeeze option to be used, also.
Since the shrinking takes place only after everything has been typeset, shrunk frame text will not fill
the frame completely horizontally. For this reason, you can specify a ⟨minimum shrink percentage⟩ like
20. If this percentage is specified, the frame will be shrunk at least by this percentage. Since beamer
knows this, it can increase the horizontal width proportionally such that the shrunk text once more
fills the entire frame. If, however, the percentage is not enough, the text will be shrunk as needed and
you will be punished with a warning message.
The best way to use this option is to identify frames that are overly full, but in which all text absolutely
has to be fit on a single frame. Then start specifying first shrink=5, then shrink=10, and so on, until
no warning is issued any more (or just ignore the warning when things look satisfactory).
Using this option is very evil. It will result in changes of the font size from slide to slide, which is
a typographic nightmare. Its usage can always be avoided by restructuring and simplifying frames,
which will result in a better presentation.
Example:
\begin{frame}[shrink=5]
Some evil endless slide that is 5\% too large.
\end{frame}
• squeeze causes all vertical spaces in the text to be squeezed together as much as possible. Currently,
this just causes the vertical space in enumerations or itemizations to be reduced to zero.
Using this option is not good, but also not evil.
article In article mode, the frame environment does not create any visual reference to the original frame (no
frame is drawn). Rather, the frame text is inserted into the normal text. To change this, you can modify
the templates frame begin and frame end, see below. To suppress a frame in article mode, you can, for
example, specify <presentation> as overlay specification.
Beamer-Template frame begin

The text of this template is inserted at the beginning of each frame in article mode (and only there).
You can use it, say, to start a minipage environment at the beginning of a frame or to insert a horizontal
bar or whatever.
Beamer-Template frame end

The text of this template is inserted at the end of each frame in article mode.
You can use the frame environment inside other environments like this
\newenvironment{slide}{\begin{frame}}{\end{frame}}
or like this
\newenvironment{myframe}[1]
{\begin{frame}[fragile,environment=myframe]\frametitle{#1}}
{\end{frame}}
63
However, the actual mechanics are somewhat sensitive since the “collecting” of the frame contents is not
easy, so do not attempt anything too fancy. As a rule, the beginning of the environment can be pretty arbitrary,
but the ending must end with \end{frame} and should not contain any \end{xxx}. Anything really complex
is likely to fail. If you need some \end{xxx} there, define a new command that contains this stuff as in the
following example:
\newenvironment{itemizeframe}
{\begin{frame}\startitemizeframe}
{\stopitemizeframe\end{frame}}
\newcommand\startitemizeframe{\begin{bfseries}\begin{itemize}}
\newcommand\stopitemizeframe{\end{itemize}\end{bfseries}}
\begin{itemizeframe}
\item First item
\end{itemizeframe}
8.2 Components of a Frame

Each frame consists of several components:
1. a headline and a footline,
2. a left and a right sidebar,
3. navigation bars,
4. navigation symbols,
5. a logo,
6. a frame title,
7. a background, and
8. some frame contents.
A frame need not have all of these components. Usually, the first three components are automatically setup
by the theme you are using.
8.2.1 The Headline and Footline

The headline of a frame is the area at the top of the frame. If it is not empty, it should show some information
that helps the audience orientate itself during your talk. Likewise, the footline is the area at the bottom of the
frame.
beamer does not use the standard LATEX mechanisms for typesetting the headline and the footline. Instead,
the special headline and footline templates are used to typeset them.
The size of the headline and the footline is determined as follows: Their width is always the paper width. Their
height is determined by tentatively typesetting the headline and the footline right after the \begin{document}
command. The head of the headline and the footline at that point is “frozen” and will be used throughout the
whole document, even if the headline and footline vary in height later on (which they should not).
The appearance of the headline and footline is determined by the following templates:
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font headline
This template is used to typeset the headline. The beamer-color and -font headline are installed at the
beginning. The background of the beamer-color is not used by default, that is, no background rectangle is
drawn behind the headline and footline (this may change in the future with the introduction of a headline
and a footline canvas).
The width of the headline is the whole paper width. The height is determined automatically as described
above. The headline is typeset in vertical mode with interline skip turned off and the paragraph skip set to
zero.
Inside this template, the \\ command is changed such that it inserts a comma instead.
64
Example:
\setbeamertemplate{headline}
{%
\begin{beamercolorbox}{section in head/foot}
\vskip2pt\insertnavigation{\paperwidth}\vskip2pt
\end{beamercolorbox}%
}
• [default] The default is just an empty headline. To get the default headline of earlier versions of the
beamer class, use the compatibility theme.
• [infolines theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the infolines outer theme is
loaded. The headline shows current section and subsection.
• [miniframes theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the miniframes outer theme is
loaded. The headline shows the sections with small clickable mini frames below them.
• [sidebar theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the sidebar outer theme is loaded
and if the head height (and option of the sidebar theme) is not zero. In this case, the headline is an
empty bar of the background color frametitle with the logo to the left or right of this bar.
• [smoothtree theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the smoothtree outer theme is
loaded. A “smoothed” navigation tree is shown in the headline.
• [smoothbars theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the smoothbars outer theme is
loaded. A “smoothed” version of the miniframes headline is shown.
• [tree] This option becomes available (and is used) if the tree outer theme is loaded. A navigational
tree is shown in the headline.
• [split theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the split outer theme is loaded. The
headline is split into a left part showing the sections and a right part showing the subsections.
• [text line]{⟨text⟩} The headline is typeset more or less as if it were a normal text line with the
⟨text⟩ as contents. The left and right margin are setup such that they are the same as the margins of
normal text. The ⟨text⟩ is typeset inside an \hbox, while the headline is normally typeset in vertical
mode.
Inside the template numerous inserts can be used:
• \insertnavigation{⟨width ⟩} Inserts a horizontal navigation bar of the given ⟨width⟩ into a template.
The bar lists the sections and below them mini frames for each frame in that section.
• \insertpagenumber Inserts the current page number into a template.
• \insertsection Inserts the current section into a template.
• \insertsectionnavigation{⟨width⟩} Inserts a vertical navigation bar containing all sections, with
the current section highlighted.
• \insertsectionnavigationhorizontal{⟨width⟩}{⟨left insert⟩}{⟨right insert⟩} Inserts a horizontal
navigation bar containing all sections, with the current section highlighted. The ⟨left insert⟩ will be
inserted to the left of the sections, the {⟨right insert⟩} to the right. By inserting a triple fill (a filll)
you can flush the bar to the left or right.
Example:
\insertsectionnavigationhorizontal{.5\textwidth}{\hskip0pt plus1filll}{}
• \insertshortauthor[⟨options⟩] Inserts the short version of the author into a template. The text
will be printed in one long line, line breaks introduced using the \\ command are suppressed. The
following ⟨options⟩ may be given:
– width=⟨width⟩ causes the text to be put into a multi-line minipage of the given size. Line breaks
are still suppressed by default.
65
– center centers the text inside the minipage created using the width option, rather than having it
left aligned.
– respectlinebreaks causes line breaks introduced by the \\ command to be honored.
Example: \insertauthor[width={3cm},center,respectlinebreaks]
• \insertshortdate[⟨options⟩] Inserts the short version of the date into a template. The same options
as for \insertshortauthor may be given.
• \insertshortinstitute[⟨options⟩] Inserts the short version of the institute into a template. The
same options as for \insertshortauthor may be given.
• \insertshortpart[⟨options⟩] Inserts the short version of the part name into a template. The same
options as for \insertshortauthor may be given.
• \insertshorttitle[⟨options⟩] Inserts the short version of the document title into a template. Same
options as for \insertshortauthor may be given.
• \insertshortsubtitle[⟨options⟩] Inserts the short version of the document subtitle. Same options
as for \insertshortauthor may be given.
• \insertsubsection Inserts the current subsection into a template.
• \insertsubsubsection Inserts the current subsection into a template.
• \insertsubsectionnavigation{⟨width⟩} Inserts a vertical navigation bar containing all subsections
of the current section, with the current subsection highlighted.
• \insertsubsectionnavigationhorizontal{⟨width⟩}{⟨left insert⟩}{⟨right insert⟩}
See \insertsectionnavigationhorizontal.
• \insertverticalnavigation{⟨width⟩} Inserts a vertical navigation bar of the given ⟨width⟩ into a
template. The bar shows a little table of contents. The individual lines are typeset using the templates
section in head/foot and subsection in head/foot.
• \insertframenumber Inserts the number of the current frame (not slide) into a template.
• \insertslidenumber Inserts the number of the current slide in frame into a template.
• \insertoverlaynumber Inserts the number of current overlay counter into a template. This is generally
equal to \insertslidenumber, except when an overlay specification is used in a frame environment.
• \inserttotalframenumber Inserts the total number of the frames (not slides) into a template. The
number is only correct on the second run of TEX on your document.
• \insertmainframenumber Inserts the number of the frames in the main part (before \appendix com-
mand) into a template. The number is only correct on the second run of TEX on your document.
• \insertappendixframenumber Inserts the number of the frames in the appendix part (after \appendix
command) into a template. The number is only correct on the second run of TEX on your document.
• \insertframestartpage Inserts the page number of the first page of the current frame.
• \insertframeendpage Inserts the page number of the last page of the current frame.
• \insertsubsectionstartpage Inserts the page number of the first page of the current subsection.
• \insertsubsectionendpage Inserts the page number of the last page of the current subsection.
• \insertsectionstartpage Inserts the page number of the first page of the current section.
• \insertsectionendpage Inserts the page number of the last page of the current section.
• \insertpartstartpage Inserts the page number of the first page of the current part.
• \insertpartendpage Inserts the page number of the last page of the current part.
• \insertpresentationstartpage Inserts the page number of the first page of the presentation.
• \insertpresentationendpage Inserts the page number of the last page of the presentation (excluding
the appendix).
• \insertappendixstartpage Inserts the page number of the first page of the appendix. If there is no
appendix, this number is the last page of the document.
66
• \insertappendixendpage Inserts the page number of the last page of the appendix. If there is no
appendix, this number is the last page of the document.
• \insertdocumentstartpage Inserts 1.
• \insertdocumentendpage Inserts the page number of the last page of the document (including the
appendix).
• \usebeamertemplate*{page number in head/foot} inserts a customisable template which e.g. in-
serts the current and total number of frames.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font footline
This template behaves exactly the same way as the headline. Note that, sometimes quite annoyingly,
beamer currently adds a space of 4pt between the bottom of the frame’s text and the top of the footline.
• [default] The default is an empty footline. Note that the navigational symbols are not part of the
footline by default. Rather, they are part of an (invisible) right sidebar.
• [infolines theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the infolines outer theme is
loaded. The footline shows things like the author’s name and the title of the talk.
• [miniframes theme] This option becomes available (and is used) if the miniframes outer theme is
loaded. Depending on the exact options that are used when the miniframes theme is loaded, different
things can be shown in the footline.
• [page number] Shows the current page number in the footline.
• [frame number] Shows the current frame number in the footline.
• [split] This option becomes available (and is used) if the split outer theme is loaded. The footline
(just like the headline) is split into a left part showing the author’s name and a right part showing the
talk’s title.
• [text line]{⟨text⟩} The footline is typeset more or less as if it were a normal text line with the ⟨text⟩
as contents. The left and right margin are setup such that they are the same as the margins of normal
text. The ⟨text⟩ is typeset inside an \hbox, while the headline is normally typeset in vertical mode.
Using the \strut command somewhere in such a line might be a good idea.
The same inserts as for headlines can be used.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font page number in head/foot

These beamer-color and -font are used to typeset the page number or frame number in the footline.
The beamer-template provides a convenient way to format the page or frame number in the footline. It is
used by the infolines outer theme and the page number and frame number footline themes. It can also
be used with the miniframes and split outer themes, but for them it is set to empty as default.
• [default] The default option is empty.
• [framenumber] This option inserts the current frame number.
• [totalframenumber] In addition to the current frame number, this option also shows the total number
of frames.
• [appendixframenumber] This options replicates the behaviour of the appendixnumberbeamer package.
In the main part before the \appendix command the current frame number and the total number of
frames in the main part is displayed. In the appendix only the frame number within the appendix and
the total number of frames in the appendix are shown.
• [pagenumber] Shows the current page number.
• [totalpagenumber] In addition to the current page number also the total page number is displayed.
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8.2.2 The Sidebars
Sidebars are vertical areas that stretch from the lower end of the headline to the top of the footline. There can
be a sidebar at the left and another one at the right (or even both). Sidebars can show a table of contents, but
they could also be added for purely aesthetic reasons.
When you install a sidebar template, you must explicitly specify the horizontal size of the sidebar using the
command \setbeamersize with the option sidebar width left or sidebar width right. The vertical size
is determined automatically. Each sidebar has its own background canvas, which can be setup using the sidebar
canvas templates.
Adding a sidebar of a certain size, say 1 cm, will make the main text 1 cm narrower. The distance between
the inner side of a side bar and the outer side of the text, as specified by the command \setbeamersize with the
option text margin left and its counterpart for the right margin, is not changed when a sidebar is installed.
Internally, the sidebars are typeset by showing them as part of the headline. The beamer class keeps track
of six dimensions, three for each side: the variables \beamer@leftsidebar and \beamer@rightsidebar store
the (horizontal) sizes of the side bars, the variables \beamer@leftmargin and \beamer@rightmargin store the
distance between sidebar and text, and the macros \Gm@lmargin and \Gm@rmargin store the distance from the
edge of the paper to the edge of the text. Thus the sum \beamer@leftsidebar and \beamer@leftmargin
is exactly \Gm@lmargin. Thus, if you wish to put some text right next to the left sidebar, you might write
\hskip-\beamer@leftmargin to get there.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font sidebar left

Color/font parents: sidebar
The template is used to typeset the left sidebar. As mentioned above, the size of the left sidebar is set using
the command
\setbeamersize{sidebar width left=2cm}
beamer will not clip sidebars automatically if they are too large.
When the sidebar is typeset, it is put inside a \vbox. You should currently setup things like the \hsize or
the \parskip yourself.
• [default] installs an empty template.
• [sidebar theme] This option is available if the outer theme sidebar is loaded with the left option.
In this case, this options is selected automatically. It shows a mini table of contents in the sidebar.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font sidebar right

Color/font parents: sidebar
This template works the same way as the template for the left.
• [default] The default right sidebar has zero width. Nevertheless, it shows navigational symbols and,
if installed, a logo at the bottom of the sidebar, protruding to the left into the text.
• [sidebar theme] This option is available, if the outer theme sidebar is loaded with the right option.
In this case, this option is selected automatically. It shows a mini table of contents in the sidebar.
Beamer-Template sidebar canvas left

Like the overall background canvas, this canvas is drawn behind the actual text of the sidebar. This template
should normally insert a rectangle of the size of the sidebar, though a too large height will not lead to an
error or warning. When this template is called, the beamer-color sidebar left will have been installed.
• [default] uses a large rectangle colored with sidebar.bg as the sidebar canvas. However, if the
background of sidebar is empty, nothing is drawn and the canvas is “transparent.”
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• [vertical shading][⟨color options⟩] installs a vertically shaded background. The following ⟨color
options⟩ may be given:
– top=⟨color⟩ specifies the color at the top of the sidebar. By default, 25% of the foreground of the
beamer-color palette primary is used.
– bottom=⟨color⟩ specifies the color at the bottom of the sidebar (more precisely, at a distance of
the page height below the top of the sidebar). By default, the background of normal text at the
moment of invocation of this command is used.
– middle=⟨color⟩ specifies the color for the middle of the sidebar. Thus, if this option is given, the
shading changes from the bottom color to this color and then to the top color.
– midpoint=⟨factor⟩ specifies at which point of the page the middle color is used. A factor of 0 is
the bottom of the page, a factor of 1 is the top. The default, which is 0.5, is in the middle.
Note that you must give “real” LATEX colors here. This often makes it necessary to invoke the command
\usebeamercolor before this command can be used.
Also note, that the width of the sidebar should be setup before this option is used.
Example: A stylish, but not very useful shading:
{\usebeamercolor{palette primary}}
\setbeamertemplate{sidebar canvas}[vertical shading]
[top=palette primary.bg,middle=white,bottom=palette primary.bg]
• [horizontal shading][⟨color options⟩] installs a horizontally shaded background. The following

⟨color options⟩ may be given:
– left=⟨color⟩ specifies the color at the left of the sidebar.
– right=⟨color⟩ specifies the color at the right of the sidebar.
– middle=⟨color⟩ specifies the color in the middle of the sidebar.
– midpoint=⟨factor⟩ specifies at which point of the sidebar the middle color is used. A factor of 0
is the left of the sidebar, a factor of 1 is the right. The default, which is 0.5, is in the middle.
Example: Adds two “pillars”
\setbeamersize{sidebar width left=0.5cm,sidebar width right=0.5cm}
{\usebeamercolor{sidebar}}
\setbeamertemplate{sidebar canvas left}[horizontal shading]

[left=white,middle=sidebar.bg,right=white]
\setbeamertemplate{sidebar canvas right}[horizontal shading]
[left=white,middle=sidebar.bg,right=white]
Beamer-Template sidebar canvas right

Works exactly as for the left side.
8.2.3 Navigation Bars

Many themes install a headline or a sidebar that shows a navigation bar. Although these navigation bars take
up quite a bit of space, they are often useful for two reasons:
• They provide the audience with a visual feedback of how much of your talk you have covered and what is
yet to come. Without such feedback, an audience will often puzzle whether something you are currently
introducing will be explained in more detail later on or not.
• You can click on all parts of the navigation bar. This will directly “jump” you to the part you have clicked
on. This is particularly useful to skip certain parts of your talk and during a “question session,” when you
wish to jump back to a particular frame someone has asked about.
Some navigation bars can be “compressed” using the following option:
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\documentclass[compress]{beamer}
Tries to make all navigation bars as small as possible. For example, all small frame representations in
the navigation bars for a single section are shown alongside each other. Normally, the representations
for different subsections are shown in different lines. Furthermore, section and subsection navigations are
compressed into one line.
Some themes use the \insertnavigation to insert a navigation bar into the headline. Inside this bar, small
icons are shown (called “mini frames”) that represent the frames of a presentation. When you click on such an
icon, the following happens:
• If you click on (the icon of) any frame other than the current frame, the presentation will jump to the first
slide of the frame you clicked on.
• If you click on the current frame and you are not on the last slide of this frame, you will jump to the last
slide of the frame.
• If you click on the current frame and you are on the last slide, you will jump to the first slide of the frame.
By the above rules you can:
• Jump to the beginning of a frame from somewhere else by clicking on it once.
• Jump to the end of a frame from somewhere else by clicking on it twice.

• Skip the rest of the current frame by clicking on it once.
We also tried making a jump to an already-visited frame jump automatically to the last slide of this frame.
However, this turned out to be more confusing than helpful. With the current implementation a double-click
always brings you to the end of a slide, regardless from where you “come” from.
Parent Beamer-Template mini frames

This parent template has the children mini frame and mini frame in current subsection.
Example: \setbeamertemplate{mini frames}[box]
• [default] shows small circles as mini frames.
• [box] shows small rectangles as mini frames.
• [tick] shows small vertical bars as mini frames.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font mini frame

The template is used to render the mini frame of the current frame in a navigation bar.
The width of the template is ignored. Instead, when multiple mini frames are shown, their position
is calculated based on the beamer-sizes mini frame size and mini frame offset. See the command
\setbeamersize for a description of how to change them.
Beamer-Template mini frame in current subsection

This template is used to render the mini frame of frames in the current subsection that are not the current
frame. The beamer-color/-font mini frame installed prior to the usage of this template is invoked.
Beamer-Template mini frame in other subsection

This template is used to render mini frames of frames from subsections other than the current one.
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• [default][⟨percentage⟩] By default, this template shows mini frame in current subsection, ex-
cept that the color is first changed to fg!⟨percentage⟩!bg. The default ⟨percentage⟩ is 50%.
Example: To get an extremely “shaded” rendering of the frames outside the current subsection you
can use the following:
\setbeamertemplate{mini frame in other subsection}[default][20]
Example: To render all mini frames other than the current one in the same way, use
\setbeamertemplate{mini frame in other subsection}[default][100]
Some themes show sections and/or subsections in the navigation bars. By clicking on a section or subsection
in the navigation bar, you will jump to that section. Clicking on a section is particularly useful if the section
starts with a \tableofcontents[currentsection], since you can use it to jump to the different subsections.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font section in head/foot

This template is used to render a section entry if it occurs in the headline or the footline. The background of
the beamer-color is typically used as the background of the whole “area” where section entries are shown in
the headline. You cannot usually use this template yourself since the insert \insertsectionhead is setup
correctly only when a list of sections is being typeset in the headline.
The default template just inserts the section name. The following inserts are useful for this template:
• \insertsectionhead inserts the name of the section that is to be typeset in a navigation bar.
• \insertsectionheadnumber inserts the number of the section that is to be typeset in a navigation
bar.
• \insertpartheadnumber inserts the number of the part of the current section or subsection that is to
be typeset in a navigation bar.
Beamer-Template section in head/foot shaded

This template is used instead of section in head/foot for typesetting sections that are currently shaded.
Such shading is usually applied to all sections but the current one.
Note that this template does not have its own color and font. When this template is called, the beamer-
font and color section in head/foot will have been setup. Then, at the start of the template, you will
typically change the current color or start a colormixin environment.
• [default][⟨percentage⟩] The default template changes the current color to fg!⟨percentage⟩!bg. This
causes the current color to become “washed out” or “shaded.” The default percentage is 50.
Example: You can use the following command to make the shaded entries very “light”:
\setbeamertemplate{section in head/foot shaded}[default][20]
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font section in sidebar

This template is used to render a section entry if it occurs in the sidebar, typically as part of a mini
table of contents shown there. The background of the beamer-color is used as background for the entry.
Just like section in head/foot, you cannot usually use this template yourself and you should also use
\insertsectionhead to insert the name of the section that is to be typeset.
For once, no default is installed for this template.
• [sidebar theme] This template, which is only available if the sidebar outer theme is loaded, inserts
a bar with the beamer-color’s foreground and background that shows the section name. The width
of the bar is the same as the width of the whole sidebar.
71
The same inserts as for section in head/foot can be used.
Beamer-Template/-Color section in sidebar shaded
This template is used instead of section in sidebar for typesetting sections that are currently shaded.
Such shading is usually applied to all sections but the current one.
Differently from section in head/foot shaded, this template has its own beamer-color.
• [sidebar theme] Does the same as for the nonshaded version, except that a different beamer-color
is used.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsection in head/foot
This template behaves exactly like section in head/foot, only for subsections.
• \insertsubsectionhead works like \insertsectionhead.
• \insertsubsectionheadnumber works like \insertsectionheadnumber.
Beamer-Template subsection in head/foot shaded
This template behaves exactly like section in head/foot shaded, only for subsections.
• [default][⟨percentage⟩] works like the corresponding option for sections.
Example:
\setbeamertemplate{section in head/foot shaded}[default][20]
\setbeamertemplate{subsection in head/foot shaded}[default][20]
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsection in sidebar

This template behaves exactly like section in sidebar, only for subsections.
Beamer-Template subsection in sidebar shaded
This template behaves exactly like section in sidebar shaded, only for subsections.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsubsection in head/foot
This template behaves exactly like section in head/foot, only for subsubsections. Currently, it is not
used by the default themes.
• \insertsubsubsectionhead works like \insertsectionhead.
• \insertsubsubsectionheadnumber works like \insertsectionheadnumber.
Beamer-Template subsubsection in head/foot shaded
This template behaves exactly like section in head/foot shaded, only for subsubsections.
• [default][⟨percentage⟩] works like the corresponding option for sections.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsubsection in sidebar
This template behaves exactly like section in sidebar, only for subsubsections.
Beamer-Template subsubsection in sidebar shaded
This template behaves exactly like section in sidebar shaded, only for subsubsections.
By clicking on the document title in a navigation bar (not all themes show it), you will jump to the first
slide of your presentation (usually the title page) except if you are already at the first slide. On the first slide,
clicking on the document title will jump to the end of the presentation, if there is one. Thus by double clicking
the document title in a navigation bar, you can jump to the end.
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8.2.4 The Navigation Symbols
Navigation symbols are small icons that are shown on every slide by default. The following symbols are shown:
1. A slide icon, which is depicted as a single rectangle. To the left and right of this symbol, a left and right
arrow are shown.
2. A frame icon, which is depicted as three slide icons “stacked on top of each other”. This symbol is framed
by arrows.
3. A subsection icon, which is depicted as a highlighted subsection entry in a table of contents. This symbol
is framed by arrows.
4. A section icon, which is depicted as a highlighted section entry (together with all subsections) in a table
of contents. This symbol is framed by arrows.
5. A presentation icon, which is depicted as a completely highlighted table of contents.
6. An appendix icon, which is depicted as a completely highlighted table of contents consisting of only one
section. (This icon is only shown if there is an appendix.)
7. Back and forward icons, depicted as circular arrows.
8. A “search” or “find” icon, depicted as a detective’s magnifying glass.
Clicking on the left arrow next to an icon always jumps to (the last slide of) the previous slide, frame,
subsection, or section. Clicking on the right arrow next to an icon always jumps to (the first slide of) the next
slide, frame, subsection, or section.
Clicking on any of these icons has different effects:
1. If supported by the viewer application, clicking on a slide icon pops up a window that allows you to enter
a slide number to which you wish to jump.
2. Clicking on the left side of a frame icon will jump to the first slide of the frame, clicking on the right side
will jump to the last slide of the frame (this can be useful for skipping overlays).
3. Clicking on the left side of a subsection icon will jump to the first slide of the subsection, clicking on the
right side will jump to the last slide of the subsection.
4. Clicking on the left side of a section icon will jump to the first slide of the section, clicking on the right
side will jump to the last slide of the section.
5. Clicking on the left side of the presentation icon will jump to the first slide, clicking on the right side will
jump to the last slide of the presentation. However, this does not include the appendix.
6. Clicking on the left side of the appendix icon will jump to the first slide of the appendix, clicking on the
right side will jump to the last slide of the appendix.
7. If supported by the viewer application, clicking on the back and forward symbols jumps to the previously
visited slides.
8. If supported by the viewer application, clicking on the search icon pops up a window that allows you to
enter a search string. If found, the viewer application will jump to this string.
You can reduce the number of icons that are shown or their layout by adjusting the navigation symbols
template.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font navigation symbols
This template is invoked in “three-star-mode” by themes at the place where the navigation symbols should
be shown. “Three-star-mode” means that the command \usebeamertemplate*** is used.
Note that, although it may look like the symbols are part of the footline, they are more often part of an
invisible right sidebar.
73
• [default] Organizes the navigation symbols horizontally.
• [horizontal] This is an alias for the default.
• [vertical] Organizes the navigation symbols vertically.
• [only frame symbol] Shows only the navigational symbol for navigating frames.
Example: The following command suppresses all navigation symbols:

\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
Inside this template, the following inserts are useful:
• \insertslidenavigationsymbol Inserts the slide navigation symbols, that is, the slide symbols (a
rectangle) together with arrows to the left and right that are hyperlinked.
• \insertframenavigationsymbol Inserts the frame navigation symbol.
• \insertsubsectionnavigationsymbol Inserts the subsection navigation symbol.
• \insertsectionnavigationsymbol Inserts the section navigation symbol.
• \insertdocnavigationsymbol Inserts the presentation navigation symbol and (if necessary) the ap-
pendix navigation symbol.
• \insertbackfindforwardnavigationsymbol Inserts a back, a find, and a forward navigation symbol.
8.2.5 The Logo

To install a logo, use the following command:
\logo{⟨logo text⟩}
The ⟨logo text⟩ is usually a command for including a graphic, but it can be any text. The position where
the logo is inserted is determined by the current theme; you cannot (currently) specify this position directly.
Example:
\pgfdeclareimage[height=0.5cm]{logo}{tu-logo}
\logo{\pgfuseimage{logo}}
Example:
\logo{\includegraphics[height=0.5cm]{logo.pdf}}
Currently, the effect of this command is just to setup the logo template. However, a more sophisticated
effect might be implemented in the future.
article This command has no effect.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font logo
This template is used to render the logo.
The following insert can be used to insert a logo somewhere:
• \insertlogo inserts the logo at the current position. This command has the same effect as
\usebeamertemplate*{logo}.
8.2.6 The Frame Title

The frame title is shown prominently at the top of the frame and can be specified with the following command:
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\frametitle<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨short frame title⟩]{⟨frame title text⟩}
You should end the ⟨frame title text⟩ with a period, if the title is a proper sentence. Otherwise, there
should not be a period. The ⟨short frame title⟩ is normally not shown, but it’s available via the
\insertshortframetitle command. The ⟨overlay specification⟩ is mostly useful for suppressing the frame
title in article mode.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A Frame Title is Important.}
\framesubtitle{Subtitles are not so important.}
Frame contents.
\end{frame}
If you are using the allowframebreaks option with the current frame, a continuation text (like “(cont.)” or
something similar, depending on the template frametitle continuation) is automatically added to the
⟨frame title text⟩ at the end, separated with a space.
presen- The frame title is not typeset immediately when the command \frametitle is encountered. Rather, the
tation argument of the command is stored internally and the frame title is only typeset when the complete frame
has been read. This gives you access to both the ⟨frame title text⟩ and to the ⟨subframe title text⟩ that is
possibly introduced using the \framesubtitle command.
article By default, this command creates a new paragraph in article mode, entitled ⟨frame title text⟩. Using
the ⟨overlay specification⟩ makes it easy to suppress a frame title once in a while. If you generally wish to
suppress all frame titles in article mode, say \setbeamertemplate<article>{frametitle}{}.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font frametitle
Color/font parents: titlelike
When the frame title and subtitle are to be typeset, this template is invoked with the beamer-
color and -font frametitle set. This template is not invoked when the commands \frametitle
or \framesubtitle are called. Rather, it is invoked when the whole frame has been completely read.
Till then, the frame title and frame subtitle text are stored in a special place. This way, when the
template is invoked, both inserts are setup correctly. The resulting TEX-box is then magically put back
to the top of the frame.
• [default][⟨alignment⟩] The frame is typeset using the beamer-color frametitle and the
beamer-font frametitle. The subtitle is put below using the color and font framesubtitle.
If the color frametitle has a background, a background bar stretching the whole frame width is
put behind the title. A background color of the subtitle is ignored. The ⟨alignment⟩ is passed on
to the beamercolorbox environment. In particular, useful options are left, center, and right.
As a special case, the right option causes the left border of the frame title to be somewhat larger
than normal so that the frame title is more in the middle of the frame.
• [shadow theme] This option is available if the outer theme shadow is loaded. It draws the
frame title on top of a horizontal shading between the background colors of frametitle and
frametitle right. A subtitle is, if present, also put on this bar. Below the bar, a “shadow” is
drawn.
• [sidebar theme] This option is available if the outer theme sidebar is loaded and if the headline
height is not set to 0pt (which can be done using an option of the sidebar theme). With this
option, the frame title is put inside a rectangular area that is part of the headline (some “negative
space” is used to raise the frame title into this area). The background of the color frametitle is
not used, this is the job of the headline template in this case.
• [smoothbars theme] This option is available if the outer theme smoothbars is loaded. It typesets
the frame title on a colored bar with the background color of frametitle. The top and bottom of
the bar smoothly blend over to backgrounds above and below.
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• [smoothtree theme] Like smoothbars theme, only for the smoothtree theme.
The following commands are useful for this template:
• \insertframetitle yields the frame title.
• \insertframesubtitle yields the frame subtitle.
\framesubtitle<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨frame subtitle text⟩}

If present, a subtitle will be shown in a smaller font below the main title. Like the \frametitle command,
this command can be given anywhere in the frame, since the frame title is actually typeset only when
everything else has already been typeset.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle<presentation>{Frame Title Should Be in Uppercase.}
\framesubtitle{Subtitles can be in lowercase if they are full sentences.}
Frame contents.
\end{frame}
article By default, the subtitle is not shown in any way in article mode.
Beamer-Color/-Font framesubtitle
Color/font parents: frametitle
This element provides a color and a font for the subtitle, but no template. It is the job of the frametitle
template to also typeset the subtitle.
Be default, all material for a slide is vertically centered. You can change this using the following class options:
\documentclass[t]{beamer}
Place text of slides at the (vertical) top of the slides. This corresponds to a vertical “flush.” You can override
this for individual frames using the c or b option.
\documentclass[c]{beamer}
Place text of slides at the (vertical) center of the slides. This is the default. You can override this for
individual frames using the t or b option.
8.2.7 The Background

Each frame has a background, which—as the name suggests—is “behind everything.” The background is a
surprisingly complex object: in beamer, it consists of a background canvas and the main background.
The background canvas can be imagined as a large area on which everything (the main background and
everything else) is painted on. By default, this canvas is a big rectangle filling the whole frame whose color is the
background of the beamer-color background canvas. Since this color inherits from normal text, by changing
the background color of the normal text, you can change this color of the canvas.
Example: The following command changes the background color to a light red.
\setbeamercolor{normal text}{bg=red!20}
The canvas need not be monochrome. Instead, you can install a shading or even make it transparent. Making
it transparent is a good idea if you wish to include your slides in some other document.
Example: The following command makes the background canvas transparent:
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Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font background canvas
Color parents: normal text
The template is inserted “behind everything.” The template should typically be some TEX commands that
produce a rectangle of height \paperheight and width \paperwidth.
• [default] installs a large rectangle with the background color. If the background is empty, the
canvas is “transparent.” Since background canvas inherits from normal text, you can change the
background of the beamer-color normal text to change the color of the default canvas. However, to
make the canvas transparent, only set the background of the canvas empty; leave the background of
normal text white.
• [vertical shading][⟨color options⟩] installs a vertically shaded background. Use with care: Back-
ground shadings are often distracting! The following ⟨color options⟩ may be given:
– top=⟨color⟩ specifies the color at the top of the page. By default, 25% of the foreground of the
beamer-color palette primary is used.
– bottom=⟨color⟩ specifies the color at the bottom of the page. By default, the background of
normal text at the moment of invocation of this command is used.
– middle=⟨color⟩ specifies the color for the middle of the page. Thus, if this option is given, the
shading changes from the bottom color to this color and then to the top color.
– midpoint=⟨factor⟩ specifies at which point of the page the middle color is used. A factor of 0 is
the bottom of the page, a factor of 1 is the top. The default, which is 0.5 is in the middle.
The main background is drawn on top of the background canvas. It can be used to add, say, a grid to every
frame or a big background picture or whatever. If you plan to use a PNG image as a background image, use
one with an alpha channel to avoid potential problems with transparency in some PDF viewers.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font background
Color parents: background canvas
The template is inserted “behind everything, but on top of the background canvas.” Use it for pictures or
grids or anything that does not necessarily fill the whole background. When this template is typeset, the
beamer-color and -font background will be setup.
• [default] is empty.
• [grid][⟨grid options⟩] places a grid on the background. The following ⟨grid options⟩ may be given:
– step=⟨dimension⟩ specifies the distance between grid lines. The default is 0.5 cm.
– color=⟨color⟩ specifies the color of the grid lines. The default is 10% foreground.
8.3 Frame and Margin Sizes

The size of a frame is actually the “paper size” of a beamer presentation, and it is variable. By default, it
amounts to 128 mm by 96 mm. The aspect ratio of this size is 4:3, which is exactly what most beamers offer
these days. It is the job of the presentation program (like acroread, xpdf, okular or evince) to display the
slides at full screen size. The main advantage of using a small “paper size” is that you can use all your normal
fonts at their natural sizes. In particular, inserting a graphic with 11pt labels will result in reasonably sized
labels during the presentation.
To change “paper size” and aspect ratio, you can use the following class options:
\documentclass[aspectratio=1610]{beamer}
Sets aspect ratio to 16:10, and frame size to 160 mm by 100 mm.
77
Sets aspect ratio to 1.41:1, and frame size to 148.5 mm by 105 mm.
The default aspect ratio and frame size. You need not specify this option.
Aside from using these options, you should refrain from changing the “paper size.” However, you can change
the size of the left and right margins, which default to 1 cm. To change them, you should use the following
command:
\setbeamersize{⟨options⟩}
The following ⟨options⟩ can be given:
• text margin left=⟨TEX dimension⟩ sets a new left margin. This excludes the left sidebar. Thus, it
is the distance between the right edge of the left sidebar and the left edge of the text.
• text margin right=⟨TEX dimension⟩ sets a new right margin.
• sidebar width left=⟨TEX dimension⟩ sets the size of the left sidebar. Currently, this command
should be given before a shading is installed for the sidebar canvas.
• sidebar width right=⟨TEX dimension⟩ sets the size of the right sidebar.
• description width=⟨TEX dimension⟩ sets the default width of description labels, see Section 12.1.
• description width of=⟨text⟩ sets the default width of description labels to the width of the ⟨text⟩,
see Section 12.1.
• mini frame size=⟨TEX dimension⟩ sets the size of mini frames in a navigation bar. When two mini
frame icons are shown alongside each other, their left end points are ⟨TEX dimension⟩ far apart.
• mini frame offset=⟨TEX dimension⟩ set an additional vertical offset that is added to the mini frame
size when arranging mini frames vertically.
article This command has no effect in article mode.
8.4 Restricting the Slides of a Frame

The number of slides in a frame is automatically calculated. If the largest number mentioned in any overlay
specification inside the frame is 4, four slides are introduced (despite the fact that a specification like <4-> might
suggest that more than four slides would be possible).
You can also specify the number of slides in the frame “by hand.” To do so, you pass an overlay specification
to the \frame command. The frame will contain only the slides specified in this argument. Consider the following
example.
\begin{frame}<1-2,4->
This is slide number \only<1>{1}\only<2>{2}\only<3>{3}%
\only<4>{4}\only<5>{5}.
\end{frame}
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This command will create a frame containing four slides. The first will contain the text “This is slide
number 1,” the second “This is slide number 2,” the third “This is slide number 4,” and the fourth “This is slide
number 5.”
A useful specification is just <0>, which causes the frame to have no slides at all. For example,
\begin{frame}<handout:0> causes the frame to be suppressed in the handout version, but to be shown normally
in all other versions. Another useful specification is <beamer>, which causes the frame to be shown normally in
beamer mode, but to be suppressed in all other versions.
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9 Creating Overlays
9.1 The Pause Commands
The pause command offers an easy, but not very flexible way of creating frames that are uncovered piecewise.
If you say \pause somewhere in a frame, only the text on the frame up to the \pause command is shown on
the first slide. On the second slide, everything is shown up to the second \pause, and so forth. You can also
use \pause inside environments; its effect will last after the environment. However, taking this to extremes and
using \pause deeply within a nested environment may not have the desired result.
A much more fine-grained control over what is shown on each slide can be attained using overlay specifications,
see the next sections. However, for many simple cases the \pause command is sufficient.
The effect of \pause lasts till the next \pause, \onslide, or the end of the frame.
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item
Shown from first slide on.
\pause
\item
Shown from second slide on.
\begin{itemize}
\item
Shown from second slide on.
\pause
\item
Shown from third slide on.
\end{itemize}
\item
Shown from third slide on.
\pause
\item
Shown from fourth slide on.
\end{itemize}
Shown from fourth slide on.
\begin{itemize}
\onslide
\item
Shown from first slide on.
\pause
\item
Shown from fifth slide on.
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\pause[⟨number⟩]
This command causes the text following it to be shown only from the next slide on, or, if the optional
⟨number⟩ is given, from the slide with the number ⟨number⟩. If the optional ⟨number⟩ is given, the counter
beamerpauses is set to this number. This command uses the \onslide command, internally. This command
does not work inside amsmath environments like align, since these do really wicked things.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item
A
\pause
80
\item
B
\pause
\item
C
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
article This command is ignored.
To “unpause” some text, that is, to temporarily suspend pausing, use the command \onslide, see below.
9.2 The General Concept of Overlay Specifications

The approach taken by most presentation classes to overlays is somewhat similar to the above \pause command.
These commands get a certain slide number as input and affect the text on the slide following this command in
a certain way. For example, prosper’s \FromSlide{2} command causes all text following this command to be
shown only from the second slide on.
The beamer class uses a different approach (though the abovementioned command is also available:
\onslide<2-> will have the same effect as \FromSlide{2}, except that \onslide transcends environments;
likewise, \pause is internally mapped to a command with an appropriate overlay specification). The idea is to
add overlay specifications to certain commands. These specifications are always given in pointed brackets and
follow the command “as soon as possible,” though in certain cases beamer also allows overlay specification to be
given a little later. In the simplest case, the specification contains just a number. A command with an overlay
specification following it will only have “effect” on the slide(s) mentioned in the specification. What exactly
“having an effect” means, depends on the command. Consider the following example.
\begin{frame}
\textbf{This line is bold on all three slides.}
\textbf<2>{This line is bold only on the second slide.}
\textbf<3>{This line is bold only on the third slide.}
\end{frame}
For the command \textbf, the overlay specification causes the text to be set in boldface only on the specified
slides. On all other slides, the text is set in a normal font.
For a second example, consider the following frame:
\begin{frame}
\only<1>{This line is inserted only on slide 1.}
\only<2>{This line is inserted only on slide 2.}
\end{frame}
The command \only, which is introduced by beamer, normally simply inserts its parameter into the current
frame. However, if an overlay specification is present, it “throws away” its parameter on slides that are not
mentioned.
Overlay specifications can only be written behind certain commands, not every command. Which commands
you can use and which effects this will have is explained in the next section. However, it is quite easy to redefine
an existing command such that it becomes “overlay specification aware,” see also Section 9.3.
The syntax of (basic) overlay specifications is the following: They are comma-separated lists of slides and
ranges. Ranges are specified like this: 2-5, which means slide two through to five. The start or the end of a
range can be omitted. For example, 3- means “slides three, four, five, and so on” and -5 means the same as
1-5. A complicated example is -3,6-8,10,12-15, which selects the slides 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15.
9.3 Commands with Overlay Specifications

Important: Due to the way overlay specifications are implemented, the commands documented here are all
fragile even if the LATEX 2𝜀 kernel versions are not.
81
For the following commands, adding an overlay specification causes the command to be simply ignored on
slides that are not included in the specification: \textbf, \textit, \textmd, \textnormal, \textrm, \textsc,
\textsf, \textsl, \texttt, \textup, \emph; \color, \textcolor; \alert, \structure. If a command takes
several arguments, like \color, the specification should directly follow the command as in the following example
(but there are exceptions to this rule):
\begin{frame}
\color<2-3>[rgb]{1,0,0} This text is red on slides 2 and 3, otherwise black.
\end{frame}
For the following commands, the effect of an overlay specification is special:
\onslide⟨modifier⟩<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}
The behavior of this command depends on whether the optional argument ⟨text⟩ is given or not (note that
the optional argument is given in normal braces, not in square brackets). If present, the ⟨modifier⟩ can be
either a + or a *.
If no ⟨text⟩ is given, the following happens: All text following this command will only be shown (uncovered)
on the specified slides. On non-specified slides, the text still occupies space. If no slides are specified,
the following text is always shown. You need not call this command in the same TEX group, its effect
transcends block groups. However, this command has a different effect inside an overprint environment,
see the description of overprint.
If the ⟨modifier⟩ is +, hidden text will not be treated as covered, but as invisible. The difference is the same
as the difference between \uncover and \visible. The modifier * may not be given if no ⟨text⟩ argument
is present.
Example:
\begin{frame}
Shown on first slide.
\onslide<2-3>
Shown on second and third slide.
\begin{itemize}
\item
Still shown on the second and third slide.
\onslide+<4->
\item
Shown from slide 4 on.
\end{itemize}
Shown from slide 4 on.
\onslide
Shown on all slides.
\end{frame}
If a ⟨text⟩ argument is present, \onslide (without a ⟨modifier⟩) is mapped to \uncover, \onslide+ is
mapped to \visible, and \onslide* is mapped to \only.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\onslide<1>{Same effect as the following command.}
\uncover<1>{Same effect as the previous command.}
\onslide+<2>{Same effect as the following command.}

\visible<2>{Same effect as the previous command.}
\onslide*<3>{Same effect as the following command.}

\only<3>{Same effect as the previous command.}
\end{frame}
82
\only<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}<⟨overlay specification⟩>
If either ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present (though only one may be present), the ⟨text⟩ is inserted only into
the specified slides. For other slides, the text is simply thrown away. In particular, it occupies no space.
Example: \only<3->{Text inserted from slide 3 on.}
Since the overlay specification may also be given after the text, you can often use \only to make other
commands overlay specification-aware in a simple manner:
Example:
\newcommand{\myblue}{\only{\color{blue}}}
\begin{frame}
\myblue<2> This text is blue only on slide 2.
\end{frame}
\uncover<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}
If the ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the ⟨text⟩ is shown (“uncovered”) only on the specified slides. On
other slides, the text still occupies space and it is still typeset, but it is not shown or only shown as if
transparent. For details on how to specify whether the text is invisible or just transparent see Section 17.6.
Example: \uncover<3->{Text shown from slide 3 on.}
article This command has the same effect as \only.
\visible<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}
This command does almost the same as \uncover. The only difference is that if the text is not shown,
it is never shown in a transparent way, but rather it is not shown at all. Thus, for this command the
transparency settings have no effect.
Example: \visible<2->{Text shown from slide 2 on.}
article This command has the same effect as \only.
\invisible<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}
This command is the opposite of \visible.
Example: \invisible<-2>{Text shown from slide 3 on.}
\alt<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨default text⟩}{⟨alternative text⟩}<⟨overlay specification⟩>

Only one ⟨overlay specification⟩ may be given. The default text is shown on the specified slides, otherwise
the alternative text. The specification must always be present.
Example: \alt<2>{On Slide 2}{Not on slide 2.}
Once more, giving the overlay specification at the end is useful when the command is used inside other
commands.
Example: Here is the definition of \uncover:
\newcommand{\uncover}{\alt{\@firstofone}{\makeinvisible}}
\temporal<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨before slide text⟩}{⟨default text⟩}{⟨after slide text⟩}

This command alternates between three different texts, depending on whether the current slide is temporally
before the specified slides, is one of the specified slides, or comes after them. If the ⟨overlay specification⟩
is not an interval (that is, if it has a “hole”), the “hole” is considered to be part of the before slides.
Example:
\temporal<3-4>{Shown on 1, 2}{Shown on 3, 4}{Shown 5, 6, 7, ...}
\temporal<3,5>{Shown on 1, 2, 4}{Shown on 3, 5}{Shown 6, 7, 8, ...}
83
As a possible application of the \temporal command consider the following example:
Example:
\def\colorize<#1>{%
\temporal<#1>{\color{red!50}}{\color{black}}{\color{black!50}}}
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\colorize<1> \item First item.
\colorize<2> \item Second item.
\colorize<3> \item Third item.
\colorize<4> \item Fourth item.
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\item<⟨alert specification⟩>[⟨item label⟩]<⟨alert specification⟩>

presen- Only one ⟨alert specification⟩ may be given. The effect of ⟨alert specification⟩ is described in Section 9.6.3.
tation
Example:
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> First point, shown on all slides.
\item<2-> Second point, shown on slide 2 and later.
\item<2-> Third point, also shown on slide 2 and later.
\item<3-> Fourth point, shown on slide 3.
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
\begin{enumerate}
\item<3-| alert@3>[0.] A zeroth point, shown at the very end.
\item<1-| alert@1> The first and main point.
\item<2-| alert@2> The second point.
\end{enumerate}
\end{frame}
article The ⟨action specification⟩ is currently completely ignored.
The related command \bibitem is also overlay specification-aware in the same way as \item.
\label<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨label name⟩}

If the ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the label is only inserted on the specified slide. Inserting a label on
more than one slide will cause a ‘multiple labels’ warning. However, if no overlay specification is present,
the specification is automatically set to just ‘1’ and the label is thus inserted only on the first slide. This is
typically the desired behavior since it does not really matter on which slide the label is inserted, except if
you use an \only command and except if you wish to use that label as a hyperjump target. Then you need
to specify a slide.
Labels can be used as target of hyperjumps. A convenient way of labelling a frame is to use the label=⟨name⟩
option of the frame environment. However, this will cause the whole frame to be kept in memory till the
end of the compilation, which may pose a problem.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\begin{align}
a &= b + c \label{first}\\ % no specification needed
c &= d + e \label{second}\\% no specification needed
\end{align}
84
Blah blah, \uncover<2>{more blah blah.}
\only<3>{Specification is needed now.\label<3>{mylabel}}

\end{frame}
9.4 Environments with Overlay Specifications

Environments can also be equipped with overlay specifications. For most of the predefined environments, see
Section 12.3, adding an overlay specification causes the whole environment to be uncovered only on the specified
slides. This is useful for showing things incrementally as in the following example.
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A Theorem on Infinite Sets}
\begin{theorem}<1->
There exists an infinite set.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}<3->
This follows from the axiom of infinity.
\end{proof}
\begin{example}<2->
The set of natural numbers is infinite.
\end{example}
\end{frame}
In the example, the first slide only contains the theorem, on the second slide an example is added, and on
the third slide the proof is also shown.
For each of the basic commands \only, \alt, \visible, \uncover, and \invisible there exists “envi-
ronment versions” onlyenv, altenv, visibleenv, uncoverenv, and invisibleenv. Except for altenv and
onlyenv, these environments do the same as the commands.
\begin{onlyenv}<⟨overlay specification⟩>
\end{onlyenv}
If the ⟨overlay specification⟩ is given, the contents of the environment is inserted into the text only on the
specified slides. The difference to \only is, that the text is actually typeset inside a box that is then thrown
away, whereas \only immediately throws away its contents. If the text is not “typesettable,” the onlyenv
may produce an error where \only would not.
Example:
\begin{frame}
This line is always shown.
\begin{onlyenv}<2>
This line is inserted on slide 2.
\end{onlyenv}
\end{frame}
\begin{altenv}<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨begin text⟩}{⟨end text⟩}{⟨alternate begin text⟩}{⟨alternate end text⟩}<⟨overlay

specification⟩>
\end{altenv}
Only one ⟨overlay specification⟩ may be given. On the specified slides, ⟨begin text⟩ will be inserted at the
beginning of the environment and ⟨end text⟩ will be inserted at the end. On all other slides, ⟨alternate begin
text⟩ and ⟨alternate end text⟩ will be used.
85
Example:
\begin{frame}
This
\begin{altenv}<2>{(}{)}{[}{]}
word
\end{altenv}
is in round brackets on slide 2 and in square brackets on slide 1.
\end{frame}
9.5 Dynamically Changing Text or Images

You may sometimes wish to have some part of a frame change dynamically from slide to slide. On each slide
of the frame, something different should be shown inside this area. You could achieve the effect of dynamically
changing text by giving a list of \only commands like this:
\only<1>{Initial text.}
\only<2>{Replaced by this on second slide.}
\only<3>{Replaced again by this on third slide.}
The trouble with this approach is that it may lead to slight, but annoying differences in the heights of the
lines, which may cause the whole frame to “wobble” from slide to slide. This problem becomes much more severe
if the replacement text is several lines long.
To solve this problem, you can use two environments: overlayarea and overprint. The first is more flexible,
but less user-friendly.
\begin{overlayarea}{⟨area width⟩}{⟨area height⟩}

\end{overlayarea}
Everything within the environment will be placed in a rectangular area of the specified size. The area will
have the same size on all slides of a frame, regardless of its actual contents.
Example:
\begin{overlayarea}{\textwidth}{3cm}
\only<1>{Some text for the first slide.\\Possibly several lines long.}
\only<2>{Replacement on the second slide.}
\end{overlayarea}
\begin{overprint}[⟨area width⟩]
\end{overprint}
The ⟨area width⟩ defaults to the text width. Inside the environment, use \onslide commands to specify
different things that should be shown for this environment on different slides. The \onslide commands
are used like \item commands. Everything within the environment will be placed in a rectangular area of
the specified width. The height and depth of the area are chosen large enough to accommodate the largest
contents of the area. The overlay specifications of the \onslide commands must be disjoint. This may be
a problem for handouts, since, there, all overlay specifications default to 1. If you use the option handout,
you can disable all but one \onslide by setting the others to 0.
Example:
\begin{overprint}
\onslide<1| handout:1>
Some text for the first slide.\\
Possibly several lines long.
\onslide<2| handout:0>
Replacement on the second slide. Suppressed for handout.
\end{overprint}
86
A similar need for dynamical changes arises when you have, say, a series of pictures named first.pdf,
second.pdf, and third.pdf that show different stages of some process. To make a frame that shows these
pictures on different slides, the following code might be used:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{The Three Process Stages}
\includegraphics<1>{first.pdf}
\includegraphics<2>{second.pdf}
\includegraphics<3>{third.pdf}
\end{frame}
The above code uses the fact the beamer makes the \includegraphics command overlay specification-
aware. It works nicely, but only if each .pdf file contains the complete graphic to be shown. However, some
programs, like xfig, sometimes also produce series of graphics in which each file just contains the additional
graphic elements to be shown on the next slide. In this case, the first graphic must be shown not on overlay 1,
but from overlay 1 on, and so on. While this is easy to achieve by changing the overlay specification <1> to
<1->, the graphics must also be shown on top of each other. An easy way to achieve this is to use TEX’s \llap
command like this:
\begin{frame}
\includegraphics<1->{first.pdf}%
\llap{\includegraphics<2->{second.pdf}}%
\llap{\includegraphics<3->{third.pdf}}
\end{frame}
or like this:
\begin{frame}
\includegraphics{first.pdf}%
\pause%
\llap{\includegraphics{second.pdf}}%
\pause%
\llap{\includegraphics{third.pdf}}
\end{frame}
A more convenient way is to use the \multiinclude command, see Section 14.1.3 for details.
9.6 Advanced Overlay Specifications

9.6.1 Making Commands and Environments Overlay Specification-Aware
This section explains how to define new commands that are overlay specification-aware. Also, it explains how to
setup counters correctly that should be increased from frame to frame (like equation numbering), but not from
slide to slide. You may wish to skip this section, unless you want to write your own extensions to the beamer
class.
beamer extends the syntax of LATEX’s standard command \newcommand:
\newcommand<>{⟨command name⟩}[⟨argument number⟩][⟨default optional value⟩]{⟨text⟩}

Declares the new command named ⟨command name⟩. The ⟨text⟩ should contain the body of this command
and it may contain occurrences of parameters like #⟨number⟩. Here ⟨number⟩ may be between 1 and
⟨argument number⟩ + 1. The additionally allowed argument is the overlay specification.
When ⟨command name⟩ is used, it will scan as many as ⟨argument number⟩ arguments. While scanning
them, it will look for an overlay specification, which may be given between any two arguments, before
the first argument, or after the last argument. If it finds an overlay specification like <3>, it will call
87
⟨text⟩ with arguments 1 to ⟨argument number⟩ set to the normal arguments and the argument number
⟨argument number⟩ + 1 set to <3> (including the pointed brackets). If no overlay specification is found, the
extra argument is empty.
If the ⟨default optional value⟩ is provided, the first argument of ⟨command name⟩ is optional. If no optional
argument is specified in square brackets, the ⟨default optional value⟩ is used.
Example: The following command will typeset its argument in red on the specified slides:
\newcommand<>{\makered}[1]{{\color#2{red}#1}}
Example: Here is beamer’s definition of \emph:

\newcommand<>{\emph}[1]{{\only#2{\itshape}#1}}
Example: Here is beamer’s definition of \transdissolve (the command \beamer@dotrans mainly passes
its argument to hyperref):
\newcommand<>{\transdissolve}[1][]{\only#2{\beamer@dotrans[#1]{Dissolve}}}
\renewcommand<>{⟨existing command name⟩}[⟨argument number⟩][⟨default optional value⟩]{⟨text⟩}

Redeclares a command that already exists in the same way as \newcommand<>. Inside ⟨text⟩, you can still
access to original definitions using the command \beameroriginal, see the example.
Example: This command is used in beamer to make \hyperlink overlay specification-aware:
\renewcommand<>{\hyperlink}[2]{\only#3{\beameroriginal{\hyperlink}{#1}{#2}}}
\newenvironment<>{⟨environment name⟩}[⟨argument number⟩][⟨default optional value⟩]

{⟨begin text⟩}{⟨end text⟩}
Declares a new environment that is overlay specification-aware. If this environment is encountered, the
same algorithm as for \newcommand<> is used to parse the arguments and the overlay specification.
Note that, as always, the ⟨end text⟩ may not contain any arguments like #1. In particular, you do not have
access to the overlay specification. In this case, it is usually a good idea to use altenv environment in the
⟨begin text⟩.
Example: Declare your own action block:
\newenvironment<>{myboldblock}[1]{%
\begin{actionenv}#2%
\textbf{#1}
\par}
{\par%
\end{actionenv}}
\begin{frame}
\begin{myboldblock}<2>
This theorem is shown only on the second slide.
\end{myboldblock}
\end{frame}
Example: Text in the following environment is normally bold and italic on non-specified slides:
\newenvironment<>{boldornormal}
{\begin{altenv}#1
{\begin{bfseries}}{\end{bfseries}}
{}{}}
{\end{altenv}}
Incidentally, since altenv also accepts its argument at the end, the same effect could have been achieved
using just
\newenvironment{boldornormal}
{\begin{altenv}
88
{\begin{bfseries}}{\end{bfseries}}
{}{}}
{\end{altenv}}
\renewenvironment<>{⟨existing environment name⟩}[⟨argument number⟩][⟨default optional value⟩]

{⟨begin text⟩}{⟨end text⟩}
Redefines an existing environment. The original environment is still available under the name original⟨existing
environment name⟩.
Example:
\renewenvironment<>{verse}
{\begin{actionenv}#1\begin{originalverse}}
{\end{originalverse}\end{actionenv}}
The following two commands can be used to ensure that a certain counter is automatically reset on subsequent
slides of a frame. This is necessary for example for the equation count. You might want this count to be increased
from frame to frame, but certainly not from overlay slide to overlay slide. For equation counters and footnote
counters (you should not use footnotes), these commands have already been invoked.
\resetcounteronoverlays{⟨counter name⟩}
After you have invoked this command, the value of the specified counter will be the same on all slides of
every frame.
Example: \resetcounteronoverlays{equation}
\resetcountonoverlays{⟨count register name⟩}

The same as \resetcounteronoverlays, except that this command should be used with counts that have
been created using the TEX primitive \newcount instead of LATEX’s \definecounter.
Example:
\newcount\mycount
\resetcountonoverlays{mycount}
9.6.2 Mode Specifications

This section is only important if you use beamer’s mode mechanism to create different versions of your presen-
tation. If you are not familiar with beamer’s modes, please skip this section or read Section 21 first.
In certain cases you may wish to have different overlay specifications to apply to a command in different
modes. For example, you might wish a certain text to appear only from the third slide on during your presen-
tation, but in a handout for the audience there should be no third slide and the text should appear already on
the second slide. In this case you could write
\only<3| handout:2>{Some text}
The vertical bar separates the two different specifications 3 and handout:2. By writing a mode name before
a colon, you specify that the following specification only applies to that mode. If no mode is given, as in 3, the
mode beamer is automatically added. For this reason, if you write \only<3>{Text} and you are in handout
mode, the text will be shown on all slides since there is no restriction specified for handouts and since the 3 is
the same as beamer:3.
It is also possible to give an overlay specification that contains only a mode name (or several, separated by
vertical bars):
\only<article>{This text is shown only in article mode.}
An overlay specification that does not contain any slide numbers is called a (pure) mode specification. If a
mode specification is given, all modes that are not mentioned are automatically suppressed. Thus <beamer:1->
means “on all slides in beamer mode and also on all slides in all other modes, since nothing special is specified
for them,” whereas <beamer> means “on all slides in beamer mode and not on any other slide.”
89
Mode specifications can also be used outside frames as in the following examples:
\section<presentation>{This section exists only in the presentation modes}
\section<article>{This section exists only in the article mode}
Presentation modes include beamer, trans and handout.

You can also mix pure mode specifications and overlay specifications, although this can get confusing:
\only<article| beamer:1>{Riddle}
This will cause the text Riddle to be inserted in article mode and on the first slide of a frame in beamer
mode, but not at all in handout or trans mode. (Try to find out how <beamer| beamer:1> differs from
<beamer> and from <beamer:1>.)
As if all this were not already complicated enough, there is another mode that behaves in a special way: the
mode second. For this mode a special rule applies: An overlay specification for mode beamer also applies to
mode second (but not the other way round). Thus, if we are in mode second, the specification <second:2>
means “on slide 2” and <beamer:2> also means “on slide 2”. To get a slide that is typeset in beamer mode, but
not in second mode, you can use, <second:0>.
9.6.3 Action Specifications

This section also introduces a rather advanced concept. You may also wish to skip it on first reading.
Some overlay specification-aware commands cannot handle not only normal overlay specifications, but also
so called action specifications. In an action specification, the list of slide numbers and ranges is prefixed by
⟨action⟩@, where ⟨action⟩ is the name of a certain action to be taken on the specified slides:
\item<3-| alert@3> Shown from slide 3 on, alerted on slide 3.
In the above example, the \item command, which allows actions to be specified, will uncover the item text
from slide three on and it will, additionally, alert this item exactly on slide 3.
Not all commands can take an action specification. Currently, only \item (though not in article mode
currently), \action, the environment actionenv, and the block environments (like block or theorem) handle
them.
By default, the following actions are available:
• alert alters the item or block.
• uncover uncovers the item or block (this is the default, if no action is specified).
• only causes the whole item or block to be inserted only on the specified slides.
• visible causes the text to become visible only on the specified slides (the difference between uncover and
visible is the same as between \uncover and \visible).
• invisible causes the text to become invisible on the specified slides.
The rest of this section explains how you can add your own actions and make commands action-specification-
aware. You may wish to skip it upon first reading.
You can easily add your own actions: An action specification like ⟨action⟩@⟨slide numbers⟩ simply inserts an
environment called ⟨action⟩env around the \item or parameter of \action with <⟨slide numbers⟩> as overlay
specification. Thus, by defining a new overlay specification-aware environment named ⟨my action name⟩env,
you can add your own action:
\newenvironment{checkenv}{\only{\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{X}}}{}
You can then write

\item<beamer:check@2> Text.
This will change the itemization symbol before Text. to X on slide 2 in beamer mode. The definition of
checkenv used the fact that \only also accepts an overlay specification given after its argument.
The whole action mechanism is based on the following environment:
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\begin{actionenv}<⟨action specification⟩>
\end{actionenv}
This environment extracts all actions from the ⟨action specification⟩ for the current mode. For each action
of the form ⟨action⟩@⟨slide numbers⟩, it inserts the following text: \begin{⟨action⟩env}<⟨slide number⟩>
at the beginning of the environment and the text \end{⟨action⟩env} at the end. If there are several
action specifications, several environments are opened (and closed in the appropriate order). An ⟨overlay
specification⟩ without an action is promoted to uncover@⟨overlay specification⟩.
If the so called default overlay specification is not empty, it will be used in case no ⟨action specification⟩
is given. The default overlay specification is usually just empty, but it may be set either by providing
an additional optional argument to the command \frame or to the environments itemize, enumerate, or
description (see these for details). Also, the default action specification can be set using the command
\beamerdefaultoverlayspecification, see below.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\begin{actionenv}<2-| alert@3-4,6>
This text is shown the same way as the text below.
\end{actionenv}
\begin{uncoverenv}<2->
\begin{alertenv}<3-4,6>
This text is shown the same way as the text above.
\end{alertenv}
\end{uncoverenv}
\end{frame}
\action<⟨action specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}
This has the same effect as putting ⟨text⟩ in an actionenv.
Example: \action<alert@2>{Could also have used \texttt{\string\alert<2>\char‘\{\char‘\}}.}
\beamerdefaultoverlayspecification{⟨default overlay specification⟩}

Locally sets the default overlay specification to the given value. This overlay specification will be used
in every actionenv environment and every \item that does not have its own overlay specification. The
main use of this command is to install an incremental overlay specification like <+-> or <+-| alert@+>, see
Section 9.6.4.
Usually, the default overlay specification is installed automatically by the optional arguments to \frame,
frame, itemize, enumerate, and description. You will only have to use this command if you wish to do
funny things.
If given outside any frame, this command sets the default overlay specification for all following frames for
which you do not override the default overlay specification.
Example: \beamerdefaultoverlayspecification{<+->}
Example: \beamerdefaultoverlayspecification{} clears the default overlay specification. (Actually, it
installs the default overlay specification <*>, which just means “always,” but the “portable” way of clearing
the default overlay specification is this call.)
9.6.4 Incremental Specifications

This section is mostly important for people who have already used overlay specifications a lot and have grown
tired of writing things like <1->, <2->, <3->, and so on again and again. You should skip this section on first
reading.
Often you want to have overlay specifications that follow a pattern similar to the following:
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\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> Apple
\item<2-> Peach
\item<3-> Plum
\item<4-> Orange
\end{itemize}
The problem starts if you decide to insert a new fruit, say, at the beginning. In this case, you would have to
adjust all of the overlay specifications. Also, if you add a \pause command before the itemize, you would also
have to update the overlay specifications.
beamer offers a special syntax to make creating lists as the one above more “robust.” You can replace it by
the following list of incremental overlay specifications:
\begin{itemize}
\item<+-> Apple
\item<+-> Peach
\item<+-> Plum
\item<+-> Orange
\end{itemize}
The effect of the +-sign is the following: You can use it in any overlay specification at any point where
you would usually use a number. If a +-sign is encountered, it is replaced by the current value of the LATEX
counter beamerpauses, which is 1 at the beginning of the frame. Then the counter is increased by 1, though it
is only increased once for every overlay specification, even if the specification contains multiple +-signs (they are
replaced by the same number).
In the above example, the first specification is replaced by <1->. Then the second is replaced by <2-> and
so forth. We can now easily insert new entries, without having to change anything else. We might also write
the following:
\begin{itemize}
\item<+-| alert@+> Apple
\item<+-| alert@+> Peach
\item<+-| alert@+> Plum
\item<+-| alert@+> Orange
\end{itemize}
This will alert the current item when it is uncovered. For example, the first specification <+-| alert@+> is
replaced by <1-| alert@1>, the second is replaced by <2-| alert@2>, and so on. Since the itemize environ-
ment also allows you to specify a default overlay specification, see the documentation of that environment, the
above example can be written even more economically as follows:
\begin{itemize}[<+-| alert@+>]
\item Apple
\item Peach
\item Plum
\item Orange
\end{itemize}
The \pause command also updates the counter beamerpauses. You can change this counter yourself using
the normal LATEX commands \setcounter or \addtocounter.
Any occurrence of a +-sign may be followed by an offset in round brackets. This offset will be added to the
value of beamerpauses. Thus, if beamerpauses is 2, then <+(1)-> expands to <3-> and <+(-1)-+> expands to
<1-2>. For example
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Method 1}
\begin{itemize}
\item<2-> Apple
\item<3-> Peach
\item<4-> Plum
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\item<5-> Orange
\end{itemize}
and
\begin{itemize}[<+(1)->]
\item Apple
\item Peach
\item Plum
\item Orange
\end{itemize}
are equivalent.
There is another special sign you can use in an overlay specification that behaves similarly to the +-sign: a
dot. When you write <.->, a similar thing as in <+-> happens except that the counter beamerpauses is not
incremented and except that you get the value of beamerpauses decreased by one. Thus a dot, possibly followed
by an offset, just expands to the current value of the counter beamerpauses minus one, possibly offset. This dot
notation can be useful in case like the following:
\begin{itemize}[<+->]
\item Apple
\item<.-> Peach
\item Plum
\item Orange
\end{itemize}
In the example, the second item is shown at the same time as the first one since it does not update the
counter.
In the following example, each time an item is uncovered, the specified text is alerted. When the next item
is uncovered, this altering ends.
\item This is \alert<.>{important}.
\item We want to \alert<.>{highlight} this and \alert<.>{this}.
\item What is the \alert<.>{matrix}?
\end{itemize}
The expansions of the +-sign and the .-sign are no less than zero. This prevents errors when encountering
large negative offsets, for example <+(-7)-> is expanded to <0-> rather than <-6->.
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10 Structuring a Presentation: The Static Global Structure
This section lists the commands that are used for structuring a presentation “globally” using commands like
\section or \part. These commands are used to create a static structure, meaning that the resulting presen-
tation is normally presented one slide after the other in the order the slides occur. Section 11 explains which
commands can be used to create the interactive structure. For the interactive structure, you must interact with
the presentation program, typically by clicking on hyperlinks, to advance the presentation.
10.1 Adding a Title Page

You can use the \titlepage command to insert a title page into a frame. By default, it will arrange the following
elements on the title page: the document title, the authors’ names, their affiliation, a title graphic, and a date.
\titlepage
Inserts the text of a title page into the current frame.
Example: \frame{\titlepage}
Example: \frame[plain]{\titlepage} for a titlepage that fills the whole frame.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font title page

This template is invoked when the \titlepage command is used.
• [default][⟨alignment⟩] The title page is typeset showing the title, followed by the author, his
or her affiliation, the date, and a titlegraphic. If any of these are missing, they are not shown.
Except for the titlegraphic, if the beamer-color title, author, institute, or date is defined,
respectively, it is used as textcolor for these entries. If a background color is defined for them,
a colored bar in the corresponding color is drawn behind them, spanning the text width. The
corresponding beamer-fonts are used for these entries.
The ⟨alignment⟩ option is passed on the beamercolorbox and can be used, for example, to flush
the title page to the left by specifying left here.
• \insertauthor inserts a version of the author’s name that is useful for the title page.
• \insertdate inserts the date.
• \insertinstitute inserts the institute.
• \inserttitle inserts a version of the document title that is useful for the title page.
• \insertsubtitle inserts a version of the document title that is useful for the title page.
• \inserttitlegraphic inserts the title graphic into a template.
For compatibility with other classes, in article mode the following command is also provided:
\maketitle
presen- If used inside a frame, it has the same effect as \titlepage. If used outside a frame, it has the same effect
tation as \frame{\titlepage}; in other words, a frame is added if necessary.
Before you invoke the title page command, you must specify all elements you wish to be shown. This is done
using the following commands:
\title[⟨short title⟩]{⟨title⟩}
The ⟨short title⟩ is used in headlines and footlines. Inside the ⟨title⟩ line breaks can be inserted using the
double-backslash command.
Example:
\title{The Beamer Class}
\title[Short Version]{A Very Long Title\\Over Several Lines}
94
article The short form is ignored in article mode.
\subtitle[⟨short subtitle⟩]{⟨subtitle⟩}
The ⟨short subtitle⟩ is not used by default, but is available via the insert \insertshortsubtitle. The
subtitle is shown below the title in a smaller font.
Example:
\title{The Beamer Class}
\subtitle{An easily paced introduction with many examples.}
article This command causes the subtitle to be appended to the title with a linebreak and a \normalsize command
issued before it. This may or may not be what you would like to happen.
\author[⟨short author names⟩]{⟨author names⟩}
The names should be separated using the command \and. In case authors have different affiliations, they
should be suffixed by the command \inst with different parameters.
Example: \author[Hemaspaandra et al.]{L. Hemaspaandra\inst{1} \and T. Tantau\inst{2}}
\institute[⟨short institute⟩]{⟨institute⟩}
If more than one institute is given, they should be separated using the command \and and they should be
prefixed by the command \inst with different parameters.
Example:
\institute[Universities of Rijeka and Berlin]{
\inst{1}Department of Informatics\\
University of Rijeka
\and
\inst{2}Fakult\"at f\"ur Elektrotechnik und Informatik\\
Technical University of Berlin}
article The short form is ignored in article mode. The long form is also ignored, except if the document class
(like llncs) defines it.
\date[⟨short date⟩]{⟨date⟩}
Example: \date{\today} or \date[STACS 2003]{STACS Conference, 2003}.
\titlegraphic{⟨text⟩}
The ⟨text⟩ is shown as title graphic. Typically, a picture environment is used as ⟨text⟩.
Example: \titlegraphic{\pgfuseimage{titlegraphic}}
article The command is ignored in article mode.
\subject{⟨text⟩}
Enters the ⟨text⟩ as the subject text in the pdf document info. It currently has no other effect.
\keywords{⟨text⟩}
Enters the ⟨text⟩ as keywords in the pdf document info. It currently has no other effect.
By default, the \title and \author commands will also insert their arguments into a resulting pdf-file in
the document information fields. This may cause problems if you use complicated things like boxes as arguments
to these commands. In this case, you might wish to switch off the automatic generation of these entries using
the following class option:
\documentclass[usepdftitle=false]{beamer}
Suppresses the automatic generation of title and author entries in the pdf document information.
95
10.2 Adding Sections and Subsections
You can structure your text using the commands \section and \subsection. Unlike standard LATEX, these
commands will not create a heading at the position where you use them. Rather, they will add an entry to the
table of contents and also to the navigation bars.
In order to create a line break in the table of contents (usually not a good idea), you can use the command
\breakhere. Note that the standard command \\ is modified so that it’s no longer robust (see Section 9.3;
using \protect\\ or \newline will also be fine).
\section<⟨mode specification⟩>[⟨short section name⟩]{⟨section name⟩}

Starts a section. No heading is created. By default the ⟨section name⟩ is shown in the table of contents and
in the navigation bars; if ⟨short section name⟩ is specified, it will be used in the navigation bars instead; if
⟨short section name⟩ is explicitly empty, it will not appear in the navigation bars. If a ⟨mode specification⟩
is given, the command only has an effect for the specified modes.
Example: \section[Summary]{Summary of Main Results}
article The ⟨mode specification⟩ allows you to provide an alternate section command in article mode. This is
necessary for example if the ⟨short section name⟩ is unsuitable for the table of contents:
Example:
\section<presentation>[Results]{Results on the Main Problem}
\section<article>{Results on the Main Problem}
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font section in toc

This template is used when a section entry is to be typeset. For the permissible ⟨options⟩ see the parent
template table of contents.
• \inserttocsection inserts the table of contents version of the current section name.
• \inserttocsectionnumber inserts the number of the current section (in the table of contents).
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font section in toc shaded

This template is used instead of the previous one if the section should be shown in a shaded way, because
it is not the current section. For the permissible ⟨options⟩ see the parent template table of contents.
\section<⟨mode specification⟩>*{⟨section name⟩}

Starts a section without an entry in the table of contents. No heading is created, but the ⟨section name⟩ is
shown in the navigation bar.
Example: \section*{Outline}
Example: \section<beamer>*{Outline}
\subsection<⟨mode specification⟩>[⟨short subsection name⟩]{⟨subsection name⟩}

This command works the same way as the \section command.
Example: \subsection[Applications]{Applications to the Reduction of Pollution}
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsection in toc

Like section in toc, only for subsection.
In addition to the inserts for the section in toc template, the following commands are available for
this template:
• \inserttocsubsection inserts the table of contents version of the current subsection name.
• \inserttocsubsectionnumber inserts the number of the current subsection (in the table of con-
tents).
96
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsection in toc shaded
Like section in toc shaded, only for subsections.
\subsection<⟨mode specification⟩>*{⟨subsection name⟩}

Starts a subsection without an entry in the table of contents. No heading is created, but the ⟨subsection
name⟩ is shown in the navigation bar, except if ⟨subsection name⟩ is empty. In this case, neither a table of
contents entry nor a navigation bar entry is created, but any frames in this “empty” subsection are shown
in the navigation bar.
Example:
\section{Summary}
\frame{This frame is not shown in the navigation bar}
\subsection*{}
\frame{This frame is shown in the navigation bar, but no subsection

entry is shown.}
\subsection*{A subsection}
\frame{Normal frame, shown in navigation bar. The subsection name is

also shown in the navigation bar, but not in the table of contents.}
\subsubsection<⟨mode specification⟩>[⟨short subsubsection name⟩]{⟨subsubsection name⟩}

This command works the like \subsection. However, subsubsections are supported less well than subsec-
tions. For example, in the table of contents subsubsections are always shown with the same shading/hiding
parameters as the subsection.
We strongly discourage the use of subsubsections in presentations. If you do not use them, you will give a
better presentation.
Example: \subsubsection[Applications]{Applications to the Reduction of Pollution}
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsubsection in toc

Like subsection in toc, only for subsection.
In addition to the inserts for the subsection in toc template, the following commands are available
for this template:
• \inserttocsubsubsection inserts the table of contents version of the current subsubsection name.
• \inserttocsubsubsectionnumber inserts the number of the current subsubsection (in the table
of contents).
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font subsubsection in toc shaded

Like subsection in toc shaded, only for subsubsections.
\subsubsection<⟨mode specification⟩>*{⟨subsubsection name⟩}

Starts a subsubsection without an entry in the table of contents. No heading is created, but the
⟨subsubsection name⟩ is shown in a possible sidebar.
Often, you may want a certain type of frame to be shown directly after a section or subsection starts. For
example, you may wish every subsection to start with a frame showing the table of contents with the current
subsection highlighted. To facilitate this, you can use the following commands.
\AtBeginSection[⟨special star text⟩]{⟨text⟩}
The given text will be inserted at the beginning of every section. If the ⟨special star text⟩ parameter is
specified, this text will be used for starred sections instead. Different calls of this command will not “add
up” the given texts (like the \AtBeginDocument command does), but will overwrite any previous text.
97
Example:
\AtBeginSection[] % Do nothing for \section*
{
\begin{frame}<beamer>
\tableofcontents[currentsection]
\end{frame}
}
\AtBeginSubsection[⟨special star text⟩]{⟨text⟩}

The given text will be inserted at the beginning of every subsection. If the ⟨special star text⟩ parameter
is specified, this text will be used for starred subsections instead. Different calls of this command will not
“add up” the given texts.
Example:
\AtBeginSubsection[] % Do nothing for \subsection*
{
\begin{frame}<beamer>
\tableofcontents[currentsection,currentsubsection]
\end{frame}
}
\AtBeginSubsubsection[⟨special star text⟩]{⟨text⟩}

Like \AtBeginSubsection, only for subsubsections.
beamer also provides \sectionpage and \subsectionpage commands, which are used to fill a frame with
section or subsection number and title in a stylish way. They are very similar to \partpage command described
below.
\sectionpage
This command shows a frame with the section number and title of the current section.
Example:
\section{A section}
\frame{\sectionpage}
\frame{Some text.}
Beamer-Template section page

This template is invoked when the \sectionpage command is used.
• [default][⟨alignment⟩] The section page is typeset showing the current section number and,
below, the current section title. The templates
Beamer-Color/-Font section name
and
Beamer-Color/-Font section title
are used, including the background color of section title. As for the title page template, the
⟨alignment⟩ option is passed on the beamercolorbox.
• \insertsection inserts the title of the current section.
98
• \insertsectionnumber inserts the current section number.
\subsectionpage
Works the same way as the \sectionpage.
Beamer-Template subsection page
• [default][⟨alignment⟩]
The templates
Beamer-Color/-Font subsection name
and
Beamer-Color/-Font subsection title
are used, including the background color of subsection title. As for the title page template,
the ⟨alignment⟩ option is passed on the beamercolorbox.
• \insertsubsection inserts the title of the current subsection.
• \insertsubsectionnumber inserts the current subsection number.
10.3 Adding Parts

If you give a long talk (like a lecture), you may wish to break up your talk into several parts. Each such part
acts like a little “talk of its own” with its own table of contents, its own navigation bars, and so on. Inside one
part, the sections and subsections of the other parts are not shown at all.
To create a new part, use the \part command. All sections and subsections following this command will
be “local” to that part. Like the \section and \subsection command, the \part command does not cause
any frame or special text to be produced. However, it is often advisable for the start of a new part to use the
command \partpage to insert some text into a frame that “advertises” the beginning of a new part.
\part<⟨mode specification⟩>[⟨short part name⟩]{⟨part name⟩}

Starts a part. The ⟨part name⟩ will be shown when the \partpage command is used. The ⟨short part
name⟩ is not shown anywhere by default, but it is accessible via the command \insertshortpart.
Example:
\begin{document}
\frame{\titlepage}
\section*{Outlines}
\subsection{Part I: Review of Previous Lecture}
\frame{
\frametitle{Outline of Part I}
\tableofcontents[part=1]}
\subsection{Part II: Today’s Lecture}
\frame{
\frametitle{Outline of Part II}
\tableofcontents[part=2]}
\part{Review of Previous Lecture}

\frame{\partpage}
\section[Previous Lecture]{Summary of the Previous Lecture}
\subsection{Topics}
\frame{...}
\subsection{Learning Objectives}
\frame{...}
\part{Today’s Lecture}
99
\frame{\partpage}
\section{Topic A}
\frame{\tableofcontents[currentsection]}
\subsection{Foo}
\frame{...}
\section{Topic B}
\subsection{bar}
\frame{...}
\end{document}
\partpage
Works like \titlepage, only that the current part, not the current presentation is “advertised.”
Example: \frame{\partpage}
Beamer-Template part page

This template is invoked when the \partpage command is used.
• [default][⟨alignment⟩] The part page is typeset showing the current part number and, below,
the current part title. The templates
Beamer-Color/-Font part name
and
Beamer-Color/-Font part title
are used, including the background color of part title. As for the title page template, the
⟨alignment⟩ option is passed on the beamercolorbox.
• \insertpart inserts the current part name.
• \insertpartnumber inserts the current part number as an Arabic number into a template.
• \insertromanpartnumber inserts the current part number as a Roman number into a template.
\AtBeginPart{⟨text⟩}
The given text will be inserted at the beginning of every part.
Example:
\AtBeginPart{\frame{\partpage}}
10.4 Splitting a Course Into Lectures

When using beamer with the article mode, you may wish to have the lecture notes of a whole course reside
in one file. In this case, only a few frames are actually part of any particular lecture.
The \lecture command makes it easy to select only a certain set of frames from a file to be presented. This
command takes (among other things) a label name. If you say \includeonlylecture with this label name,
then only the frames following the corresponding \lecture command are shown. The frames following other
\lecture commands are suppressed.
By default, the \lecture command has no other effect. It does not create any frames or introduce entries in
the table of contents. However, you can use \AtBeginLecture to have beamer insert, say, a title page at the
beginning of (each) lecture.
\lecture[⟨short lecture name⟩]{⟨lecture name⟩}{⟨lecture label⟩}

Starts a lecture. The ⟨lecture name⟩ will be available via the \insertlecture command. The ⟨short lecture
name⟩ is available via the \insertshortlecture command.
Example:
100
\begin{document}
\lecture{Vector Spaces}{week 1}
...
\section{Summary}
\lecture{Scalar Products}{week 2}
...
\section{Summary}
\end{document}
\includeonlylecture⟨lecture label⟩
Causes all \frame, frame, \section, \subsection, and \part commands following a \lecture command
to be suppressed, except if the lecture’s label matches the ⟨lecture label⟩. Frames before any \lecture
commands are always included. This command should be given in the preamble.
Example: \includeonlylecture{week 1}
\AtBeginLecture{⟨text⟩}
The given text will be inserted at the beginning of every lecture.
Example:
\AtBeginLecture{\frame{\Large Today’s Lecture: \insertlecture}}
10.5 Adding a Table of Contents

You can create a table of contents using the command \tableofcontents. Unlike the normal LATEX table of
contents command, this command takes an optional parameter in square brackets that can be used to create
certain special effects.
\tableofcontents[⟨comma-separated option list⟩]

Inserts a table of contents into the current frame.
Example:
\section*{Outline}
\frame{\tableofcontents}
\subsection{Why?}
\frame{...}
\frame{...}
\subsection{Where?}
\frame{...}
\section{Results}
\subsection{Because}
101
\frame{...}
\subsection{Here}
\frame{...}
The following options can be given:
• currentsection causes all sections but the current to be shown in a semi-transparent way. Also, all
subsections but those in the current section are shown in the semi-transparent way. This command is
a shorthand for specifying the following options:
sectionstyle=show/shaded,subsectionstyle=show/show/shaded
• currentsubsection causes all subsections but the current subsection in the current section to
be shown in a semi-transparent way. This command is a shorthand for specifying the option
subsectionstyle=show/shaded.
• firstsection=⟨section number⟩ specifies which section should be numbered as section “1.” This is
useful if you have a first section (like an overview section) that should not receive a number. Section
numbers are not shown by default. To show them, you must install a different table of contents
templates.
• hideallsubsections causes all subsections to be hidden. This command is a shorthand for specifying
the option subsectionstyle=hide.
• hideothersubsections causes the subsections of sections other than the current one to be hidden.
This command is a shorthand for specifying the option subsectionstyle=show/show/hide.
• lastsection=⟨section number⟩ similar to firstsection, this option specifies which section should be
the last numbered section. This is useful if you have unnumbered sections at the end, like a summary
or outlook. Section numbers are not shown by default. To show them, you must install a different
table of contents templates.
• part=⟨part number⟩ causes the table of contents of part ⟨part number⟩ to be shown, instead of the
table of contents of the current part (which is the default). This option can be combined with the
other options, although combining it with the current option obviously makes no sense.
• pausesections causes a \pause command to be issued before each section. This is useful if you wish
to show the table of contents in an incremental way.
• pausesubsections causes a \pause command to be issued before each subsection.
• sections={⟨overlay specification⟩} causes only the sections mentioned in the ⟨overlay specification⟩
to be shown. For example, sections={<2-4| handout:0>} causes only the second, third, and fourth
section to be shown in the normal version, nothing to be shown in the handout version, and everything
to be shown in all other versions. For convenience, if you omit the pointed brackets, the specification
is assumed to apply to all versions. Thus sections={2-4} causes sections two, three, and four to be
shown in all versions.
• sectionstyle=⟨style for current section⟩/⟨style for other sections⟩ specifies how sections should be
displayed. Allowed ⟨styles⟩ are show, shaded, and hide. The first will show the section title normally,
the second will show it in a semi-transparent way, and the third will completely suppress it. You can
also omit the second style, in which case the first is used for all sections (this is not really useful).
• subsectionstyle=⟨style for current subsection⟩/⟨style for other subsections in current section⟩/
⟨style for subsections in other sections⟩ specifies how subsections should be displayed. The same styles
as for the sectionstyle option may be given. You can omit the last style, in which case the second
also applies to the last, and you can omit the last two, in which case the first applies to all.
Example: subsectionstyle=shaded causes all subsections to be shaded.
Example: subsectionstyle=hide causes all subsections to be hidden.
Example: subsectionstyle=show/shaded causes all subsections but the current subsection in the
current section to be shown in a semi-transparent way.
102
Example: subsectionstyle=show/show/hide causes all subsections outside the current section to be
suppressed.
Example: subsectionstyle=show/shaded/hide causes all subsections outside the current section to
be suppressed and only the current subsection in the current section to be highlighted.
• subsubsectionstyle=⟨style for current subsubsection⟩/⟨style for other subsubsections in current
subsection⟩/
⟨style for subsubsections in other subsections in current section⟩/⟨style for subsubsections in other
subsections in other sections⟩ specifies how subsubsections should be displayed. The same styles as for
the sectionstyle option may be given. You can omit the last style, in which case the second also
applies to the last, and you can omit the last two, in which case the first applies to all. This option
operates in an analogous manner to subsectionstyle.
The last examples are useful if you do not wish to show too many details when presenting the talk outline.
article The options are ignored in article mode.
Parent Beamer-Template sections/subsections in toc

This is a parent template, whose children are section in toc and subsection in toc. This means
that if you use the \setbeamertemplate command on this template, the command is instead called
for both of these children (with the same arguments).
• [default] In the default setting, the sections and subsections are typeset using the fonts and
colors section in toc and subsection in toc, though the background colors are ignored. The
subsections are indented.
• [sections numbered] Similar to the default setting, but the section numbers are also shown. The
subsections are not numbered.
• [subsections numbered] This time, the subsections are numbered, but not the sections. Never-
theless, since the subsections are “fully numbered” as in “1.2” or “3.2,” if every section has at least
one subsection, the section numbered will not really be missed.
• [circle] Draws little circles before the sections. Inside the circles the section number is shown.
The beamer-font and color section number projected is used for typesetting the circles, that
is, the circle gets the background color and the text inside the circle the foreground color.
• [square] Similar to the circle option, except that small squares are used instead of circles. Small,
unnumbered squares are shown in front of the subsections.
• [ball] Like square, the only difference being the balls are used instead of squares.
• [ball unnumbered] Similar to ball, except that no numbering is used. This option makes the
table of contents look more like an itemize.
If none of the above options suits you, you have to change the templates section in toc and
subsection in toc directly.
Parent Beamer-Template sections/subsections in toc shaded

A parent template with children section in toc shaded and subsection in toc shaded. They
are used to render section and subsection entries when they are currently shaded; like all non-current
subsections in \tableofcontents[currentsubsection].
• [default][⟨opaqueness⟩] In the default setting, the templates section in toc shaded and
subsection in toc shaded just show whatever the nonshaded versions of these templates show,
but only ⟨opaqueness⟩% opaque. The default is 20%.
Example: \setbeamertemplate{section in toc shaded}[default][50] makes dimmed entries
50% transparent.
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10.6 Adding a Bibliography
You can use the bibliography environment and the \cite commands of LATEX in a beamer presentation. You
will typically have to typeset your bibliography items partly “by hand.” Nevertheless, you can use bibtex to
create a “first approximation” of the bibliography. Copy the content of the file main.bbl into your presentation.
If you are not familiar with bibtex, you may wish to consult its documentation. It is a powerful tool for creating
high-quality citations.
Using bibtex or your editor, place your bibliographic references in the environment thebibliography. This
(standard LATEX) environment takes one parameter, which should be the longest \bibitem label in the following
list of bibliographic entries.
\begin{thebibliography}{⟨longest label text⟩}

Inserts a bibliography into the current frame. The ⟨longest label text⟩ is used to determine the indentation
of the list. However, several predefined options for the typesetting of the bibliography ignore this parameter
since they replace the references by a symbol.
Inside the environment, use a (standard LATEX) \bibitem command for each reference item. Inside
each item, use a (standard LATEX) \newblock command to separate the authors’ names, the title, the
book/journal reference, and any notes. Each of these commands may introduce a new line or color or other
formatting, as specified by the template for bibliographies.
The environment must be placed inside a frame. If the bibliography does not fit on one frame, you should
split it (create a new frame and a second thebibliography environment) or use the allowframebreaks
option. Even better, you should reconsider whether it is a good idea to present so many references.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{For Further Reading}
\begin{thebibliography}{Dijkstra, 1982}
\bibitem[Salomaa, 1973]{Salomaa1973}
A.~Salomaa.
\newblock {\em Formal Languages}.
\newblock Academic Press, 1973.
\bibitem[Dijkstra, 1982]{Dijkstra1982}
E.~Dijkstra.
\newblock Smoothsort, an alternative for sorting in situ.
\newblock {\em Science of Computer Programming}, 1(3):223--233, 1982.
\end{frame}
Four templates govern the appearance of the author, title, journal, and note text. These author templates
are inserted before the first block of the entry (the first block is all text before the first occurrence of a
\newblock command). The title template is inserted before the second block (the text between the first
and second occurrence of \newblock). Likewise for the journal and note templates.
The templates are inserted before the blocks and you do not have access to the blocks themselves via insert
commands. The corresponding beamer-color and -font are also installed before the blocks.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font bibliography entry author

This template is inserted before the author of a bibliography entry. The color and font are also installed.
Note that the effect of this template will persist until the end of the bibliography item or until one of
the following templates undo the effect.
By default, this template does nothing. The default color is the structure color.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font bibliography entry title
104
This template is inserted before the title of a bibliography entry (more precisely, it is inserted after
the first occurrence of the \newblock command). By default, this template starts a new paragraph,
causing a line break. The default color is the normal text color.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font bibliography entry location

This template is inserted before the journal of a bibliography entry (the second \newblock). By default,
this template starts a new paragraph. The default color is a slightly transparent version of the structure
color.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font bibliography entry note

This template is inserted before any note text at the end of a bibliography entry (it is inserted before
the third \newblock). By default, this template starts a new paragraph. The default color is the same
as for the journal.
\bibitem<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨citation text⟩]{⟨label name⟩}

The ⟨citation text⟩ is inserted into the text when the item is cited using \cite{⟨label name⟩} in the main
presentation text. For a beamer presentation, this should usually be as long as possible.
Use \newblock commands to separate the authors’s names, the title, the book/journal reference, and any
notes. If the ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the entry will only be shown on the specified slides.
Example:
\bibitem[Dijkstra, 1982]{Dijkstra1982}
E.~Dijkstra.
\newblock Smoothsort, an alternative for sorting in situ.
\newblock {\em Science of Computer Programming}, 1(3):223--233, 1982.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font bibliography item

Color/font parents: item
This template is used to render the bibliography item. Unlike normal LATEX, the default template
for the bibliography does not repeat the citation text (like “[Dijkstra, 1982]”) before each item in the
bibliography. Instead, a cute, small article symbol is drawn. The rationale is that the audience will
not be able to remember any abbreviated citation texts till the end of the talk.
• [default] Draws a cute little article icon as the reference. Use this for journal articles, parts of
books (like conference proceedings), or technical reports.
• [article] Alias for the default.
• [book] Draws a cute little book icon as the reference. Use this for, well, books.
• [online] Draws a cute little globe icon as the reference. Use this for websites and the like.
• [triangle] Draws a triangle as the reference. This is more in keeping with the standard itemize
items.
• [text] Uses the reference text (like “[Dijkstra, 1982]”) as the reference text. Be sure you know
what you are doing if you use this.
The following insert is useful for the template:
• \insertbiblabel inserts the current citation label.
10.7 Adding an Appendix

You can add an appendix to your talk by using the \appendix command. You should put frames and perhaps
whole subsections into the appendix that you do not intend to show during your presentation, but which might be
useful to answer a question. The \appendix command essentially just starts a new part named \appendixname.
However, it also sets up certain hyperlinks. Like other parts, the appendix is kept separate from your actual
talk.
105
\appendix<⟨mode specification⟩>
Starts the appendix in the specified modes. All frames, all \subsection commands, and all \section
commands used after this command will not be shown as part of the normal navigation bars.
Example:
\begin{document}
\frame{\titlepage}
\section*{Outline}
\section{Main Text}
\frame{Some text}
\section*{Summary}
\frame{Summary text}
\appendix
\section{\appendixname}
\subsection{Additional material}
\frame{Details}
\frame{Text omitted in main talk.}
\subsection{Even more additional material}
\frame{More details}
\end{document}
106
11 Structuring a Presentation: The Interactive Global Structure
11.1 Adding Hyperlinks and Buttons
To create anticipated nonlinear jumps in your talk structure, you can add hyperlinks to your presentation. A
hyperlink is a text (usually rendered as a button) that, when you click on it, jumps the presentation to some
other slide. Creating such a button is a three-step process:
1. You specify a target using the command \hypertarget or (easier) the command \label. In some cases,
see below, this step may be skipped.
2. You render the button using \beamerbutton or a similar command. This will render the button, but
clicking it will not yet have any effect.
3. You put the button inside a \hyperlink command. Now clicking it will jump to the target of the link.
\hypertarget<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨target name⟩}{⟨text⟩}

If the ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the ⟨text⟩ is the target for hyper jumps to ⟨target name⟩ only on the
specified slide. On all other slides, the text is shown normally. Note that you must add an overlay specifi-
cation to the \hypertarget command whenever you use it on frames that have multiple slides (otherwise
pdflatex rightfully complains that you have defined the same target on different slides).
Example:
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> First item.
\item<2-> Second item.
\item<3-> Third item.
\end{itemize}
\hyperlink{jumptosecond}{\beamergotobutton{Jump to second slide}}

\hypertarget<2>{jumptosecond}{}
\end{frame}
article You must say \usepackage[hyperref]{beamerarticle} or \usepackage{hyperref} in your preamble to

use this command in article mode.
The \label command creates a hypertarget as a side-effect and the label=⟨name⟩ option of the \frame
command creates a label named ⟨name⟩<⟨slide number⟩> for each slide of the frame as a side-effect. Thus the
above example could be written more easily as:
\begin{frame}[label=threeitems]
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> First item.
\item<2-> Second item.
\item<3-> Third item.
\end{itemize}
\hyperlink{threeitems<2>}{\beamergotobutton{Jump to second slide}}

\end{frame}
The following commands can be used to specify in an abstract way what a button will be used for.
\beamerbutton{⟨button text⟩}
Draws a button with the given ⟨button text⟩.
Example: \hyperlink{somewhere}{\beamerbutton{Go somewhere}}
article This command (and the following) just insert their argument in article mode.
107
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font button
When the \beamerbutton command is called, this template is used to render the button. Inside the
template you can use the command \insertbuttontext to insert the argument that was passed to
\beamerbutton.
• [default] Typesets the button with rounded corners. The fore- and background of the beamer-
color button are used and also the beamer-font button. The border of the button gets the
foreground of the beamer-color button border.
The following inserts are useful for this element:
• \insertbuttontext inserts the text of the current button. Inside “Goto-Buttons” (see below) this
text is prefixed by the insert \insertgotosymbol and similarly for skip and return buttons.
• \insertgotosymbol This text is inserted at the beginning of goto buttons. Redefine this command
to change the symbol.
Example: \renewcommand{\insertgotosymbol}{\somearrowcommand}
• \insertskipsymbol This text is inserted at the beginning of skip buttons.
• \insertreturnsymbol This text is inserted at the beginning of return buttons.
Beamer-Color button border

The foreground of this color is used to render the border of buttons.
\beamergotobutton{⟨button text⟩}
Draws a button with the given ⟨button text⟩. Before the text, a small symbol (usually a right-pointing
arrow) is inserted that indicates that pressing this button will jump to another “area” of the presentation.
Example: \hyperlink{detour}{\beamergotobutton{Go to detour}}
\beamerskipbutton{⟨button text⟩}
The symbol drawn for this button is usually a double right arrow. Use this button if pressing it will skip
over a well-defined part of your talk.
Example:
\frame{
\begin{theorem}
...
\end{theorem}
\begin{overprint}
\onslide<1>
\hfill\hyperlinkframestartnext{\beamerskipbutton{Skip proof}}
\onslide<2>
\begin{proof}
...
\end{proof}
\end{overprint}
}
\beamerreturnbutton{⟨button text⟩}
The symbol drawn for this button is usually a left-pointing arrow. Use this button if pressing it will return
from a detour.
Example:
\frame<1>[label=mytheorem]
{
\begin{theorem}
108
...
\end{theorem}
\begin{overprint}
\onslide<1>
\hfill\hyperlink{mytheorem<2>}{\beamergotobutton{Go to proof details}}
\onslide<2>
\begin{proof}
...
\end{proof}
\hfill\hyperlink{mytheorem<1>}{\beamerreturnbutton{Return}}
\end{overprint}
}
\appendix
\againframe<2>{mytheorem}
To make a button “clickable” you must place it in a command like \hyperlink. The command \hyperlink
is a standard command of the hyperref package. The beamer class defines a whole bunch of other hyperlink
commands that you can also use.
\hyperlink<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨target name⟩}{⟨link text⟩}<⟨overlay specification⟩>

Only one ⟨overlay specification⟩ may be given. The ⟨link text⟩ is typeset in the usual way. If you click
anywhere on this text, you will jump to the slide on which the \hypertarget command was used with the
parameter ⟨target name⟩. If an ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the hyperlink (including the ⟨link text⟩) is
completely suppressed on the non-specified slides.
The following commands have a predefined target; otherwise they behave exactly like \hyperlink. In
particular, they all also accept an overlay specification and they also accept it at the end, rather than at the
beginning.
\hyperlinkslideprev<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps one slide back.
\hyperlinkslidenext<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps one slide forward.
\hyperlinkframestart<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the first slide of the current frame.
\hyperlinkframeend<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the last slide of the current frame.
\hyperlinkframestartnext<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the first slide of the next frame.
\hyperlinkframeendprev<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the last slide of the previous frame.
The previous four command exist also with “frame” replaced by “subsection” everywhere, and also again
with “frame” replaced by “section”.
\hyperlinkpresentationstart<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the first slide of the presentation.
\hyperlinkpresentationend<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the last slide of the presentation. This excludes the appendix.
109
\hyperlinkappendixstart<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}
Clicking the text jumps to the first slide of the appendix. If there is no appendix, this will jump to the last
slide of the document.
\hyperlinkappendixend<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the last slide of the appendix.
\hyperlinkdocumentstart<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the first slide of the presentation.
\hyperlinkdocumentend<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨link text⟩}

Clicking the text jumps to the last slide of the presentation or, if an appendix is present, to the last slide
of the appendix.
11.2 Repeating a Frame at a Later Point

Sometimes you may wish some slides of a frame to be shown in your main talk, but wish some “supplementary”
slides of the frame to be shown only in the appendix. In this case, the \againframe command is useful.
\againframe<⟨overlay specification⟩>[<⟨default overlay specification⟩>][⟨options⟩]{⟨name⟩}

presen- Resumes a frame that was previously created using \frame with the option label=⟨name⟩. You must have
tation used this option, just placing a label inside a frame “by hand” is not enough. You can use this command
to “continue” a frame that has been interrupted by another frame. The effect of this command is to call
the \frame command with the given ⟨overlay specification⟩, ⟨default overlay specification⟩ (if present), and
⟨options⟩ (if present) and with the original frame’s contents.
Example:
\frame<1-2>[label=myframe]
{
\begin{itemize}
\item<alert@1> First subject.
\item<alert@2> Second subject.
\item<alert@3> Third subject.
\end{itemize}
}
\frame
{
Some stuff explaining more on the second matter.
}
\againframe<3>{myframe}
The effect of the above code is to create four slides. In the first two, the items 1 and 2 are highlighted.
The third slide contains the text “Some stuff explaining more on the second matter.” The fourth slide is
identical to the first two slides, except that the third point is now highlighted.
Example:
\frame<1>[label=Cantor]
{
\frametitle{Main Theorem}
\begin{Theorem}
$\alpha < 2^\alpha$ for all ordinals~$\alpha$.
\end{Theorem}
110
\begin{overprint}
\onslide<1>
\hyperlink{Cantor<2>}{\beamergotobutton{Proof details}}
\onslide<2->
% this is only shown in the appendix, where this frame is resumed.
\begin{proof}
As shown by Cantor, ...
\end{proof}
\hfill\hyperlink{Cantor<1>}{\beamerreturnbutton{Return}}
\end{overprint}
}
...
\appendix
\againframe<2>{Cantor}
In this example, the proof details are deferred to a slide in the appendix. Hyperlinks are setup, so that one
can jump to the proof and go back.
article This command is ignored in article mode.
11.3 Adding Anticipated Zooming

Anticipated zooming is necessary when you have a very complicated graphic that you are not willing to simplify
since, indeed, all the complex details merit an explanation. In this case, use the command \framezoom. It allows
you to specify that clicking on a certain area of a frame should zoom out this area. You can then explain the
details. Clicking on the zoomed out picture will take you back to the original one.
\framezoom<⟨button overlay specification⟩><⟨zoomed overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]

(⟨upper left x⟩,⟨upper left y⟩)(⟨zoom area width⟩,⟨zoom area depth⟩)
This command should be given somewhere at the beginning of a frame. When given, two different things
will happen, depending on whether the ⟨button overlay specification⟩ applies to the current slide of the frame
or whether the ⟨zoomed overlay specification⟩ applies. These overlay specifications should not overlap.
If the ⟨button overlay specification⟩ applies, a clickable area is created inside the frame. The size of this
area is given by ⟨zoom area width⟩ and ⟨zoom area depth⟩, which are two normal TEX dimensions (like 1cm
or 20pt). The upper left corner of this area is given by ⟨upper left x⟩ and ⟨upper left y⟩, which are also TEX
dimensions. They are measures relative to the place where the first normal text of a frame would go. Thus,
the location (0pt,0pt) is at the beginning of the normal text (which excludes the headline and also the
frame title).
By default, the button is clickable, but it will not be indicated in any special way. You can draw a border
around the button by using the following ⟨option⟩:
• border=⟨width in pixels⟩ will draw a border around the specified button area. The default width is 1
pixel. The color of this button is the linkbordercolor of hyperref. beamer sets this color to a 50%
gray by default.
To change this, you can use the command \hypersetup{linkbordercolor={⟨red⟩ ⟨green⟩ ⟨blue⟩}},
where ⟨red⟩, ⟨green⟩, and ⟨blue⟩ are values between 0 and 1.
When you press the button created in this way, the viewer application will hyperjump to the first of the
frames specified by the ⟨zoomed overlay specification⟩. For the slides to which this overlay specification
applies, the following happens:
The exact same area as the one specified before is “zoomed out” to fill the whole normal text area of the
frame. Everything else, including the sidebars, the headlines and footlines, and even the frame title retain
their normal size. The zooming is performed in such a way that the whole specified area is completely
111
shown. The aspect ratio is kept correct and the zoomed area will possibly show more than just the specified
area if the aspect ratio of this area and the aspect ratio of the available text area do not agree.
Behind the whole text area (which contains the zoomed area) a big invisible “Back” button is put. Thus
clicking anywhere on the text area will jump back to the original (unzoomed) picture.
You can specify several zoom areas for a single frame. In this case, you should specify different ⟨zoomed
overlay specification⟩, but you can specify the same ⟨button overlay specification⟩. You cannot nest zoomings
in the sense that you cannot have a zoom button on a slide that is in some ⟨zoomed overlay specification⟩.
However, you can have overlapping and even nested ⟨button overlay specification⟩. When clicking on an
area that belongs to several buttons, the one given last will “win” (it should hence be the smallest one).
If you do not wish to have the frame title shown on a zoomed slide, you can add an overlay specification to
the \frametitle command that simply suppresses the title for the slide. Also, by using the plain option,
you can have the zoomed slide fill the whole page.
Example: A simple case
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A Complicated Picture}
\framezoom<1><2>(0cm,0cm)(2cm,1.5cm)
\framezoom<1><3>(1cm,3cm)(2cm,1.5cm)
\framezoom<1><4>(3cm,2cm)(3cm,2cm)
\pgfimage[height=8cm]{complicatedimagefilename}
\end{frame}
Example: A more complicate case in which the zoomed parts completely fill the frames.
\begin{frame}<1>[label=zooms]
\frametitle<1>{A Complicated Picture}
\framezoom<1><2>[border](0cm,0cm)(2cm,1.5cm)
\framezoom<1><3>[border](1cm,3cm)(2cm,1.5cm)
\framezoom<1><4>[border](3cm,2cm)(3cm,2cm)
\pgfimage[height=8cm]{complicatedimagefilename}
\end{frame}
\againframe<2->[plain]{zooms}
112
12 Structuring a Presentation: The Local Structure
LATEX provides different commands for structuring text “locally,” for example, via the itemize environment.
These environments are also available in the beamer class, although their appearance has been slightly changed.
Furthermore, the beamer class also defines some new commands and environments, see below, that may help
you to structure your text.
12.1 Itemizations, Enumerations, and Descriptions

There are three predefined environments for creating lists, namely enumerate, itemize, and description. The
first two can be nested to depth three, but nesting them to this depth creates totally unreadable slides.
The \item command is overlay specification-aware. If an overlay specification is provided, the item will
only be shown on the specified slides, see the following example. If the \item command is to take an optional
argument and an overlay specification, the overlay specification can either come first as in \item<1>[Cat] or
come last as in \item[Cat]<1>.
\begin{frame}
There are three important points:
\begin{enumerate}
\item<1-> A first one,
\item<2-> a second one with a bunch of subpoints,
\begin{itemize}
\item first subpoint. (Only shown from second slide on!).
\item<3-> second subpoint added on third slide.
\item<4-> third subpoint added on fourth slide.
\end{itemize}
\item<5-> and a third one.
\end{enumerate}
\end{frame}
\begin{itemize}[<⟨default overlay specification⟩>]

\end{itemize}
Used to display a list of items that do not have a special ordering. Inside the environment, use an \item
command for each topic.
If the optional parameter ⟨default overlay specification⟩ is given, in every occurrence of an \item com-
mand that does not have an overlay specification attached to it, the ⟨default overlay specification⟩ is used.
By setting this specification to be an incremental overlay specification, see Section 9.6.4, you can imple-
ment, for example, a step-wise uncovering of the items. The ⟨default overlay specification⟩ is inherited by
subenvironments. Naturally, in a subenvironment you can reset it locally by setting it to <1->.
Example:
\begin{itemize}
\item This is important.
\item This is also important.
\end{itemize}
Example:
\item This is shown from the first slide on.
\item This is shown from the second slide on.
\item This is shown from the third slide on.
\item<1-> This is shown from the first slide on.
\item This is shown from the fourth slide on.
\end{itemize}
Example:
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\item This is shown from the first slide on and alerted on the first slide.
\item This is shown from the second slide on and alerted on the second slide.
\item This is shown from the third slide on and alerted on the third slide.
\end{itemize}
Example:
\newenvironment{mystepwiseitemize}{\begin{itemize}[<+-| alert@+>]}{\end{itemize}}
The appearance of an itemize list is governed by several templates. The first template concerns the way
the little marker introducing each item is typeset:
Parent Beamer-Template itemize items
This template is a parent template, whose children are itemize item, itemize subitem, and
itemize subsubitem. This means that if you use the \setbeamertemplate command on this template,
the command is instead called for all of these children (with the same arguments).
• [default] The default item marker is a small triangle colored with the foreground of the beamer-
color itemize item (or, for subitems, itemize subitem etc.). Note that these colors will automat-
ically change under certain circumstances such as inside an example block or inside an alertenv
environment.
• [triangle] Alias for the default.
• [circle] Uses little circles (or dots) as item markers.
• [square] Uses little squares as item markers.
• [ball] Uses little balls as item markers.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font itemize item

This template (with item instead of items) governs how the marker in front of a first-level item is
typeset. “First-level” refers to the level of nesting. See the itemize items template for the ⟨options⟩
that may be given.
When the template is inserted, the beamer-font and -color itemize item is installed. Typically, the
font is ignored by the template as some special symbol is drawn anyway, by the font may be important
if an optional argument is given to the \item command as in \item[First].
The font and color inherit from the item font and color, which are explained at the end of this section.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font itemize subitem

Color/font parents: subitem
Like itemize item, only for second-level items. An item of an itemize inside an enumerate counts as
a second-level item.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font itemize subsubitem

Color/font parents: subsubitem
Like itemize item, only for third-level items.
\begin{enumerate}[<⟨default overlay specification⟩>][⟨mini template⟩]

\end{enumerate}
Used to display a list of items that are ordered. Inside the environment, use an \item command for each
topic. By default, before each item increasing Arabic numbers followed by a dot are printed (as in “1.” and
“2.”). This can be changed by specifying a different template, see below.
The first optional argument ⟨default overlay specification⟩ has exactly the same effect as for the itemize
environment. It is “detected” by the opening <-sign in the ⟨default overlay specification⟩. Thus, if there is
only one optional argument and if this argument does not start with <, then it is considered to be a ⟨mini
template⟩.
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The syntax of the ⟨mini template⟩ is the same as the syntax of mini templates in the enumerate package
(you do not need to include the enumerate package, this is done automatically). Roughly spoken, the text
of the ⟨mini template⟩ is printed before each item, but any occurrence of a 1 in the mini template is replaced
by the current item number, an occurrence of the letter A is replaced by the 𝑖-th letter of the alphabet (in
uppercase) for the 𝑖-th item, and the letters a, i, and I are replaced by the corresponding lowercase letters,
lowercase Roman letters, and uppercase Roman letters, respectively. So the mini template (i) would yield
the items (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), and so on. The mini template A.) would yield the items A.), B.), C.), D.) and
so on. For more details on the possible mini templates, see the documentation of the enumerate package.
Note that there is also a template that governs the appearance of the mini template.
Example:
\begin{enumerate}
\item This is important.
\item This is also important.
\end{enumerate}
\begin{enumerate}[(i)]
\item First Roman point.
\item Second Roman point.
\end{enumerate}
\begin{enumerate}[<+->][(i)]
\item First Roman point.
\item Second Roman point, uncovered on second slide.
\end{enumerate}
article To use the ⟨mini template⟩, you have to include the package enumerate.
Parent Beamer-Template enumerate items

Similar to itemize items, this template is a parent template, whose children are enumerate item,
enumerate subitem, enumerate subsubitem, and enumerate mini template. These templates gov-
ern how the text (the number) of an enumeration is typeset.
• [default] The default enumeration marker uses the scheme 1., 2., 3. for the first level, 1.1, 1.2,
1.3 for the second level and 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3 for the third level.
• [circle] Places the numbers inside little circles. The colors are taken from item projected or
subitem projected or subsubitem projected.
• [square] Places the numbers on little squares.
• [ball] “Projects” the numbers onto little balls.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font enumerate item

This template governs how the number in front of a first-level item is typeset. The level here refers to
the level of enumeration nesting only. Thus an enumerate inside an itemize is a first-level enumerate
(but it uses the second-level itemize/enumerate body).
When the template is inserted, the beamer-font and -color enumerate item are installed.
The following command is useful for this template:
• \insertenumlabel inserts the current number of the top-level enumeration (as an Arabic number).
This insert is also available in the next two templates.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font enumerate subitem

Like enumerate item, only for second-level items.
• \insertsubenumlabel inserts the current number of the second-level enumeration (as an Arabic
number).
Example:
\setbeamertemplate{enumerate subitem}{\insertenumlabel-\insertsubenumlabel}
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Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font enumerate subsubitem
Like enumerate item, only for third-level items.
• \insertsubsubenumlabel inserts the current number of the second-level enumeration (as an Arabic
number).
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font enumerate mini template
This template is used to typeset the number that arises from a mini template.
• \insertenumlabel inserts the current number rendered by this mini template. For example, if
the ⟨mini template⟩ is (i) and this command is used in the fourth item, \insertenumlabel would
yield (iv).
The following templates govern how the body of an itemize or an enumerate is typeset.
Beamer-Template itemize/enumerate body begin
This template is inserted at the beginning of a first-level itemize or enumerate environment. Furthermore,
before this template is inserted, the beamer-font and -color itemize/enumerate body is used.
Beamer-Template itemize/enumerate body end
This template is inserted at the end of a first-level itemize or enumerate environment.
There exist corresponding templates like itemize/enumerate subbody begin for second- and third-level itemize
or enumerates.
Parent Beamer-Template items
This template is a parent template of itemize items and enumerate items.
Example: \setbeamertemplate{items}[circle] will cause all items in itemize or enumerate environ-
ments to become circles (of the appropriate size, color, and font).
\begin{description}[<⟨default overlay specification⟩>][⟨long text⟩]

\end{description}
Like itemize, but used to display a list that explains or defines labels. The width of ⟨long text⟩ is used to
set the indentation. Normally, you choose the widest label in the description and copy it here. If you do
not give this argument, the default width is used, which can be changed using \setbeamersize with the
argument description width=⟨width⟩.
As for enumerate, the ⟨default overlay specification⟩ is detected by an opening <. The effect is the same as
for enumerate and itemize.
Example:
\begin{description}
\item[Lion] King of the savanna.
\item[Tiger] King of the jungle.
\end{description}
\begin{description}[longest label]
\item<1->[short] Some text.
\item<2->[longest label] Some text.
\item<3->[long label] Some text.
\end{description}
Example: The following has the same effect as the previous example:
\begin{description}[<+->][longest label]
\item[short] Some text.
\item[longest label] Some text.
\item[long label] Some text.
\end{description}
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Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font description item
This template is used to typeset the description items. When this template is called, the beamer-font
and -color description item are installed.
• [default] By default, the description item text is just inserted without any modification.
The main insert that is useful inside this template is:
• \insertdescriptionitem inserts the text of the current description item.
Beamer-Template description body begin

This template is inserted at the beginning of a description environment. Furthermore, before this
template is inserted, the beamer-font and -color description body is used.
Beamer-Template description body end

This template is inserted at the end of a description environment.
In order to simplify changing the color or font of items, the different kinds of items inherit from or just use
the following “general” beamer-color and fonts:
Beamer-Color/-Font item
Color parents: local structure
Font parents: structure
This color/font serves as a parent for the individual items of itemize and enumerate environments, but
also for items in the table of contents. Since its color parent is the local structure, a change of that color
causes the color of items to change accordingly.
Beamer-Color/-Font item projected

This is a special “version” of the item color and font that should be used by templates that render items
with text (as in an enumeration) and which “project” this text onto something like a ball or a square
or whatever. While the normal item color typically has a transparent background, the item projected
typically has a colored background and, say, a white foreground.
Beamer-Color/-Font subitem
Same as item for subitems, that is, for items on the second level of indentation.
Beamer-Color/-Font subitem projected

Color/font parents: item projected
Same as item projected for subitems, that is, for items on the second level of indentation.
Beamer-Color/-Font subsubitem
Color/font parents: subitem
Same as subitem for subsubitems, that is, for items on the third level of indentation.
Beamer-Color/-Font subsubitem projected

Color/font parents: subitem projected
Same as subitem projected for subsubitems, that is, for items on the third level of indentation.
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12.2 Highlighting
The beamer class predefines commands and environments for highlighting text. Using these commands makes
it easy to change the appearance of a document by changing the theme.
\structure<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}
The given text is marked as part of the structure, that is, it is supposed to help the audience see the
structure of your presentation. If the ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the command only has an effect on
the specified slides.
Example: \structure{Paragraph Heading.}
Internally, this command just puts the text inside a structureenv environment.
article Structure text is typeset as bold text. This can be changed by modifying the templates.
Beamer-Color/-Font structure
This color/font is used when structured text is typeset, but it is also widely used as a base for many
other colors including the headings of blocks, item buttons, and titles. In most color themes, the
colors for navigational elements in the headline or the footline are derived from the foreground color of
structure. By changing the structure color you can easily change the “basic color” of your presentation,
other than the color of normal text. See also the related color local structure and the related font
tiny structure.
Inside the \structure command, the background of the color is ignored, but this is not necessarily
true for elements that inherit their color from structure. There is no template structure, use
structure begin and structure end instead.
Beamer-Color local structure

This color should be used to typeset structural elements that change their color according to the “local
environment.” For example, an item “button” in an itemize environment changes its color according
to circumstances. If it is used inside an example block, it should have the example text color; if it is
currently “alerted” it should have the alerted text color. This color is setup by certain environments
to have the color that should be used to typeset things like item buttons. Since the color used for
items, item, inherits from this color by default, items automatically change their color according to
the current situation.
If you write your own environment in which the item buttons and similar structural elements should
have a different color, you should change the color local structure inside these environments.
Beamer-Font tiny structure

This special font is used for “tiny” structural text. Basically, this font should be used whenever a
structural element uses a tiny font. The idea is that the tiny versions of the structure font often are
not suitable. For example, it is often necessary to use a boldface version for them. Also, one might
wish to have serif smallcaps structural text, but still retain normal sans-serif tiny structural text.
\begin{structureenv}<⟨overlay specification⟩>
\end{structureenv}
Environment version of the \structure command.
Beamer-Template structure begin

This text is inserted at the beginning of a structureenv environment.
• [default]
article The text is typeset in boldface.
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Beamer-Template structure end
This text is inserted at the end of a structureenv environment.
\alert<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨highlighted text⟩}

The given text is highlighted, typically by coloring the text red. If the ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the
command only has an effect on the specified slides.
Example: This is \alert{important}.
Internally, this command just puts the highlighted text inside an alertenv.
article Alerted text is typeset as emphasized text. This can be changed by modifying the templates, see below.
Beamer-Color/-Font alerted text

This color/font is used when alerted text is typeset. The background is currently ignored. There is
no template alerted text, rather there are templates alerted text begin and alerted text end
that are inserted before and after alerted text.
\begin{alertenv}<⟨overlay specification⟩>
\end{alertenv}
Environment version of the \alert command.
Beamer-Template alerted text begin

This text is inserted at the beginning of a an alertenv environment.
• [default]
presen- This changes the color local structure to alerted text. This causes things like buttons or
tation items to be colored in the same color as the alerted text, which is often visually pleasing. See also
the \structure command.
article The text is emphasized.
Beamer-Template alerted text end

This text is inserted at the end of an alertenv environment.
12.3 Block Environments

The beamer class predefines an environment for typesetting a “block” of text that has a heading. The appear-
ance of blocks can easily be changed using the following template:
Parent Beamer-Template blocks

Changing this parent template changes the templates of normal blocks, alerted blocks, and example blocks.
Example: \setbeamertemplate{blocks}[default]
Example: \setbeamertemplate{blocks}[rounded][shadow=true]
• [default] The default setting typesets the block title on its own line. If a background is specified
either for the block title or for the block body, this background color is used as background of
the title or body, respectively. For alerted and example blocks, the corresponding beamer-colors and
-fonts are used, instead.
• [rounded][⟨shadow=true⟩] Makes the blocks “rounded.” This means that the corners of the back-
grounds of the blocks are “rounded off.” If the shadow=true option is given, a “shadow” is drawn
behind the block.
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\begin{block}<⟨action specification⟩>{⟨block title⟩}<⟨action specification⟩>
\end{block}
Only one ⟨action specification⟩ may be given. Inserts a block, like a definition or a theorem, with the title
⟨block title⟩. If the ⟨action specification⟩ is present, the given actions are taken on the specified slides, see
Section 9.6.3. In the example, the definition is shown only from slide 3 onward.
Example:
\begin{block}<3->{Definition}
A \alert{set} consists of elements.
\end{block}
article The block name is typeset in bold.
Beamer-Template block begin

This template is inserted at the beginning of a block before the ⟨environment contents⟩. Inside this
template, the block title can be accessed via the following insert:
• \insertblocktitle Inserts the ⟨block title⟩ into the template.
When the template starts, no special color or font is installed (for somewhat complicated reasons).
Thus, this template should install the correct colors and fonts for the title and the body itself.
Beamer-Template block end

This template is inserted at the end of a block.
Beamer-Color/-Font block title

This beamer-color/-font should be used to typeset the title of the block. Since neither the color nor
the font are setup automatically, the template block begin must do so itself.
The default block template and also the rounded version honor the background of this color.
Beamer-Color/-Font block body

This beamer-color/-font should be used to typeset the body of the block, that is, the ⟨environment
contents⟩. As for block title, the color and font must be setup by the template block begin.
\begin{alertblock}<⟨action specification⟩>{⟨block title⟩}<⟨action specification⟩>

\end{alertblock}
Inserts a block whose title is highlighting. Behaves like the block environment otherwise.
Example:
\begin{alertblock}{Wrong Theorem}
$1=2$.
\end{alertblock}
article The block name is typeset in bold and is emphasized.
Beamer-Template block alerted begin

Same applies as for normal blocks.
Beamer-Template block alerted end

Beamer-Color/-Font block title alerted

Beamer-Color/-Font block body alerted

120
\begin{exampleblock}<⟨action specification⟩>{⟨block title⟩}<⟨overlay specification⟩>
\end{exampleblock}
Inserts a block that is supposed to be an example. Behaves like the block environment otherwise.
Example: In the following example, the block is completely suppressed on the first slide (it does not even
occupy any space).
\begin{exampleblock}{Example}<only@2->
The set $\{1,2,3,5\}$ has four elements.
\end{exampleblock}
article The block name is typeset in italics.
Beamer-Template block example begin

Beamer-Template block example end

Beamer-Color/-Font block title example

Beamer-Color/-Font block body example

12.4 Theorem Environments

The beamer class predefines several environments, like theorem or definition or proof, that you can use to
typeset things like, well, theorems, definitions, or proofs. The complete list is the following: theorem, corollary,
definition, definitions, fact, example, and examples. The following German block environments are also
predefined: Problem, Loesung, Definition, Satz, Beweis, Folgerung, Lemma, Fakt, Beispiel, and Beispiele.
Here is a typical example on how to use them:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A Theorem on Infinite Sets}
\begin{theorem}<1->
There exists an infinite set.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}<2->
This follows from the axiom of infinity.
\end{proof}
\begin{example}<3->[Natural Numbers]
The set of natural numbers is infinite.
\end{example}
\end{frame}
In the following, only the English versions are discussed. The German ones behave analogously.
\begin{theorem}<⟨action specification⟩>[⟨additional text⟩]<⟨action specification⟩>

\end{theorem}
Inserts a theorem. Only one ⟨action specification⟩ may be given. If present, the ⟨additional text⟩ is shown
behind the word “Theorem” in rounded brackets (although this can be changed by the template).
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The appearance of the theorem is governed by the templates theorem begin and theorem end, see their
description later on for details on how to change these. Every theorem is put into a block environment,
thus the templates for blocks also apply.
The theorem style (a concept from amsthm) used for this environment is plain. In this style, the body of
a theorem should be typeset in italics. The head of the theorem should be typeset in a bold font, but this
is usually overruled by the templates.
If the option envcountsect is given either as class option in one of the presentation modes or as an
option to the package beamerarticle in article mode, then the numbering of the theorems is local to each
section with the section number prefixing the theorem number; otherwise they are numbered consecutively
throughout the presentation or article. We recommend using this option in article mode.
By default, no theorem numbers are shown in the presentation modes.
Example:
\begin{theorem}[Kummer, 1992]
If $\#^_A^n$ is $n$-enumerable, then $A$ is recursive.
\end{theorem}
\begin{theorem}<2->[Tantau, 2002]
If $\#_A^2$ is $2$-fa-enumerable, then $A$ is regular.
\end{theorem}
The environments corollary, fact, and lemma behave exactly the same way.
\documentclass[envcountsect]{beamer}
Causes theorems, definitions, and so on to be numbered locally to each section. Thus, the first theorem of
the second section would be Theorem 2.1 (assuming that there are no definitions, lemmas, or corollaries
earlier in the section).
\begin{definition}<⟨action specification⟩>[⟨additional text⟩]<⟨action specification⟩>

\end{definition}
Behaves like the theorem environment, except that the theorem style definition is used. In this style, the
body of a theorem is typeset in an upright font.
The environment definitions behaves exactly the same way.
\begin{example}<⟨action specification⟩>[⟨additional text⟩]<⟨action specification⟩>

\end{example}
Behaves like the theorem environment, except that the theorem style example is used. A side-effect of using
this theorem style is that the ⟨environment contents⟩ is put in an exampleblock instead of a block.
The environment examples behaves exactly the same way.

presen- The default template for typesetting theorems suppresses the theorem number, even if this number is “available”
tation for typesetting (which it is by default in all predefined environments; but if you define your own environment
using \newtheorem* no number will be available).
article In article mode, theorems are automatically numbered. By specifying the class option envcountsect, theorems
will be numbered locally to each section, which is usually a good idea, except for very short articles.
\begin{proof}<⟨action specification⟩>[⟨proof name⟩]<⟨action specification⟩>

\end{proof}
Typesets a proof. If the optional ⟨proof name⟩ is given, it completely replaces the word “Proof.” This is
different from normal theorems, where the optional argument is shown in brackets.
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At the end of the theorem, a \qed symbol is shown, except if you say \qedhere earlier in the proof (this
is exactly as in amsthm). The default \qed symbol is an open circle. To completely suppress the symbol,
write \def\qedsymbol{} in your preamble. To get a closed square, say
\setbeamertemplate{qed symbol}{\vrule width1.5ex height1.5ex depth0pt}
If you use babel and a different language, the text “Proof” is replaced by whatever is appropriate in the
selected language.
Example:
\begin{proof}<2->[Sketch of proof]
Suppose ...
\end{proof}
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font qed symbol

The symbol is shown at the end of every proof.
You can define new environments using the following command:
\newtheorem*{⟨environment name⟩}[⟨numbered same as⟩]{⟨head text⟩}[⟨number within⟩]

This command is used exactly the same way as in the amsthm package (as a matter of fact, it is the command
from that package). For example, the two optional arguments, ⟨numbered same as⟩ and ⟨number within⟩, are
mutually exclusive; see the documentation of amsthm for details. The only difference is that environments
declared using this command are overlay specification-aware in beamer and that, when typeset, are typeset
according to beamer’s templates.
article Environments declared using this command are also overlay specification-aware in article mode.
Example: \newtheorem{observation}[theorem]{Observation}
You can also use amsthm’s command \newtheoremstyle to define new theorem styles. Note that the default
template for theorems will ignore any head font setting, but will honor the body font setting.
If you wish to define the environments like theorem differently (for example, have it numbered within each
subsection), you can use the following class option to disable the definition of the predefined environments:
\documentclass[notheorems]{beamer}
Switches off the definition of default blocks like theorem, but still loads amsthm and makes theorems overlay
specification-aware.
The option is also available as a package option for beamerarticle and has the same effect.
article In the article version, the package amsthm sometimes clashes with the document class. In this case you can
use the following option, which is once more available as a class option for beamer and as a package option for
beamerarticle, to switch off the loading of amsthm altogether.
\documentclass[noamsthm]{beamer}
Does not load amsthm and also not amsmath. Environments like theorem or proof will not be available.
\documentclass[noamssymb]{beamer}
Does not load amssymb. This option is mainly intended for users who are loading specialist font packages.
Note that \blacktriangleright needs to be defined if itemize environments are in use.
\documentclass[leqno]{beamer}
Place equation numbers on the left.
\documentclass[fleqn]{beamer}
Position equations at a fixed indent from the left margin rather than centered in the text column.
123
Parent Beamer-Template theorems
This template is a parent of theorem begin and theorem end, see the first for a detailed discussion of how
the theorem templates are set.
Example: \setbeamertemplate{theorems}[numbered]
• [default] By default, theorems are typeset as follows: The font specification for the body is honored,
the font specification for the head is ignored. No theorem number is printed.
• [normal font] Like the default, except all font specifications for the body are ignored. Thus, the
fonts are used that are normally used for blocks.
• [numbered] This option is like the default, except that the theorem number is printed for environments
that are numbered.
• [ams style] This causes theorems to be put in a block or exampleblock, but to be otherwise typeset
as is normally done in amsthm. Thus the head font and body font depend on the setting for the theorem
to be typeset and theorems are numbered.
Beamer-Template theorem begin

Whenever an environment declared using the command \newtheorem is to be typeset, this template is
inserted at the beginning and the template theorem end at the end. If there is an overlay specification
when an environment like theorem is used, this overlay specification will directly follow the ⟨block beginning
template⟩ upon invocation. This is even true if there was an optional argument to the theorem environment.
This optional argument is available via the insert \inserttheoremaddition.
Numerous inserts are available in this template, see below.
Before the template starts, the font is set to the body font prescribed by the environment to be typeset.
Example: The following typesets theorems like amsthm:
\setbeamertemplate{theorem begin}
{%
\begin{\inserttheoremblockenv}
{%
\inserttheoremheadfont
\inserttheoremname
\inserttheoremnumber
\ifx\inserttheoremaddition\@empty\else\ (\inserttheoremaddition)\fi%
\inserttheorempunctuation
}%
}
\setbeamertemplate{theorem end}{\end{\inserttheoremblockenv}}
Example: In the following example, all font “suggestions” for the environment are suppressed or ignored;
and the theorem number is suppressed.
\setbeamertemplate{theorem begin}
{%
\normalfont% ignore body font
\begin{\inserttheoremblockenv}
{%
\inserttheoremname
\ifx\inserttheoremaddition\@empty\else\ (\inserttheoremaddition)\fi%
}%
}
\setbeamertemplate{theorem end}{\end{\inserttheoremblockenv}}
The following inserts are available inside this template:
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• \inserttheoremblockenv This will normally expand to block, but if a theorem that has theorem
style example is typeset, it will expand to exampleblock. Thus you can use this insert to decide which
environment should be used when typesetting the theorem.
• \inserttheoremheadfont This will expand to a font changing command that switches to the font to
be used in the head of the theorem. By not inserting it, you can ignore the head font.
• \inserttheoremname This will expand to the name of the environment to be typeset (like “Theorem”
or “Corollary”).
• \inserttheoremnumber This will expand to the number of the current theorem preceded by a space
or to nothing, if the current theorem does not have a number.
• \inserttheoremaddition This will expand to the optional argument given to the environment or will
be empty, if there was no optional argument.
• \inserttheorempunctuation This will expand to the punctuation character for the current environ-
ment. This is usually a period.
Beamer-Template theorem end

Inserted at the end of a theorem.
Beamer-Template proof begin

Inserted at the beginning of a proof environment. This template behaves like a normal block begin
template by default.
• \insertproofname This will expand to the proof name, followed by a period most of the time.
Beamer-Template proof end

Inserted at the end of a proof environment.
12.5 Framed and Boxed Text

In order to draw a frame (a rectangle) around some text, you can use LATEXs standard command \fbox and
also \frame (inside a beamer frame, the \frame command changes its meaning to the normal LATEX \frame
command). More frame types are offered by the package fancybox, which defines the following commands:
\shadowbox, \doublebox, \ovalbox, and \Ovalbox. Please consult the LATEX Companion for details on how to
use these commands.
The beamer class also defines two environments for creating colored boxes.
\begin{beamercolorbox}[⟨options⟩]{⟨beamer color⟩}
\end{beamercolorbox}
This environment can be used to conveniently typeset some text using some beamer-color. Basically, the
following two command blocks do the same:
\begin{beamercolorbox}{beamer color}
Text
{
\usebeamercolor{beamer color}
\colorbox{bg}{
\color{fg}
Text
}
}
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In other words, the environment installs the ⟨beamer color⟩ and uses the background for the background
of the box and the foreground for the text inside the box. However, in reality, numerous ⟨options⟩ can be
given to specify in much greater detail how the box is rendered.
If the background color of ⟨beamer color⟩ is empty, no background is drawn behind the text, that is, the
background is “transparent.”
This command is used extensively by the default inner and outer themes for typesetting the headlines and
footlines. It is not really intended to be used in normal frames (for example, it is not available inside
article mode). You should prefer using structuring elements like blocks or theorems that automatically
insert colored boxes as needed.
Example: The following example could be used to typeset a headline with two lines, the first showing the
document title, the second showing the author’s name:
\begin{beamercolorbox}[ht=2.5ex,dp=1ex,center]{title in head/foot}
\usebeamerfont{title in head/foot}
\insertshorttitle
\begin{beamercolorbox}[ht=2.5ex,dp=1ex,center]{author in head/foot}
\usebeamerfont{author in head/foot}
\insertshortauthor
Example: Typesetting a postit:
\setbeamercolor{postit}{fg=black,bg=yellow}
\begin{beamercolorbox}[sep=1em,wd=5cm]{postit}
Place me somewhere!
• wd={⟨width⟩} sets the width of the box. This command has two effects: First, TEX’s \hsize is set to
⟨width⟩. Second, after the box has been typeset, its width is set to ⟨width⟩ (no matter what it actually
turned out to be). Since setting the \hsize does not automatically change some of LATEX’s linewidth
dimensions, you should consider using a minipage inside this environment if you fool around with the
width.
If the width is larger than the normal text width, as specified by the value of \textwidth, the width
of the resulting box is reset to the width \textwidth, but intelligent negative skips are inserted at the
left and right end of the box. The net effect of this is that you can use a width larger than the text
width for a box and can insert the resulting box directly into normal text without getting annoying
warnings and having the box positioned sensibly.
• dp={⟨depth⟩} sets the depth of the box, overriding the real depth of the box. The box is first typeset
normally, then the depth is changed afterwards. This option is useful for creating boxes that have
guaranteed size.
If the option is not given, the box has its “natural” depth, which results from the typesetting. For
example, a box containing only the letter “a” will have a different depth from a box containing only
the letter “g.”
• ht=⟨height⟩ sets the height of the box, overriding the real height. Note that the “height” does not
include the depth (see, for example, the TEX-book for details). If you want a one-line box that always
has the same size, setting the height to 2.25ex and the depth to 1ex is usually a good option.
• left causes the text inside the box to be typeset left-aligned and with a (radically) ragged right border.
This is the default. To get a better ragged right border, use the rightskip option. Note that this will
override any leftskip or rightskip setting.
• right causes the text to be right-aligned with a (radically) ragged left border. Note that this will
override any leftskip or rightskip setting.
• center centers the text inside the box. Note that this will override any leftskip or rightskip setting.
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• leftskip=⟨left skip⟩ installs the ⟨left skip⟩ inside the box as the left skip. TEX’s left skip is a glue that
is inserted at the left end of every line. See the TEX-book for details. Note that this will override any
left, center or right setting.
• rightskip=⟨right skip⟩ install the ⟨right skip⟩. To get a good ragged right border, try, say,
\rightskip=0pt plus 4em. Note that this will override any left, center or right setting.
• sep=⟨dimension⟩ sets the size of extra space around the text. This space is added “inside the box,”
which means that if you specify a sep of 1cm and insert the box normally into the vertical list, then
the left border of the box will be aligned with the left border of the slide text, while the left border of
the text inside the box will be 1cm to the right of this left border. Likewise, the text inside the box
will stop 1cm before the right border of the normal text.
• colsep=⟨dimension⟩ sets the extra “color separation space” around the text. This space behaves
the same way as the space added by sep, only this space is only inserted if the box has a colored
background, that is, if the background of the ⟨beamer color⟩ is not empty. This command can be used
together with sep, the effects accumulate.
• colsep*=⟨dimension⟩ sets an extra color separation space around the text that is horizontally outside
the box. This means that if the box has a background, this background will protrude by ⟨dimension⟩
to the left and right of the text, but this protruding background will not be taken into consideration
by TEX for typesetting purposes.
A typical example usage of this option arises when you insert a box with a colored background in the
middle of normal text. In this case, if the background color is set, you would like a background to
be drawn behind the text and you would like a certain extra space around this text (the background
should not stop immediately at the borders of the text, this looks silly) and you would like the normal
text always to be at the same horizontal position, independently of whether a background is present
or not. In this case, using colsep*=4pt is a good option.
• shadow=⟨true or false⟩ draws a shadow behind the box. Currently, this option only has an effect if
used together with the rounded option, but that may change.
• rounded=⟨true or false⟩ causes the borders of the box to be rounded off if there is a background
installed. This command internally calls beamerboxesrounded. In this case, colsep* option will have
no effect.
• ignorebg causes the background color of the ⟨beamer color⟩ to be ignored, that is, to be treated as if
it were set to “transparent” or “empty.”
• vmode causes TEX to be in vertical mode when the box starts. Normally, TEX will be in horizontal
mode at the start of the box (a \leavevmode is inserted automatically at the beginning of the box
unless this option is given). Only TEXperts need this option, so, if you use it, you will probably know
what you are doing anyway.
\begin{beamerboxesrounded}[⟨options⟩]{⟨head⟩}
\end{beamerboxesrounded}
The text inside the environment is framed by a rectangular area with rounded corners. For the large
rectangular area, the beamer-color specified with the lower option is used. Its background is used for the
background, its foreground for the foreground. If the ⟨head⟩ is not empty, ⟨head⟩ is drawn in the upper
part of the box using the beamer-color specified with the upper option for the fore- and background. The
following options can be given:
• lower=⟨beamer color⟩ sets the beamer-color to be used for the lower (main) part of the box. Its
background is used for the background, its foreground for the foreground of the main part of the box.
If either is empty, the current background or foreground is used. The box will never be transparent.
• upper=⟨beamer color⟩ sets the beamer-color used for the upper (head) part of the box. It is only used
if the ⟨head⟩ is not empty.
• width=⟨dimension⟩ causes the width of the text inside the box to be the specified ⟨dimension⟩. By
default, the \textwidth is used. Note that the box will protrude 4pt to the left and right.
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• shadow=⟨true or false⟩. If set to true, a shadow will be drawn.
If no ⟨head⟩ is given, the head part is completely suppressed.
Example:
\begin{beamerboxesrounded}[upper=block head,lower=block body,shadow=true]{Theorem}
$A = B$.
\end{beamerboxesrounded}
article This environment is not available in article mode.
12.6 Figures and Tables

You can use the standard LATEX environments figure and table much the same way you would normally use
them. However, any placement specification will be ignored. Figures and tables are immediately inserted where
the environments start. If there are too many of them to fit on the frame, you must manually split them among
additional frames or use the allowframebreaks option.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\begin{figure}
\pgfuseimage{myfigure}
\caption{This caption is placed below the figure.}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{This caption is placed above the figure.}
\pgfuseimage{myotherfigure}
\end{figure}
\end{frame}
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font caption
This template is used to render the caption.
• [default] typesets the caption name (a word like “Figure” or “Abbildung” or “Table,” depending
on whether a table or figure is typeset and depending on the currently installed language) before the
caption text. No number is printed, since these make little sense in a normal presentation.
• [numbered] adds the figure or table number to the caption. Use this option only if your audience has
a printed handout or printed lecture notes that follow the same numbering.
• [caption name own line] As the name suggests, this options puts the caption name (like “Figure”)
on its own line.
Inside the template, you can use the following inserts:
• \insertcaption Inserts the text of the current caption.
• \insertcaptionname Inserts the name of the current caption. This word is either “Table” or “Figure”
or, if the babel package is used, some translation thereof.
• \insertcaptionnumber Inserts the number of the current figure or table.
Beamer-Color/-Font caption name

These beamer-color and -font are used to typeset the caption name (a word like “Figure”). The caption
template must directly “use” them, they are not installed automatically by the \insertcaptionname com-
mand.
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Beamer-Template caption label separator
This template is inserted between caption name and caption text.
• [default] Typesets the colon followed by the space.

• [none] Typesets no separator.
• [colon] Alias for the default.
• [period] Typesets the period followed by the space.
• [space] Typesets the space.
• [quad] Typesets the \quad followed by the space.
• [endash] Typesets the en-dash surrounded by spaces ( -- ).
12.7 Splitting a Frame into Multiple Columns

The beamer class offers several commands and environments for splitting (perhaps only part of) a frame into
multiple columns. These commands have nothing to do with LATEX’s commands for creating columns. Columns
are especially useful for placing a graphic next to a description/explanation.
The main environment for creating columns is called columns. Inside this environment, you can either place
several column environments, each of which creates a new column, or use the \column command to create new
columns.
\begin{columns}<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
\end{columns}
A multi-column area. If ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the environment will only be shown on the
specified slides. Inside the environment you should place only column environments or \column commands
(see below). The following ⟨options⟩ may be given:
• b will cause the bottom lines of the columns to be vertically aligned.
• c will cause the columns to be centered vertically relative to each other. Default, unless the global
option t is used.
• onlytextwidth is the same as totalwidth=\textwidth.
• t will cause the first lines of the columns to be aligned. Default if global option t is used.
• T is similar to the t option, but T aligns the tops of the first lines while t aligns the so-called baselines
of the first lines. If strange things seem to happen in conjunction with the t option (for example if a
graphic suddenly “drops down” with the t option instead of “going up,”), try using this option instead.
• totalwidth=⟨width⟩ will cause the columns to occupy not the whole page width, but only ⟨width⟩, all
told. Note that this means that any margins are ignored.
Example:
\begin{columns}[t]
\begin{column}{5cm}
Two\\lines.
\end{column}
\begin{column}{5cm}
One line (but aligned).
\end{column}
\end{columns}
Example:
\begin{columns}[t]
\column{5cm}
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Two\\lines.
\column[T]{5cm}
\includegraphics[height=3cm]{mygraphic.jpg}
\end{columns}
article This environment is ignored in article mode.
To create a column, you can either use the column environment or the \column command.
\begin{column}<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨placement⟩]{⟨column width⟩}

\end{column}
Creates a single column of width ⟨column width⟩. If ⟨overlay specification⟩ is present, the column will only
be shown on the specified slides. The vertical placement of the enclosing columns environment can be
overruled by specifying a specific ⟨placement⟩ (t and T for the two top modes, c for centered, and b for
bottom).
Example: The following code has the same effect as the above examples:
\begin{columns}
\begin{column}[t]{5cm}
Two\\lines.
\end{column}
\begin{column}[t]{5cm}
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\column<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨placement⟩]{⟨column width⟩}

Starts a single column. The parameters and options are the same as for the column environment. The
column automatically ends with the next occurrence of \column or of a column environment or of the end
of the current columns environment.
Example:
\begin{columns}
\column[t]{5cm}
Two\\lines.
\column[t]{5cm}
\end{columns}
12.8 Positioning Text and Graphics Absolutely

Normally, beamer uses TEX’s normal typesetting mechanism to position text and graphics on the page. In
certain situation you may instead wish a certain text or graphic to appear at a page position that is specified
absolutely. This means that the position is specified relative to the upper left corner of the slide.
The package textpos provides several commands for positioning text absolutely and it works together with
beamer. When using this package, you will typically have to specify the options overlay and perhaps absolute.
For details on how to use the package, please see its documentation.
12.9 Verbatim and Fragile Text

If you wish to use a {verbatim} environment in a frame, you have to add the option [fragile] to the {frame}
environment. The \end{frame} must be alone on a single line (except for any leading whitespace). Using this
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option will cause the frame contents to be written to an external file and then read back. See the description of
the {frame} environment for more details.
You must also use the [fragile] option for frames that include any “fragile” text, which is any text that is
not “interpreted the way text is usually interpreted by TEX.” For example, if you use a package that (locally)
redefined the meaning of, say, the character &, you must use this option.
Inside {verbatim} environments you obviously cannot use commands like \alert<2> to highlight part of
code since the text is written in, well, verbatim. There are several good packages like alltt or listings that
allow you to circumvent this problem. For simple cases, the following environment can be used, which is defined
by beamer:
\begin{semiverbatim}
\end{semiverbatim}
The text inside this environment is typeset like verbatim text. However, the characters \, {, and } retain
their meaning. Thus, you can say things like
\alert<1->{std::cout << "AT&T likes 100% performance";}
To typeset the three characters \, {, and } you can use the commands \\ (which is redefined inside this
environment—you do not need it anyway), \{, and \}. Thus in order to get typeset “\alert<1>{X}” you
can write \\alert<1>\{X\}.
12.10 Abstract
The {abstract} environment is overlay specification-aware in beamer:
\begin{abstract}<⟨action specification⟩>
\end{abstract}
You can use this environment to typeset an abstract.
Beamer-Color/-Font abstract
These beamer-color and -font are used to typeset the abstract. If a background color is set, this
background color is used as background for the whole abstract by default.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font abstract title

Color parents: titlelike
This template is used for the title. By default, this inserts the word \abstractname, centered. The
background color is ignored.
Beamer-Template abstract begin

This template is inserted at the very beginning of the abstract, before the abstract title and the
⟨environment contents⟩ is inserted.
Beamer-Template abstract end

This template is inserted at the end of the abstract, after the ⟨environment contents⟩.
12.11 Verse, Quotations, Quotes

LATEX defines three environments for typesetting quotations and verses: verse, quotation, and quote. These
environments are also available in the beamer class, where they are overlay specification-aware. If an overlay
specification is given, the verse or quotation is shown only on the specified slides and is covered otherwise. The
difference between a quotation and a quote is that the first has paragraph indentation, whereas the second
hasn’t.
You can change the font and color used for these by changing the beamer-colors and -fonts listed below.
Unlike the standard LATEX environments, the default font theme typesets a verse in an italic serif font, quotations
and quotes are typeset using an italic font (whether serif or sans-serif depends on the standard document font).
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\begin{verse}<⟨action specification⟩>
\end{verse}
You can use this environment to typeset a verse.
Beamer-Color/-Font verse
These beamer-color and -font are used to typeset the verse. If a background color is set, this back-
ground color is used as background for the whole abstract. The default font is italic serif.
Beamer-Template verse begin

This template is inserted at the beginning of the verse.
Beamer-Template verse end

This template is inserted at the end of the verse.
\begin{quotation}<⟨action specification⟩>
\end{quotation}
Use this environment to typeset multi-paragraph quotations. Think again, before presenting multi-
paragraph quotations.
Beamer-Color/-Font quotation
These beamer-color and -font are used to typeset the quotation.
Beamer-Template quotation begin

This template is inserted at the beginning of the quotation.
Beamer-Template quotation end

This template is inserted at the end of the quotation.
\begin{quote}<⟨action specification⟩>
\end{quote}
Use this environment to typeset a single-paragraph quotation.
Beamer-Color/-Font quote
These beamer-color and -font are used to typeset the quote.
Beamer-Template quote begin

This template is inserted at the beginning of the quote.
Beamer-Template quote end

This template is inserted at the end of the quote.
12.12 Footnotes
First a word of warning: Using footnotes is usually not a good idea. They disrupt the flow of reading.
You can use the usual \footnote command. It has been augmented to take an additional option, for placing
footnotes at the frame bottom instead of at the bottom of the current minipage.
\footnote<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]{⟨text⟩}
Inserts a footnote into the current frame. Footnotes will always be shown at the bottom of the current
frame; they will never be “moved” to other frames. As usual, one can give a number as ⟨options⟩, which
will cause the footnote to use that number. The beamer class adds one additional option:
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• frame causes the footnote to be shown at the bottom of the frame. This is normally the default behavior
anyway, but in minipages and certain blocks it makes a difference. In a minipage, the footnote is usually
shown as part of the minipage rather than as part of the frame.
If an ⟨overlay specification⟩ is given, this causes the footnote ⟨text⟩ to be shown only on the specified slides.
The footnote symbol in the text is shown on all slides.
Example: \footnote{On a fast machine.}
Example: \footnote[frame,2]{Not proved.}
Example: \footnote<.->{Der Spiegel, 4/04, S.~90.}
article In article mode, footnotes are typeset as usual. The frame option has no effect, which means in a minipage
the footnote is shown as part of it.
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font footnote
This template will be used to render the footnote. Inside this template, the following two inserts can
be used:
• \insertfootnotetext Inserts the current footnote text.
• \insertfootnotemark Inserts the current footnote mark (like a raised number). This mark is
computed automatically.
Beamer-Color/-Font footnote mark

This beamer-color/-font is used when rendering the footnote mark, both in the text and at the begin-
ning of the footnote itself.
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13 Graphics
In the following, the advantages and disadvantages of different possible ways of creating graphics for beamer
presentations are discussed. Much of the information presented in the following is not really special to beamer,
but applies to any other document class as well.
13.1 Including External Graphic Files Versus Inlines Graphics

There are two principal ways of creating TEX-documents that include graphics: Either the graphic resides in an
external file that is included or the graphic is inlined, which means that TEX-file contains a bunch of commands
like “draw a red line from here to there.” In the following, the advantages and disadvantages of these two
approaches are discussed.
You can use an external program, like xfig, GIMP or Inkscape, to create a graphic. These programs have
an option to export graphic files in a format that can then be inserted into the presentation.
The main advantage is:
• You can use a powerful program to create a high-quality graphic.
The main disadvantages are:
• You have to worry about many files. Typically there are at least two for each presentation, namely the
program’s graphic data file and the exported graphic file in a format that can be read by TEX.
• Changing the graphic using the program does not automatically change the graphic in the presentation.
Rather, you must reexport the graphic and rerun LATEX.
• It may be difficult to get the line width, fonts, and font sizes right.
• Creating formulas as part of graphics is often difficult or impossible.

You can use all the standard LATEX commands for inserting graphics, like \includegraphics. Also, the pgf
package offers commands for including graphics. Either will work fine in most situations, so choose whichever
you like. Like \pgfdeclareimage, \includegraphics also includes an image only once in a .pdf file, even if
it used several times (as a matter of fact, the graphics package is even a bit smarter about this than pgf).
However, currently only pgf offers the ability to include images that are partly transparent.
At the end of this section you will find notes on how to include specific graphic formats like .eps or .jpg.
The commands \includegraphics, \pgfuseimage, and \pgfimage are overlay-specification-aware in
beamer. If the overlay specification does not apply, the command has no effect. This is useful for creating a
simple animation where each picture of the animation resides in a different file:
\begin{frame}
\includegraphics<1>[height=2cm]{step1.pdf}%
\end{frame}
A different way of creating graphics is to insert graphic drawing commands directly into your LATEX file. There are
numerous packages that help you do this. They have various degrees of sophistication. Inlining graphics suffers
from none of the disadvantages mentioned above for including external graphic files, but the main disadvantage
is that it is often hard to use these packages. In some sense, you “program” your graphics, which requires a bit
of practice.
When choosing a graphic package, there are a few things to keep in mind:
• Many packages produce poor quality graphics. This is especially true of the standard picture environment
of LATEX.
• Powerful packages that produce high-quality graphics often do not work together with pdflatex, lualatex
or xelatex.
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• The most powerful and easiest-to-use package around, namely pstricks, does not work together with
pdflatex, lualatex or xelatex and this is a fundamental problem. Due to the fundamental differences
between pdf and PostScript, it is not possible to write a “pdflatex back-end for pstricks.” (Situation
with lualatex and xelatex is very similar.) Regardless, pst-pdf, xetex-pstricks and pdftricks
package can help here and simplify things from user’s perspective.
There are three possible solutions to the above problem, each with it’s own advantages and disadvantages.
• Use the pgf package. It produces high-quality graphics and works together with pdflatex, lualatex,
xelatex and also with normal latex. It is not as powerful as pstricks (as pointed out above, this is
because of rather fundamental reasons) and not as easy to use, but it should be sufficient in most cases.
• Use luamplib package and lualatex. It provides you with an environment using which you can type
MetaPost code directly in your document.
• Use pstricks and stick to latex and dvips or use some of the workarounds mentioned above.
13.2 Including Graphic Files Ending .eps or .ps

External graphic files ending with the extension .eps (Encapsulated PostScript) or .ps (PostScript) can be
included if you use latex and dvips, but not when using pdflatex. This is true both for the normal graphics
package and for pgf. When using pgf, do not add the extension .eps. When using graphics, do add the
extension.
If you have a .eps graphic and wish to use pdflatex, you can use the program ps2pdf to convert the graphic
to a .pdf file. Some modern distributions enable write18 which allows pdflatex to do that automatically. Note,
however, that it is often a better idea to directly generate a .pdf if the program that produced the .eps supports
this.
13.3 Including Graphic Files Ending .pdf, .jpg, .jpeg or .png

The four formats .pdf, .jpg, .jpeg, and .png can only be included by pdflatex. As before, do not add these
extension when using pgf, but do add them when using graphics. If your graphic file has any of these formats
and you wish/must use latex and dvips, you have to convert your graphic to .eps first.
13.4 Including Graphic Files Ending .mps

A graphic file ending .mps (MetaPost PostScript) is a special kind of Encapsulated PostScript file. Files in this
format are produced by the MetaPost program. As you know, TEX is a program that converts simple plain text
into beautifully typeset documents. The MetaPost program is similar, only it converts simple plain text into
beautiful graphics.
The MetaPost program converts a plain text file ending .mp into an .mps file (although for some unfathomable
reason the extension is not added). The .mp file must contain text written in the MetaFont programming
language. Since .mps files are actually also .eps files, you can use the normal \includegraphics command to
include them.
However, as a special bonus, you can also include such a file when using pdflatex. Normally, pdflatex
cannot handle .eps files, but the .mps files produced by MetaPost have such a simple and special structure
that this is possible. The graphics package implements some filters to convert such PostScript output to pdf
on-the-fly. For this to work, the file should end .mps instead of .eps. The following command can be used to
make the graphics package just assume the extension .mps for any file it knows nothing about (like files ending
with .1, which is what MetaPost loves to produce):
\DeclareGraphicsRule{*}{mps}{*}{}
This special feature currently only works with the graphics package, not with pgf.
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13.5 Including Graphic Files Ending .mmp
The format .mmp (Multi-MetaPost) is actually not a format that can be included directly in a TEX-file. Rather,
like a .mp file, it first has to be converted using the MetaPost program. The crucial difference between .mp and
.mmp is that in the latter multiple graphics can reside in a single .mmp file (actually, multiple graphics can also
reside in a .mp file, but by convention such a file is called .mmp). When running MetaPost on a .mmp file, it will
create not a single encapsulated PostScript file, but several, ending .0, .1, .2, and so on. The idea is that .0
might contain a main graphic and the following pictures contain overlay material that should be incrementally
added to this graphic.
To include the series of resulting files, you can use the command \multiinclude from the mpmulti or from
the xmpmulti package. How this program works is explained in Section 14.1.3.
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14 Animations, Sounds, and Slide Transitions
14.1 Animations
14.1.1 Including External Animation Files
If you have created an animation using some external program (like a renderer), you can use the capabilities of
the presentation program (like the Acrobat Reader) to show the animation. Unfortunately, currently there is no
portable way of doing this and even the Acrobat Reader does not support this feature on all platforms.
To include an animation in a presentation, you can use, for example, the package multimedia.sty which is
part of the beamer package. You have to include this package explicitly. Despite being distributed as part of
the beamer distribution, this package is perfectly self-sufficient and can be used independently of beamer.
\usepackage{multimedia}
A stand-alone package that implements several commands for including external animation and sound files
in a pdf document. The package can be used together with both dvips plus ps2pdf and pdflatex, though
the special sound support is available only in pdflatex.
When including this package, you must also include the hyperref package. The multimedia is one of the
few packages that needs to be loaded after hyperref. Since beamer includes hyperref automatically, you
need not worry about this when creating a presentation using beamer.
For including an animation in a pdf file, you can use the command \movie, which is explained below.
Depending on the used options, this command will either setup the pdf file such that the viewer application
(like the Acrobat Reader) itself will try to play the movie or that an external program will be called. The latter
approach, though much less flexible, must be taken if the viewer application is unable to display the movie itself.
\movie[⟨options⟩]{⟨poster text⟩}{⟨movie filename⟩}

This command will insert the movie with the filename ⟨movie filename⟩ into the pdf file. The movie file
must reside at some place where the viewer application will be able to find it, which is typically only the
directory in which the final pdf file resides. The movie file will not be embedded into the pdf file in the
sense that the actual movie data is part of the main.pdf file. The movie file must hence be copied and
passed along with the pdf file. (Nevertheless, one often says that the movie is “embedded” in the document,
but that just means that one can click on the movie when viewing the document and the movie will start
to play.)
The movie will use a rectangular area whose size is determined either by the width= and height= options
or by the size of the ⟨poster text⟩. The ⟨poster text⟩ can be any TEX text; for example, it might be a
\pgfuseimage command or an \includegraphics command or a pgfpicture environment or just plain
text. The ⟨poster text⟩ is typeset in a box, the box is inserted into the normal text, and the movie rectangle
is put exactly over this box. Thus, if the ⟨poster text⟩ is an image from the movie, this image will be shown
until the movie is started, when it will be exactly replaced by the movie itself. However, there is also a
different, sometimes better, way of creating a poster image, namely by using the poster option as explained
later on.
The aspect ratio of the movie will not be corrected automatically if the dimension of the ⟨poster text⟩ box
does not have the same aspect ratio. Most movies have an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 16:9.
Despite the name, a movie may consist only of sound with no images. In this case, the ⟨poster text⟩ might
be a symbol representing the sound. There is also a different, dedicated command for including sounds in
a pdf file, see the \sound command in Section 14.2.
Unless further options are given, the movie will start only when the user clicks on it. Whether the viewer
application can actually display the movie depends on the application and the version. For example, the
Acrobat Reader up to version 5 does not seem to be able to display any movies or sounds on Linux. On
the other hand, the Acrobat Reader Version 6 on MacOS is able to display anything that QuickTime can
display, which is just about everything. Embedding movies in a pdf document is provided for by the pdf
standard and is not a peculiarity of the Acrobat Reader. In particular, one might expect other viewers like
xpdf and poppler-based viewers (Okular, Evince) to support embedded movies in the future.
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Example: \movie{\pgfuseimage{myposterimage}}{mymovie.avi}
Example: \movie[width=3cm,height=2cm,poster]{}{mymovie.mpg}
If your viewer application is not able to render your movie, but some external application is, you must use
the externalviewer option. This will ask the viewer application to launch an application for showing the
movie instead of displaying it itself. Since this application is started in a new window, this is not nearly as
nice as having the movie displayed directly by the viewer (unless you use evil trickery to suppress the frame
of the viewer application). Which application is chosen is left to the discretion of the viewer application,
which tries to make its choice according to the extension of the ⟨movie filename⟩ and according to some
mapping table for mapping extensions to viewer applications. How this mapping table can be modified
depends on the viewer application, please see the release notes of your viewer.
• autostart. Causes the movie to start playing immediately when the page is shown. At most one
movie can be started in this way. The viewer application will typically be able to show at most one
movie at the same time anyway. When the page is no longer shown, the movie immediately stops.
This can be a problem if you use the \movie command to include a sound that should be played on
after the page has been closed. In this case, the \sound command must be used.
• borderwidth=⟨TEX dimension⟩. Causes a border of thickness ⟨TEX dimension⟩ to be drawn around
the movie. Some versions of the Acrobat Reader seem to have a bug and do not display this border if
is smaller than 0.5bp (about 0.51pt).
• depth=⟨TEX dimension⟩. Overrides the depth of the ⟨poster text⟩ box and sets it to the given dimension.
• duration=⟨time⟩s. Specifies in seconds how long the movie should be shown. The ⟨time⟩ may be
a fractional value and must be followed by the letter s. For example, duration=1.5s will show the
movie for one and a half seconds. In conjunction with the start option, you can “cut out” a part of
a movie for display.
• externalviewer. As explained above, this causes an external application to be launched for displaying
the movie in a separate window. Most options, like duration or loop, have no effect since they are
not passed along to the viewer application.
• height=⟨TEX dimension⟩. Overrides the height of the ⟨poster text⟩ box and sets it to the given
dimension.
• label=⟨movie label⟩. Assigns a label to the movie such that it can later be referenced by the command
\hyperlinkmovie, which can be used to stop the movie or to show a different part of it. The ⟨movie
label⟩ is not a normal label. It should not be too fancy, since it is inserted literally into the pdf code.
In particular, it should not contain closing parentheses.
• loop. Causes the movie to start again when the end has been reached. Normally, the movie just stops
at the end.
• once. Causes the movie to just stop at the end. This is the default.
• open. Causes the player to stay open when the movie has finished.
• palindrome. Causes the movie to start playing backwards when the end has been reached, and to
start playing forward once more when the beginning is reached, and so on.
• poster. Asks the viewer application to show the first image of the movie when the movie is not
playing. Normally, nothing is shown when the movie is not playing (and thus the box containing the
⟨poster text⟩ is shown). For a movie that does not have any images (but sound) or for movies with an
uninformative first image this option is not so useful.
• repeat is the same as loop.
• showcontrols=⟨true or false⟩. Causes a control bar to be displayed below the movie while it is
playing. Instead of showcontrols=true you can also just say showcontrols. By default, no control
bar is shown.
• start=⟨time⟩s. Causes the first ⟨time⟩ seconds of the movie to be skipped. For example,
start=10s,duration=5s will show seconds 10 to 15 of the movie, when you play the movie.
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• width=⟨TEXdimension⟩ works like the height option, only for the width of the poster box.
Example: The following example creates a “background sound” for the slide.
\movie[autostart]{}{test.wav}
Example: A movie with two extra buttons for showing different parts of the movie.
\movie[label=cells,width=4cm,height=3cm,poster,showcontrols,duration=5s]{}{cells.avi}
\hyperlinkmovie[start=5s,duration=7s]{cells}{\beamerbutton{Show the middle stage}}
\hyperlinkmovie[start=12s,duration=5s]{cells}{\beamerbutton{Show the late stage}}
A movie can serve as the destination of a special kind of hyperlink, namely a hyperlink introduced using the
following command:
\hyperlinkmovie[⟨options⟩]{⟨movie label⟩}{⟨text⟩}
Causes the ⟨text⟩ to become a movie hyperlink. When you click on the ⟨text⟩, the movie with the label
⟨movie label⟩ will start to play (or stop or pause or resume, depending on the ⟨options⟩). The movie must
be on the same page as the hyperlink.
The following ⟨options⟩ may be given, many of which are the same as for the \movie command; if a different
option is given for the link than for the movie itself, the option for the link takes precedence:
• duration=⟨time⟩s. As for \movie, this causes the movie to be played only for the given number of
seconds.
• loop and repeat. As for \movie, this causes the movie to loop.
• once. As for \movie, this causes the movie to played only once.
• palindrome. As for \movie, this causes the movie to be played forth and back.
• pause. Causes the playback of the movie to be paused, if the movie was currently playing. If not,
nothing happens.
• play. Causes the movie to be played from whatever start position is specified. If the movie is already
playing, it will be stopped and restarted at the starting position. This is the default.
• resume. Resumes playback of the movie, if it has previously been paused. If has not been paused, but
not started or is already playing, nothing happens.
• showcontrols=⟨true or false⟩. As for \movie, this causes a control bar to be shown or not shown
during playback.
• start=⟨time⟩s. As for \movie, this causes the given number of seconds to be skipped at the beginning
of the movie if play is used to start the movie.
• stop. Causes the playback of the movie to be stopped.
14.1.2 Animations Created by Showing Slides in Rapid Succession

You can create an animation in a portable way by using the overlay commands of the beamer package to create
a series of slides that, when shown in rapid succession, present an animation. This is a flexible approach, but
such animations will typically be rather static since it will take some time to advance from one slide to the next.
This approach is mostly useful for animations where you want to explain each “picture” of the animation. When
you advance slides “by hand,” that is, by pressing a forward button, it typically takes at least a second for the
next slide to show.
More “lively” animations can be created by relying on a capability of the viewer program. Some programs
support showing slides only for a certain number of seconds during a presentation (for the Acrobat Reader this
works only in full-screen mode). By setting the number of seconds to zero, you can create a rapid succession of
slides.
To facilitate the creation of animations using this feature, the following commands can be used: \animate
and \animatevalue.
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\animate<⟨overlay specification⟩>
The slides specified by ⟨overlay specification⟩ will be shown as quickly as possible.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A Five Slide Animation}
\animate<2-4>
The first slide is shown normally. When the second slide is shown
(presumably after pressing a forward key), the second, third, and
fourth slides ‘‘flash by.’’ At the end, the content of the fifth
slide is shown.
... code for creating an animation with five slides ...

\end{frame}
\animatevalue<⟨start slide⟩-⟨end slide⟩> {⟨name⟩}{⟨start value⟩}{⟨end value⟩}

The ⟨name⟩ must be the name of a counter or a dimension. It will be varied between two values. For the
slides in the specified range, the counter or dimension is set to an interpolated value that depends on the
current slide number. On slides before the ⟨start slide⟩, the counter or dimension is set to ⟨start value⟩; on
the slides after the ⟨end slide⟩ it is set to ⟨end value⟩.
Example:
\newcount\opaqueness
\begin{frame}
\animate<2-10>
\animatevalue<1-10>{\opaqueness}{100}{0}
\begin{colormixin}{\the\opaqueness!averagebackgroundcolor}
\frametitle{Fadeout Frame}
This text (and all other frame content) will fade out when the
second slide is shown. This even works with
{\color{green!90!black}colored} \alert{text}.
\end{colormixin}
\end{frame}
\newcount\opaqueness
\newdimen\offset
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Flying Theorems (You Really Shouldn’t!)}
\animate<2-14>
\animatevalue<1-15>{\offset}{0cm}{-5cm}
\hskip\offset
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\begin{theorem}
This theorem flies out.
\end{theorem}
\end{minipage}
\end{colormixin}
\animatevalue<1-15>{\offset}{-5cm}{0cm}
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\hskip\offset
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\begin{theorem}
This theorem flies in.
\end{theorem}
\end{minipage}
\end{colormixin}
\end{frame}
If your animation “graphics” reside in individual external graphic files, you might also consider using the
\multiinclude command, which is explained in Section 14.1.3, together with \animate. For example, you
might create an animation like this, assuming you have created graphic files named animation.1 through to
animation.10:
\begin{frame}
\animate<2-9>
\multiinclude[start=1]{animation}
\end{frame}
14.1.3 Including External Animations Residing in Multiple Image Files

Some animations reside in external files in the following way: For each stage of the animation there is an image
file containing an image for this stage. You can include such a series of images conveniently by using the style
mpmulti.sty from the ppower4 package. This style, written by Klaus Guntermann, introduces a command
called \multiinclude that takes the base name of a graphic file like mygraphic and will then search for files
called mygraphic.0, mygraphic.1, and so on, till no more files are found. It will then include these graphics
files using the \includegraphics command, but will put these graphics “on top of each other.” Furthermore,
and this is the important part, it inserts a \pause command after each graphic. This command is defined in the
ppower4 package and has the same effect as the \pause command of beamer. For this reason, both ppower4
and also beamer will first display the basic graphic and will then additionally show the next graphic on each
slide.
If you try to use mpmulti.sty directly, you will run into the problem that it includes a file called pause.sty,
which is part of the ppower4 package.
You might also consider using the style xmpmulti.sty that comes with beamer. This file is mainly identical
to mpmulti, except for two differences: First, it does not include pause.sty, a style that conceptually clashes
with beamer, although beamer contains a workaround that sidesteps the problem. Second, it extends the
\multiinclude command by allowing a special default overlay specification to be given. The effect of this is
explained below.
\usepackage{xmpmulti}
Defines the command \multiinclude. The code of this package is due to Klaus Guntermann with some
additions of mine. It can be used together with beamer and with ppower4, i. e., it can be used as a
replacement for mpmulti if the pause package is also included in a ppower4-presentation.
\multiinclude[<⟨default overlay specification⟩>][⟨options⟩]{⟨base file name⟩}

Except for the possibility of specifying a ⟨default overlay specification⟩, this command is identical to the
\multiinclude command from the ppower4 package.
If no overlay specification is given, the command will search for files called ⟨base file name⟩.⟨number⟩ for in-
creasing numbers ⟨number⟩, starting with zero. As long as it finds these files, it issues an \includegraphics
command on them. The files following the first one are put “on top” of the first one. Between any two
invocations of \includegraphics, a \pause command is inserted. You can modify this behavior in different
ways by given suitable ⟨options⟩, see below.
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Example: Assume that MetaPost has created files called gra.0, gra.1, and gra.2. You can then create
frame consisting of three slides that incrementally show the graphic as follows:
\begin{frame}
\multiinclude{gra}
\end{frame}
The effect of providing a ⟨default overlay specification⟩ is the following: First, no \pause command is
inserted between graphics. Instead, each graphic is surrounded by an actionenv environment with the
overlay specification set to ⟨default overlay specification⟩.
Example: You can create the same effect as in the previous example using \multiinclude[<+->]{gra}.
Example: For a more interesting usage of the ⟨default overlay specification⟩, consider the following usage:
\multiinclude[<alert@+| +->]{gra}
This will always paint the most recently added part of the graphic in red (assuming you do not use special
colors in the graphic itself).
Example: In order to have each graphic completely replace the previous one, you could use \multiinclude[<+>]{gra}.
The following ⟨options⟩ may be given (these are the same as for the original command from the ppower4
package):
• pause=⟨command⟩ replaces the default pausing command \pause by ⟨command⟩. If a ⟨default overlay
specification⟩ is given, the default pausing command is empty; otherwise it is \pause. Note that
commands like \pauselevel are not available in \beamer.
• graphics=⟨options⟩ passes the ⟨options⟩ to the \includegraphics command.
Example: \multiinclude[graphics={height=5cm}]{gra}
• format=⟨extension⟩ will cause the file names for which we search change from ⟨base file name⟩.⟨number⟩
to ⟨base file name⟩-⟨number⟩.⟨extension⟩. Note the change from the dot to a hyphen. This option
allows you to include, say, .jpg files.
• start=⟨number⟩ specifies the start ⟨number⟩. The default is zero.
• end=⟨number⟩ specifies the end ⟨number⟩. The default is infinity.
Note that, if you do not use the format= option, the \includegraphics command will be somewhat at a
loss in which format your graphic file actually is. After all, it ends with the cryptic “format suffix” .0 or .1.
You can tell \includegraphics that any file having a suffix it knows nothing about is actually in format, say,
.mps, using the following command:
\DeclareGraphicsRule{*}{mps}{*}{}
14.2 Sounds
You can include sounds in a presentation. Such sound can be played when you open a slide or when a certain
button is clicked. The commands for including sounds are defined in the package multimedia, which is introduced
in Section 14.1.1.
As was already pointed out in Section 14.1.1, a sound can be included in a pdf presentation by treating it
as a movie and using the \movie command. While this is perfectly sufficient in most cases, there are two cases
where this approach is not satisfactory:
1. When a page is closed, any playing movie is immediately stopped. Thus, you cannot use the \movie
command to create sounds that persist for a longer time.
2. You cannot play two movies at the same time.
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The pdf specification introduces special sound objects, which are treated quite differently from movie objects.
You can create a sound object using the command \sound, which is somewhat similar to \movie. There also
exists a \hyperlinksound command, which is similar to \hyperlinkmovie. While it is conceptually better to
use \sound for sounds, there are a number of things to consider before using it:
• Several sounds can be played at the same time. In particular, it is possible to play a general sound in
parallel to a (hopefully silent) movie.
• A sound playback can persist after the current page is closed (though it need not).
• The data of a sound file can be completely embedded in a pdf file, obliterating the need to “carry around”
other files.
• The sound objects do not work together with dvips and ps2pdf. They only work with pdflatex.
• There is much less control over what part of a sound should be played. In particular, no control bar is
shown and you can specify neither the start time nor the duration.
• A bug in some versions of the Acrobat Reader makes it necessary to provide very exact details on the
encoding of the sound file. You have to provide the sampling rate, the number of channels (mono or
stereo), the number of bits per sample, and the sample encoding method (raw, signed, Alaw or 𝜇law). If
you do not know this data or provide it incorrectly, the sound will be played incorrectly.
• It seems that you can only include uncompressed sound data, which can easily become huge. This is not
required by the specification, but some versions of Acrobat Reader are unable to play any compressed
data. Data formats that do work are .aif and .au.
\sound[⟨options⟩]{⟨sound poster text⟩}{⟨sound filename⟩}

This command will insert the sound with the filename ⟨sound filename⟩ into the pdf file. As for \movie,
the file must be accessible when the sound is to be played. Unlike \movie, you can however use the option
inlinesound to actually embed the sound data in the pdf file.
Also as for a movie, the ⟨sound poster text⟩ will be be put in a box that, when clicked on, will start playing
the movie. However, you might also leave this box empty and only use the autostart option. Once playback
of a sound has started, it can only be stopped by starting the playback of a different sound or by use of the
\hyperlinkmute command.
The supported sound formats depend on the viewer application. Some versions of Acrobat Reader support
.aif and .au. Sometimes you also need to specify information like the sampling rate, even though this
information could be extracted from the sound file and even though the pdf standard specifies that the
viewer application should do so. In this regard, some versions of Acrobat Reader seem to be non-standard-
conforming.
This command only works together with pdflatex. If you use dvips, the poster is still shown, but clicking
it has no effect and no sound is embedded in any way.
Example: \sound[autostart,samplingrate=22050]{}{applause.au}
• autostart. Causes the sound to start playing immediately when the page is shown.
• automute. Causes all sounds to be muted when the current page is left.
• bitspersample=⟨8 or 16 ⟩. Specifies the number of bits per sample in the sound file. If this number is
16, this option need not be specified.
• channels=⟨1 or 2 ⟩. Specifies whether the sound is mono or stereo. If the sound is mono, this option
need not be specified.
• depth=⟨TEX dimension⟩. Overrides the depth of the ⟨sound poster text⟩ box and sets it to the given
dimension.
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• encoding=⟨method⟩. Specifies the encoding method, which may be Raw, Signed, muLaw, or ALaw. If
the method is muLaw, this option need not be specified.
• externalviewer causes an external application to be launched for playing the sound. Most options,
like loop, have no effect since they are not passed along to the external application.
• height=⟨TEX dimension⟩. Overrides the height of the ⟨sound poster text⟩ box and sets it to the given
dimension.
• inlinesound causes the sound data to be stored directly in the pdf-file.
• label=⟨sound label⟩. Assigns a label to the sound such that it can later be referenced by the command
\hyperlinksound, which can be used to start a sound. The ⟨sound label⟩ is not a normal label.
• loop or repeat. Causes the sound to start again when the end has been reached.
• mixsound=⟨true or false⟩. If set to true, the sound is played in addition to any sound that is already
playing. If set to false all other sounds (though not sound from movies) are stopped before the sound
is played. The default is false.
• samplingrate=⟨number⟩. Specifies the number of samples per second in the sound file. If this number
is 44100, this option need not be specified.
• width=⟨TEX dimension⟩ works like the height option, only for the width of the poster box.
Example: The following example creates a “background sound” for the slide, assuming that applause.au
is encoded correctly (44100 samples per second, mono, 𝜇law encoded, 16 bits per sample).
\sound[autostart]{}{applause.au}
Just like movies, sounds can also serve as destinations of special sound hyperlinks.
\hyperlinksound[⟨options⟩]{⟨sound label⟩}{⟨text⟩}
Causes the ⟨text⟩ to become a sound hyperlink. When you click on the ⟨text⟩, the sound with the label
⟨sound label⟩ will start to play.
• loop or repeat. Causes the sound to start again when the end has been reached.
• mixsound=⟨true or false⟩. If set to true, the sound is played in addition to any sound that is already
playing. If set to false all other sounds (though not sound from movies) are stopped before the sound
is played. The default is false.
Since there is no direct way of stopping the playback of a sound, the following command is useful:
\hyperlinkmute{⟨text⟩}
Causes the ⟨text⟩ to become a hyperlink that, when clicked, stops the playback of all sounds.
14.3 Slide Transitions

pdf in general, and the Acrobat Reader in particular, offer a standardized way of defining slide transitions.
Such a transition is a visual effect that is used to show the slide. For example, instead of just showing the slide
immediately, whatever was shown before might slowly “dissolve” and be replaced by the slide’s content.
There are a number of commands that can be used to specify what effect should be used when the current
slide is presented. Consider the following example:
\frame{\pgfuseimage{youngboy}}
\frame{
\transdissolve
\pgfuseimage{man}
}
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The command \transdissolve causes the slide of the second frame to be shown in a “dissolved way.” Note
that the dissolving is a property of the second frame, not of the first one. We could have placed the command
anywhere on the frame.
The transition commands are overlay-specification-aware. We could collapse the two frames into one frame
like this:
\begin{frame}
\only<1>{\pgfuseimage{youngboy}}
\only<2>{\pgfuseimage{man}}
\transdissolve<2>
\end{frame}
This states that on the first slide the young boy should be shown, on the second slide the old man should be
shown, and when the second slide is shown, it should be shown in a “dissolved way.”
In the following, the different commands for creating transitional effects are listed. All of them take an
optional argument that may contain a list of ⟨key⟩=⟨value⟩ pairs. The following options are possible:
• duration=⟨seconds⟩. Specifies the number of ⟨seconds⟩ the transition effect needs. Default is one second,
but often a shorter one (like 0.2 seconds) is more appropriate. Viewer applications, especially Acrobat,
may interpret this option in slightly strange ways.
• direction=⟨degree⟩. For “directed” effects, this option specifies the effect’s direction. Allowed values are
0, 90, 180, 270, and for the glitter effect also 315.
article All of these commands are ignored in article mode.
\transblindshorizontal<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide as if horizontal blinds were pulled away.
Example: \transblindshorizontal
\transblindsvertical<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide as if vertical blinds were pulled away.
Example: \transblindsvertical<2,3>
\transboxin<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by moving to the center from all four sides.
Example: \transboxin<1>
\transboxout<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by showing more and more of a rectangular area that is centered on the slide center.
Example: \transboxout
\transcover<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by covering the content that was shown before.
Example: \transcover
\transdissolve<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by slowly dissolving what was shown before.
Example: \transdissolve[duration=0.2]
\transfade<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by slowly fading what was shown before.
Example: \transfade
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\transfly<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by letting the new content fly in before removing the old slide.
Example: \transfly[direction=180]
\transglitter<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide with a glitter effect that sweeps in the specified direction.
Example: \transglitter<2-3>[direction=90]
\transpush<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by pushing what was shown before off the screen using the new content.
Example: \transpush
\transreplace<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Replace the previous slide directly (default behaviour).
\transsplitverticalin<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by sweeping two vertical lines from the sides inward.
Example: \transsplitverticalin
\transsplitverticalout<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by sweeping two vertical lines from the center outward.
Example: \transsplitverticalout
\transsplithorizontalin<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by sweeping two horizontal lines from the sides inward.
Example: \transsplithorizontalin
\transsplithorizontalout<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by sweeping two horizontal lines from the center outward.
Example: \transsplithorizontalout
\transwipe<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]
Show the slide by sweeping a single line in the specified direction, thereby “wiping out” the previous contents.
Example: \transwipe[direction=90]
You can also specify how long a given slide should be shown, using the following overlay-specification-aware
command:
\transduration<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨number of seconds⟩}

In full screen mode, show the slide for ⟨number of seconds⟩. If zero is specified, the slide is shown as short
as possible. This can be used to create interesting pseudo-animations.
Example: \transduration<2>{1} Notice that the duration of a slide transition is entire separate from the
type of transition which takes place. Most notably, to cancel an existing auto-advance you need to use
Example: \transduration{} possibly with an overlay specification.
146
Part III
Changing the Way Things Look
beamer offers ways to change the appearance of a presentation at all levels of detail. On the top level, themes
can be used to globally change the appearance conveniently. On the bottom level, templates allow you to specify
the appearance of every minute detail individually.
Two important aspects of the “appearance” of a presentation are treated in extra sections: colors and fonts.
Here, too, color and font themes can be used to globally change the colors or fonts used in a presentation, while
you can still change the color or font of, say, block titles independently of everything else.
147
15 Themes
15.1 Five Flavors of Themes
Themes make it easy to change the appearance of a presentation. The beamer class uses five different kinds of
themes:
Presentation Themes Conceptually, a presentation theme dictates for every single detail of a presentation
what it looks like. Thus, choosing a particular presentation theme will setup for, say, the numbers in
enumeration what color they have, what color their background has, what font is used to render them,
whether a circle or ball or rectangle or whatever is drawn behind them, and so forth. Thus, when you
choose a presentation theme, your presentation will look the way someone (the creator of the theme)
thought that a presentation should look like. Presentation themes typically only choose a particular color
theme, font theme, inner theme, and outer theme that go well together.
Color Themes A color theme only dictates which colors are used in a presentation. If you have chosen
a particular presentation theme and then choose a color theme, only the colors of your presentation will
change. A color theme can specify colors in a very detailed way: For example, a color theme can specifically
change the colors used to render, say, the border of a button, the background of a button, and the text on
a button.
Font Themes A font theme dictates which fonts or font attributes are used in a presentation. As for colors,
the font of all text elements used in a presentation can be specified independently.
Inner Themes An inner theme specifies how certain elements of a presentation are typeset. This includes all
elements that are at the “inside” of the frame, that is, that are not part of the headline, footline, or sidebars.
This includes all enumerations, itemize environments, block environments, theorem environments, or the
table of contents. For example, an inner theme might specify that in an enumeration the number should
be typeset without a dot and that a small circle should be shown behind it. The inner theme would not
specify what color should be used for the number or the circle (this is the job of the color theme) nor which
font should be used (this is the job of the font theme).
Outer Themes An outer theme specifies what the “outside” or “border” of the presentation slides should look
like. It specifies whether there are head- and footlines, what is shown in them, whether there is a sidebar,
where the logo goes, where the navigation symbols and bars go, and so on. It also specifies where the
frametitle is put and how it is typeset.
The different themes reside in the five subdirectories theme, color, font, inner, and outer of the directory
beamer/themes. Internally, a theme is stored as a normal style file. However, to use a theme, the following
special commands should be used:
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{⟨name list⟩}
Installs the presentation theme named ⟨name⟩. Currently, the effect of this command is the same as saying
\usepackage for the style file named beamertheme⟨name⟩.sty for each ⟨name⟩ in the ⟨name list⟩.
\usecolortheme[⟨options⟩]{⟨name list⟩}
Same as \usetheme, only for color themes. Color style files are named beamercolortheme⟨name⟩.sty.
\usefonttheme[⟨options⟩]{⟨name⟩}
Same as \usetheme, only for font themes. Font style files are named beamerfonttheme⟨name⟩.sty.
\useinnertheme[⟨options⟩]{⟨name⟩}
Same as \usetheme, only for inner themes. Inner style files are named beamerinnertheme⟨name⟩.sty.
\useoutertheme[⟨options⟩]{⟨name⟩}
Same as \usetheme, only for outer themes. Outer style files are named beameroutertheme⟨name⟩.sty.
If you do not use any of these commands, a sober default theme is used for all of them. In the following,
the presentation themes that come with the beamer class are described. The element, layout, color, and font
themes are presented in the following sections.
148
15.2 Presentation Themes without Navigation Bars
A presentation theme dictates for every single detail of a presentation what it looks like. Normally, having chosen
a particular presentation theme, you do not need to specify anything else having to do with the appearance of
your presentation—the creator of the theme should have taken care of that for you. However, you still can
change things afterward either by using a different color, font, element, or even layout theme; or by changing
specific colors, fonts, or templates directly.
When Till started naming the presentation themes, he soon ran out of ideas on how to call them. Instead of
giving them more and more cumbersome names, he decided to switch to a different naming convention: Except
for two special cases, all presentation themes are named after cities. These cities happen to be cities in which
or near which there was a conference or workshop that he attended or that a co-author of his attended.
All themes listed without author mentioned were developed by Till. If a theme has not been developed by
us (that is, if someone else is to blame), this is indicated with the theme. We have sometimes slightly changed
or “corrected” submitted themes, but we still list the original authors.
\usetheme{default}
Example:
There Is No Largest Prime Number

The proof uses reductio ad absurdum.

With an introduction to a new proof technique
Theorem
Euklid of Alexandria There is no largest prime number.
Department of Mathematics
Proof.
University of Alexandria 1. Suppose p were the largest prime number.
2. Let q be the product of the first p numbers.
27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280
3. Then q + 1 is not divisible by any of them.
4. Thus q + 1 is also prime and greater than p.
Results
Proof of the Main Theorem
As the name suggests, this theme is installed by default. It is a sober no-nonsense theme that makes minimal
use of color or font variations. This theme is useful for all kinds of talks, except for very long talks.
\usetheme[headheight=⟨head height⟩,footheight=⟨foot height⟩]{boxes}

Example:


Theorem
Proof.
Results
For this theme, you can specify an arbitrary number of templates for the boxes in the headline and in the
footline. You can add a template for another box by using the following commands.
149
\addheadbox{⟨beamer color⟩}{⟨box template⟩}
Each time this command is invoked, a new box is added to the head line, with the first added box
being shown on the left. All boxes will have the same size.
The ⟨beamer color⟩ will be used to setup the foreground and background colors of the box.
Example:
\addheadbox{section in head/foot}{\tiny\quad 1. Box}
\addheadbox{structure}{\tiny\quad 2. Box}
A similar effect as the above commands can be achieved by directly installing a head template that
contains two beamercolorboxes:
\setbeamertemplate{headline}
{\leavevmode
\begin{beamercolorbox}[width=.5\paperwidth]{section in head/foot}
\tiny\quad 1. Box
\begin{beamercolorbox}[width=.5\paperwidth]{structure}
\tiny\quad 2. Box
}
While being more complicated, the above commands offer more flexibility.
\addfootbox{⟨beamer color⟩}{⟨box template⟩}

Example:
\addfootbox{section in head/foot}{\tiny\quad 1. Box}
\addfootbox{structure}{\tiny\quad 2. Box}
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Bergen}
Example:

Who? Euklid of Alexandria Theorem There is no largest prime number.
From? Department of Mathematics Proof.

University of Alexandria
When? 27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280 2 Let q be the product of the first p numbers.
Results 4 Thus q + 1 is also prime and greater than p.
A theme based on the inmargin inner theme and the rectangles inner theme. Using this theme is not
quite trivial since getting the spacing right can be trickier than with most other themes. Also, this theme
goes badly with columns. You may wish to consult the remarks on the inmargin inner theme.
Bergen is a town in Norway. It hosted iwpec 2004.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Boadilla}
Example:
150

Theorem
Euklid of Alexandria
Department of Mathematics Proof.

27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280 2 Let q be the product of the first p numbers.
1 Results
Euklid (Univ. Alexandria) There Is No Largest Prime Number ISPN ’80 1/2 Euklid (Univ. Alexandria) There Is No Largest Prime Number ISPN ’80 2/2
A theme giving much information in little space. The following ⟨options⟩ may be given:
• secheader causes a headline to be inserted showing the current section and subsection. By default,
this headline is not shown.
Theme author: Manuel Carro. Boadilla is a village in the vicinity of Madrid, hosting the University’s
Computer Science department.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Madrid}
Example:


Theorem

University of Alexandria 1 Suppose p were the largest prime number.
1 Results
Like the Boadilla theme, except that stronger colors are used and that the itemize icons are not modified.
The same ⟨options⟩ as for the Boadilla theme may be given.
Theme author: Manuel Carro. Madrid is the capital of Spain.
\usetheme{AnnArbor}
Example:
151
Results Proof of the Main Theorem


With an introduction to a new proof technique Theorem
Euklid of Alexandria Proof.

University of Alexandria 2 Let q be the product of the first p numbers.
Like Boadilla, but using the colors of the University of Michigan.

Theme author: Madhusudan Singh. The University of Michigan is located at Ann Arbor.
\usetheme{CambridgeUS}
Example:


Theorem
Proof.

1 Results
Like Boadilla, but using the colors of MIT.

Theme author: Madhusudan Singh.
\usetheme{EastLansing}
Example:


Theorem

1 Results
152
Like Boadilla, but using the colors of Michigan State University.
Theme author: Alan Munn. Michigan State University is located in East Lansing.
\usetheme{Pittsburgh}
Example:

Theorem
1 Results
A sober theme. The right-flushed frame titles creates an interesting “tension” inside each frame.
Pittsburgh is a town in the eastern USA. It hosted the second recomb workshop of snps and haplotypes,
2004.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Rochester}
Example:

There Is No Largest Prime Number Theorem


1 Results
A dominant theme without any navigational elements. It can be made less dominant by using a different
color theme.
• height=⟨dimension⟩ sets the height of the frame title bar.
Rochester is a town in upstate New York, USA. Till visited Rochester in 2001.
15.3 Presentation Themes with a Tree-Like Navigation Bar

\usetheme{Antibes}
Example:
153
Results

Theorem

1 Results
A dominant theme with a tree-like navigation at the top. The rectangular elements mirror the rectangular
navigation at the top. The theme can be made less dominant by using a different color theme.
Antibes is a town in the south of France. It hosted stacs 2002.
\usetheme{JuanLesPins}
Example:
Results


Theorem
Proof.
27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280 3 Then q + 1 is not divisible by any of them.
1 Results
A variation on the Antibes theme that has a much “smoother” appearance. It can be made less dominant
by choosing a different color theme.
Juan–Les–Pins is a cozy village near Antibes. It hosted stacs 2002.
\usetheme{Montpellier}
Example:
154
Results

Theorem
Proof.
Results
A sober theme giving basic navigational hints. The headline can be made more dominant by using a different
color theme.
Montpellier is in the south of France. It hosted stacs 2004.
15.4 Presentation Themes with a Table of Contents Sidebar

\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Berkeley}
Example:

There Is No There Is No
Largest Prime Largest Prime
Number Number
Euklid
There Is No Largest Prime Number Euklid
Theorem
Results Results
Proof of the Main
Theorem
Proof of the Main
Theorem There is no largest prime number.

1 Results
A dominant theme. If the navigation bar is on the left, it dominates since it is seen first. The height of the
frame title is fixed to two and a half lines, thus you should be careful with overly long titles. A logo will be
put in the corner area. Rectangular areas dominate the layout. The theme can be made less dominant by
using a different color theme.
By default, the current entry of the table of contents in the sidebar will be highlighted by using a more vibrant
color. A good alternative is to highlight the current entry by using a different color for the background of
the current point. The color theme sidebartab installs the appropriate colors, so you just have to say
\usecolortheme{sidebartab}
This color theme works with all themes that show a table of contents in the sidebar.
This theme is useful for long talks like lectures that require a table of contents to be visible all the time.
• hideallsubsections causes only sections to be shown in the sidebar. This is useful, if you need to
save space.
155
• hideothersubsections causes only the subsections of the current section to be shown. This is useful,
if you need to save space.
• left puts the sidebar on the left (default).
• right puts the sidebar on the right.
• width=⟨dimension⟩ sets the width of the sidebar. If set to zero, no sidebar is created.
Berkeley is on the western coast of the USA, near San Francisco. Till visited Berkeley for a year in 2004.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{PaloAlto}
Example:

Number Number
Euklid Euklid
There Is No Largest Prime Number Theorem
Results Results
Proof of the Main
Theorem
With an introduction to a new proof technique Proof of the Main
Theorem There is no largest prime number.
Proof.
Euklid of Alexandria 1 Suppose p were the largest prime number.
Department of Mathematics 2 Let q be the product of the first p numbers.

27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280 4 Thus q + 1 is also prime and greater than p.
1 Results
A variation on the Berkeley theme with less dominance of rectangular areas. The same ⟨options⟩ as for
the Berkeley theme can be given.
Palo Alto is also near San Francisco. It hosted the Bay Area Theory Workshop 2004.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Goettingen}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
There Is No Largest Prime Number Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
There Is No Largest Prime Number Results

Results

Theorem
Proof.
Results
A relatively sober theme useful for a longer talk that demands a sidebar with a full table of contents. The
same ⟨options⟩ as for the Berkeley theme can be given.
Göttingen is a town in Germany. It hosted the 42nd Theorietag.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Marburg}
Example:
156
Largest Prime
Number
There Is No Largest Prime Number Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid

Results

Theorem
Proof.
Results
A very dominant variation of the Goettingen theme. The same ⟨options⟩ may be given.
Marburg is a town in Germany. It hosted the 46th Theorietag.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Hannover}
Example:
Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
1 Results
In this theme, the sidebar on the left is balanced by right-flushed frame titles.
• hideallsubsections causes only sections to be shown in the sidebar. This is useful, if you need to
save space.
• hideothersubsections causes only the subsections of the current section to be shown. This is useful,
if you need to save space.
• width=⟨dimension⟩ sets the width of the sidebar.
Hannover is a town in Germany. It hosted the 48th Theorietag.
15.5 Presentation Themes with a Mini Frame Navigation

\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Berlin}
Example:
157
Results Results

Theorem

1 Results
Euklid Univ. Alexandria Euklid Univ. Alexandria

A dominant theme with strong colors and dominating rectangular areas. The head- and footlines give lots
of information and leave little space for the actual slide contents. This theme is useful for conferences where
the audience is not likely to know the title of the talk or who is presenting it. The theme can be made less
dominant by using a different color theme.
• compress causes the mini frames in the headline to use only a single line. This is useful for saving
space.
Berlin is the capital of Germany.
\usetheme[⟨options⟩]{Ilmenau}
Example:
Results Results

Theorem
Proof.

1 Results

A variation on the Berlin theme. The same ⟨options⟩ may be given.

Ilmenau is a town in Germany. It hosted the 40th Theorietag.
\usetheme{Dresden}
Example:
158
Results Results

Theorem
Proof.
Results

A variation on the Berlin theme with a strong separation into navigational stuff at the top/bottom and a
sober main text. The same ⟨options⟩ may be given.
Dresden is a town in Germany. It hosted STACS 2001.
\usetheme{Darmstadt}
Example:
Results Results


Theorem
Proof.
1 Results
A theme with a strong separation into a navigational upper part and an informational main part. By using
a different color theme, this separation can be lessened.
Darmstadt is a town in Germany.
\usetheme{Frankfurt}
Example:
159
Results Results


Theorem
Proof.

1 Results
A variation on the Darmstadt theme that is slightly less cluttered by leaving out the subsection information.
Frankfurt is a town in Germany.
\usetheme{Singapore}
Example:
Results Results


Theorem
Proof.
Results
A not-too-sober theme with navigation that does not dominate.

Singapore is located in south-eastern Asia. It hosted cocoon 2002.
\usetheme{Szeged}
Example:
Results Results

Theorem
Proof.
27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280 3. Then q + 1 is not divisible by any of them.
Results
There Is No Largest Prime Number Univ. Alexandria There Is No Largest Prime Number Univ. Alexandria
160
A sober theme with a strong dominance of horizontal lines.
Szeged is on the south border of Hungary. It hosted dlt 2003.
15.6 Presentation Themes with Section and Subsection Tables

\usetheme{Copenhagen}
Example:
Results Results Proof of the Main Theorem


Theorem
Proof.

1 Results
Euklid There Is No Largest Prime Number Euklid There Is No Largest Prime Number
A not-quite-too-dominant theme. This theme gives compressed information about the current section and
subsection at the top and about the title and the author at the bottom. No shadows are used, giving the
presentation a “flat” look. The theme can be made less dominant by using a different color theme.
Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. It is connected to Malmö by the Øresund bridge.
\usetheme{Luebeck}
Example:


Theorem

1 Results
A variation on the Copenhagen theme.

Lübeck is a town in northern Germany. It hosted the 41st Theorietag.
\usetheme{Malmoe}
Example:
161

Theorem
Proof.
Results
A more sober variation of the Copenhagen theme.

Malmö is a town in southern Sweden. It hosted fct 2001.
\usetheme{Warsaw}
Example:


Theorem
Proof.
Department of Mathematics 1 Suppose p were the largest prime number.
1 Results
A dominant variation of the Copenhagen theme.

Warsaw is the capital of Poland. It hosted mfcs 2002.
15.7 Presentation Themes Included For Compatibility

Earlier versions of beamer included some further themes. These themes are still available for compatibility,
though they are now implemented differently (they also mainly install appropriate color, font, inner, and outer
themes). However, they may or may not honor color themes and they will not be supported in the future. The
following list shows which of the new themes should be used instead of the old themes. (When switching, you
may want to use the font theme structurebold with the option onlysmall.)
Old theme Replacement options
none Use compatibility.
bars Try Dresden instead.
classic Try Singapore instead.
lined Try Szeged instead.
plain Try none or Pittsburgh instead.
sidebar Try Goettingen for the light version and Marburg for the dark version.
shadow Try Warsaw instead.
split Try Malmoe instead.
tree Try Montpellier and, for the bars version, Antibes or JuansLesPins.
162
16 Inner Themes, Outer Themes, and Templates
This section discusses the inner and outer themes that are available in beamer. These themes install certain
templates for the different elements of a presentation. The template mechanism is explained at the end of the
section.
Before we plunge into the details, let us agree on some terminology for this section. In beamer, an element is
part of a presentation that is potentially typeset in some special way. Examples of elements are frame titles, the
author’s name, or the footnote sign. The appearance of every element is governed by a template for this element.
Appropriate templates are installed by inner and outer themes, where the inner themes only install templates
for elements that are typically “inside the main text,” while outer themes install templates for elements “around
the main text.” Thus, from the templates’ point of view, there is no real difference between inner and outer
themes.
16.1 Inner Themes

An inner theme installs templates that dictate how the following elements are typeset:
• Title and part pages.
• Itemize environments.
• Enumerate environments.
• Description environments.
• Block environments.
• Theorem and proof environments.
• Figures and tables.
• Footnotes.
• Bibliography entries.
In the following examples, the color themes seahorse and rose are used to show where and how background
colors are honored. Furthermore, background colors have been specified for all elements that honor them in the
default theme. In the default color theme, all of the large rectangular areas are transparent.
\useinnertheme{default}
Example:


Proof.
The default element theme is quite sober. The only extravagance is the fact that a little triangle is used in
itemize environments instead of the usual dot.
163
In some cases the theme will honor background color specifications for elements. For example, if you set
the background color for block titles to green, block titles will have a green background. The background
specifications are currently honored for the following elements:
• Title, author, institute, and date fields in the title page.
• Block environments, both for the title and for the body.
This list may increase in the future.
\useinnertheme{circles}
Example:


Theorem

1 Results
In this theme, itemize and enumerate items start with a small circle. Likewise, entries in the table of
contents start with circles.
\useinnertheme{rectangles}
Example:


Theorem

1 Results
In this theme, itemize and enumerate items and table of contents entries start with small rectangles.
\useinnertheme[⟨options⟩]{rounded}
Example:
164

Theorem
Proof.
1 Results
In this theme, itemize and enumerate items and table of contents entries start with small balls. If a
background is specified for blocks, then the corners of the background rectangles will be rounded off. The
following ⟨options⟩ may be given:
• shadow adds a shadow to all blocks.
\useinnertheme{inmargin}
Example:

Who? Euklid of Alexandria Theorem There is no largest prime number.

From? Department of Mathematics Proof.
1. Suppose p were the largest prime number.
When? 27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280
Results 4. Thus q + 1 is also prime and greater than p.
The idea behind this theme is to have “structuring” information on the left and “normal” information on
the right. To this end, blocks are redefined such that the block title is shown on the left and the block body
is shown on the right.
The code used to place text in the margin is a bit fragile. You may often need to adjust the spacing “by
hand,” so use at your own risk.
Itemize items are redefined such that they appear on the left. However, only the position is changed by
changing some spacing parameters; the code used to draw the items is not changed otherwise. Because of
this, you can load another inner theme first and then load this theme afterwards.
This theme is a “dirty” inner theme since it messes with things that an inner theme should not mess with.
In particular, it changes the width of the left sidebar to a large value. However, you can still use it together
with most outer themes.
Using columns inside this theme is problematic. Most of the time, the result will not be what you expect.
The indicators for the title page can be adjusted by redefining \inserttitleindicator, \insertauthorindicator,
\insertinstituteindicator and \insertdateindicator.
165
16.2 Outer Themes
An outer theme dictates (roughly) the overall layout of frames. It specifies where any navigational elements
should go (like a mini table of contents or navigational mini frames) and what they should look like. Typically,
an outer theme specifies how the following elements are rendered:
• The head- and footline.
• The sidebars.
• The logo.
• The frame title.
An outer theme will not specify how things like itemize environments should be rendered—that is the job
of an inner theme.
In the following examples the color theme seahorse is used. Since the default color theme leaves most
backgrounds empty, most of the outer themes look too unstructured with the default color theme.
\useoutertheme{default}
Example:


Theorem
Proof.
Department of Mathematics 1. Suppose p were the largest prime number.
The default layout theme is the most sober and minimalistic theme around. It will flush left the frame
title and it will not install any head- or footlines. However, even this theme honors the background color
specified for the frame title. If a color is specified, a bar occupying the whole page width is put behind the
frame title. A background color of the frame subtitle is ignored.
\useoutertheme{infolines}
Example:


Theorem

27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280 2. Let q be the product of the first p numbers.
Results
166
This theme installs a headline showing the current section and the current subsection. It installs a footline
showing the author’s name, the institution, the presentation’s title, the current date, and a frame count.
This theme uses only little space.
The colors used in the headline and footline are drawn from palette primary, palette secondary, and
palette tertiary (see Section 17 for details on how to change these).
\useoutertheme[⟨options⟩]{miniframes}
Example:
Results Results

Theorem

Results
This theme installs a headline in which a horizontal navigational bar is shown. This bar contains one entry
for each section of the presentation. Below each section entry, small circles are shown that represent the
different frames in the section. The frames are arranged subsection-wise, that is, there is a line of frames
for each subsection. If the class option compress is given, the frames will instead be arranged in a single
row for each section. The navigation bars draws its color from section in head/foot.
Below the navigation bar, a line is put showing the title of the current subsection. The color is drawn from
subsection in head/foot.
At the bottom, two lines are put that contain information such as the author’s name, the institution, or
the paper’s title. What is shown exactly is influenced by the ⟨options⟩ given. The colors are drawn from
the appropriate beamer-colors like author in head/foot.
At the top and bottom of both the head- and footline and between the navigation bar and the subsection
name, separation lines are drawn if the background color of separation line is set. This separation line
will have a height of 3pt. You can get even more fine-grained control over the colors of the separation lines
by setting appropriate colors like lower separation line head.
Note: Make sure the document is organized in the section-subsection-frame structure when using
miniframes and smoothbars theme. Any frame without a \section or \subsection will bring unpre-
dictable effects in the navigation bar.
• footline=empty suppresses the footline (default).
• footline=authorinstitute shows the author’s name and the institute in the footline.
• footline=authortitle shows the author’s name and the title in the footline.
• footline=institutetitle shows the institute and the title in the footline.
• footline=authorinstitutetitle shows the author’s name, the institute, and the title in the footline.
• subsection=⟨true or false⟩ shows or suppresses line showing the subsection in the headline. It is shown
by default. If the document does not use subsections, this option should be set false.
167
\useoutertheme[⟨options⟩]{smoothbars}
Example:
Results Results


Theorem
Proof.
Results
This theme behaves very much like the miniframes theme, at least with respect to the headline. The only
differences are that smooth transitions are installed between the background colors of the navigation bar, the
(optional) bar for the subsection name, and the background of the frame title. No footline is created. You
can get the footlines of the miniframes theme by first loading that theme and then loading the smoothbars
theme.
• subsection=⟨true or false⟩ shows or suppresses line showing the subsection in the headline. It is shown
by default.
\useoutertheme[⟨options⟩]{sidebar}
Example:

Number Number
Euklid
There Is No Largest Prime Number Euklid
Results
With an introduction to a new proof technique Results Theorem
Proof of the Main Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem There is no largest prime number.

27th International Symposium on Prime Numbers, –280 4. Thus q + 1 is also prime and greater than p.
Results
In this layout, a sidebar is shown that contains a small table of contents with the current section, subsection,
or subsubsection highlighted. The frame title is vertically centered in a rectangular area at the top that
always occupies the same amount of space in all frames. Finally, the logo is shown in the “corner” resulting
from the sidebar and the frame title rectangle.
There are several ways of modifying the layout using the ⟨options⟩. If you set the width of the sidebar to
0pt, it is not shown, giving you a layout in which the frame title does not “wobble” since it always occupies
the same amount of space on all slides. Conversely, if you set the height of the frame title rectangle to
0pt, the rectangular area is not used and the frame title is inserted normally (occupying as much space as
needed on each slide).
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The background color of the sidebar is taken from sidebar, the background color of the frame title from
frametitle, and the background color of the logo corner from logo.
The colors of the entries in the table of contents are drawn from the beamer-color section in sidebar
and section in sidebar current as well as the corresponding beamer-colors for subsections. If an entry
does not fit on a single line it is automatically “linebroken.”
• height=⟨dimension⟩ specifies the height of the frame title rectangle. If it is set to 0pt, no frame title
rectangle is created. Instead, the frame title is inserted normally into the frame. The default is 2.5
base line heights of the frame title font. Thus, there is about enough space for a two-line frame title
plus a one-line subtitle.
• hideothersubsections causes all subsections except those of the current section to be suppressed in
the table of contents. This is useful if you have lots of subsections.
• hideallsubsections causes all subsections to be suppressed in the table of contents.
• left puts the sidebar on the left side. Note that in a left-to-right reading culture this is the side people
look first. Note also that this table of contents is usually not the most important part of the frame, so
you do not necessarily want people to look at it first. Nevertheless, it is the default.
• right puts the sidebar of the right side.
• width=⟨dimension⟩ specifies the width of the sidebar. If it is set to 0pt, it is completely suppressed.
The default is 2.5 base line heights of the frame title font.
\useoutertheme{split}
Example:


Theorem

Results
This theme installs a headline in which, on the left, the sections of the talk are shown and, on the right, the
subsections of the current section. If the class option compress has been given, the sections and subsections
will be put in one line; normally there is one line per section or subsection.
The footline shows the author on the left and the talk’s title on the right.
The colors are taken from palette primary and palette quaternary.
\useoutertheme{shadow}
Example:
169


Theorem
Proof.
Results
This layout theme extends the split theme by putting a horizontal shading behind the frame title and
adding a little “shadow” at the bottom of the headline.
\useoutertheme[⟨options⟩]{tree}
Example:
Results

Theorem

Results
In this layout, the headline contains three lines that show the title of the current talk, the current section
in this talk, and the current subsection in the section. The colors are drawn from title in head/foot,
section in head/foot, and subsection in head/foot.
In addition, separation lines of height 3pt are shown above and below the three lines if the background
of separation line is set. More fine-grained control of the colors of these lines can be gained by setting
upper separation line head and lower separation line head.
• hooks causes little “hooks” to be drawn in front of the section and subsection entries. These are
supposed to increase the tree-like appearance.
\useoutertheme{smoothtree}
Example:
170
Results


Theorem
Proof.
Results
This layout is similar to the tree layout. The main difference is that the background colors change smoothly.
16.3 Changing the Templates Used for Different Elements of a Presentation

This section explains how beamer’s template management works.
16.3.1 Overview of Beamer’s Template Management

If you only wish to modify the appearance of a single or few elements, you do not need to create a whole new
inner or outer theme. Instead, you can modify the appropriate template.
A template specifies how an element of a presentation is typeset. For example, the frametitle template
dictates where the frame title is put, which font is used, and so on.
As the name suggests, you specify a template by writing the exact LATEX code you would also use when type-
setting a single frame title by hand. Only, instead of the actual title, you use the command \insertframetitle.
Example: Suppose we would like to have the frame title typeset in red, centered, and boldface. If we were to
typeset a single frame title by hand, it might be done like this:
\begin{frame}
\begin{centering}
\color{red}
\textbf{The Title of This Frame.}
\par
\end{centering}
Blah, blah.
\end{frame}
In order to typeset the frame title in this way on all slides, in the simplest case we can change the frame title
template as follows:
\setbeamertemplate{frametitle}
{
\begin{centering}
\color{red}
\textbf{\insertframetitle}
\par
\end{centering}
}
We can then use the following code to get the desired effect:
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{The Title of This Frame.}
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Blah, blah.
\end{frame}
When rendering the frame, beamer will use the code of the frame title template to typeset the frame title
and it will replace every occurrence of \insertframetitle by the current frame title.
We can take this example a step further. It would be nicer if we did not have to “hardwire” the color
of the frametitle, but if this color could be specified independently of the code for the template. This way,
a color theme could change this color. Since this is a problem that is common to most templates, beamer
will automatically setup the beamer-color frametitle when the template frametitle is used. Thus, we can
remove the \color{red} command if we set the beamer-color frametitle to red at some point.
\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{fg=red}
{
\begin{centering}
\textbf{\insertframetitle}
\par
\end{centering}
}
Next, we can also make the font “themable.” Just like the color, the beamer-font frametitle is installed
before the frametitle template is typeset. Thus, we should rewrite the code as follows:
\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{fg=red}
\setbeamerfont{frametitle}{series=\bfseries}
{
\begin{centering}
\insertframetitle\par
\end{centering}
}
Users, themes, or whoever can now easily change the color or font of the frametitle without having to mess
with the code used to typeset it.
article In article mode, most of the template mechanism is switched off and has no effect. However, a few templates
are also available. If this is the case, it is specially indicated.
Here are a few hints that might be helpful when you wish to set a template:
• Usually, you might wish to copy code from an existing template. The code often takes care of some things
that you may not yet have thought about. The default inner and outer themes might be useful starting
points. Also, the file beamerbaseauxtemplates.sty contains interesting “auxiliary” templates.
• When copying code from another template and when inserting this code in the preamble of your document
(not in another style file), you may have to “switch on” the at-character (@). To do so, add the command
\makeatletter before the \setbeamertemplate command and the command \makeatother afterward.
• Most templates having to do with the frame components (headlines, sidebars, etc.) can only be changed
in the preamble. Other templates can be changed during the document.
• The height of the headline and footline templates is calculated automatically. This is done by typeset-
ting the templates and then “having a look” at their heights. This recalculation is done right at the
beginning of the document, after all packages have been loaded and even after these have executed their
\AtBeginDocument initialization.
• Getting the boxes right inside any template is often a bit of a hassle. You may wish to consult the TEX
book for the glorious details on “Making Boxes.” If your headline is simple, you might also try putting
everything into a pgfpicture environment, which makes the placement easier.
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16.3.2 Using Beamer’s Templates
As a user of the beamer class you typically do not “use” or “invoke” templates yourself, directly. For example,
the frame title template is automatically invoked by beamer somewhere deep inside the frame typesetting
process. The same is true of most other templates. However, if, for whatever reason, you wish to invoke a
template yourself, you can use the following command.
\usebeamertemplate***{⟨element name⟩}
If none of the stars is given, the text of the ⟨element name⟩ is directly inserted at the current position. This
text should previously have been specified using the \setbeamertemplate command. No text is inserted if
this command has not been called before.
Example:
\setbeamertemplate{my template}{correct}
...
Your answer is \usebeamertemplate{my template}.
If you add one star, three things happen. First, the template is put inside a TEX-group, thereby limiting
most side effects of commands used inside the template. Second, inside this group the beamer-color named
⟨element name⟩ is used and the foreground color is selected. Third, the beamer-font ⟨element name⟩ is
also used. This one-starred version is usually the best version to use.
If you add a second star, nearly the same happens as with only one star. However, in addition, the color
is used with the command \setbeamercolor*. This causes the colors to be reset to the normal text color
if no special foreground or background is specified by the beamer-color ⟨element name⟩. Thus, in this
twice-starred version, the color used for the template is guaranteed to be independent of the color that was
currently in use when the template is used.
Finally, adding a third star will also cause a star to be added to the \setbeamerfont* command. This
causes the font used for the template also to be reset to normal text, unless the beamer-font ⟨element
name⟩ specifies things differently. This three-star version is the “most protected” version available.
\ifbeamertemplateempty{⟨beamer template name⟩}{⟨executed if empty⟩}{⟨executed otherwise⟩}

This command checks whether a template is defined and set to a non-empty text. If the text is empty or the
template is not defined at all, ⟨executed if empty⟩ is executed. Otherwise, ⟨executed otherwise⟩ is executed.
\expandbeamertemplate{⟨beamer template name⟩}

This command does the same as \usebeamertemplate{⟨beamer template name⟩}. The difference is that this
command performs a direct expansion and does not scan for a star. This is important inside, for example,
an \edef. If you don’t know the difference between \def and \edef, you won’t need this command.
16.3.3 Setting Beamer’s Templates

To set a beamer-template, you can use the following command:
\setbeamertemplate{⟨element name⟩}[⟨predefined option⟩]⟨args⟩

In the simplest case, if no ⟨predefined option⟩ is given, the ⟨args⟩ must be a single argument and the text
of the template ⟨element name⟩ is setup to be this text. Upon later invocation of the template by the
command \usebeamertemplate this text is used.
Example:
\setbeamertemplate{answer}{correct}
...
Your answer is \usebeamertemplate*{answer}.
If you specify a ⟨predefined option⟩, this command behaves slightly differently. In this case, someone has
used the command \defbeamertemplate to predefine a template for you. By giving the name of this
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predefined template as the optional parameter ⟨predefined option⟩, you cause the template ⟨element name⟩
to be set to this template.
Example: \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}[book] causes the bibliography items to become lit-
tle book icons. This command causes a subsequent call of \usebeamertemplate{bibliography item} to
insert the predefined code for inserting a book.
Some predefined template options take parameters themselves. In such a case, the parameters are given as
⟨args⟩.
Example: The ⟨predefined option⟩ grid for the template background takes an optional argument:
\setbeamertemplate{background}[grid][step=1cm]
In the example, the second argument in square brackets is the optional argument.
In the descriptions of elements, if there are possible ⟨predefined option⟩, the description shows how the
⟨predefined option⟩ can be used together with its arguments, but the \setbeamertemplate{xxxx} is omitted.
Thus, the above example would be documented in the description of the background element like this:
• [grid][⟨step options⟩] causes a light grid to be . . .
\addtobeamertemplate{⟨element name⟩}{⟨pre-text⟩}{⟨post-text⟩}
This command adds the ⟨pre-text⟩ before the text that is currently installed as the template ⟨element name⟩
and the ⟨post-text⟩ after it. This allows you a limited form of modification of existing templates.
Example: The following commands have the same effect:
\setbeamertemplate{my template}{Hello world!}
\setbeamertemplate{my template}{world}
\addtobeamertemplate{my template}{Hello }{!}
If a new template is installed, any additions will be deleted. On the other hand, you can repeatedly use
this command to add multiple things.
\defbeamertemplate<⟨mode specification⟩>*{⟨element name⟩}{⟨predefined option⟩}

[⟨argument number⟩][⟨default optional argument⟩]{⟨predefined text⟩}
[action]{⟨action command⟩}
This command installs a predefined option for the template ⟨element name⟩. Once this command has been
used, users can access the predefined template using the \setbeamertemplate command.
Example: \defbeamertemplate{itemize item}{double arrow}{$\Rightarrow$}
After the above command has been invoked, the following two commands will have the same effect:
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{$\Rightarrow$}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}[double arrow]
Sometimes, a predefined template needs to get an argument when it is installed. Suppose, for example, we
want to define a predefined template that draws a square as the itemize item and we want to make this size
of this square configurable. In this case, we can specify the ⟨argument number⟩ of the predefined option the
same way one does for the \newcommand command:
\defbeamertemplate{itemize item}{square}[1]{\hrule width #1 height #1}
% The following have the same effect:

\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}[square]{3pt}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{\hrule width 3pt height 3pt}
As for the \newcommand command, you can also specify a ⟨default optional argument⟩:
\defbeamertemplate{itemize item}{square}[1][1ex]{\hrule width #1 height #1}
% The following have the same effect:
174
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}[square][3pt]
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{\hrule width 3pt height 3pt}
% So do the following:
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}[square]
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{\hrule width 1ex height 1ex}
The starred version of the command installs the predefined template option, but then immediately calls
\setbeamertemplate for this option. This is useful for the default templates. If there are any arguments
necessary, these are set to \relax.
In certain cases, if a predefined template option is chosen, you do not only wish the template text to be
installed, but certain extra “actions” must also be taken once. For example, a shading must be defined
that should not be redefined every time the shading is used later on. To implement such “actions,” you
can use the optional argument ⟨action⟩ following the keyword [action]. Thus, after the normal use of the
\defbeamertemplate you add the text [action] and then any commands that should be executed once
when the ⟨predefined option⟩ is selected by the \setbeamertemplate command.
Example:
\defbeamertemplate{background canvas}{my shading}[2]
{
\pgfuseshading{myshading}% simple enough
}
[action]
{
\pgfdeclareverticalshading{myshading}{\the\paperwidth}
{color(0cm)=(#1); color(\the\paperheight)=(#2)}
}
...
\setbeamertemplate{background canvas}{myshading}{red!10}{blue!10}
% Defines the shading myshading right here. Subsequent calls to
% \usebeamertemplate{background canvas} will yield
% ‘‘\pgfuseshading{myshading}’’.
article Normally, this command has no effect in article mode. However, if a ⟨mode specification⟩ is given, this
command is applied for the specified modes. Thus, this command behaves like the \\ command, which also
gets the implicit mode specification <presentation> if no other specification is given.
Example: \defbeamertemplate{my template}{default}{something} has no effect in article mode.
Example: \defbeamertemplate<article>{my template}{default}{something} has no effect in presentation
modes, but has an effect in article mode.
Example: \defbeamertemplate<all>{my template}{default}{something} applies to all modes.
It is often useful to have access to the same template option via different names. For this, you can use the
following command to create aliases:
\defbeamertemplatealias{⟨element name⟩}{⟨new predefined option name⟩}{⟨existing predefined option name⟩}
Causes the two predefined options to have the same effect.
There is no inheritance relation among templates as there is for colors and fonts. This is due to the fact
the templates for one element seldom make sense for another. However, sometimes certain elements “behave
similarly” and one would like a \setbeamertemplate to apply to a whole set of templates via inheritance. For
example, one might want that \setbeamertemplate{items}[circle] causes all items to use the circle option,
though the effects for the itemize item as opposed to the itemize subsubitem as opposed to enumerate item
must be slightly different.
The beamer-template mechanism implements a simple form of inheritance via parent templates. In element
descriptions, parent templates are indicated via a check mark in parentheses.
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\defbeamertemplateparent{⟨parent template name⟩}[⟨predefined option name⟩]{⟨child template list⟩}
[⟨argument number⟩][⟨default optional argument⟩]{⟨arguments for children⟩}
The effect of this command is that whenever someone calls \setbeamertemplate{⟨parent template
name⟩}{⟨args⟩}, the command \setbeamertemplate{⟨child template name⟩}{⟨args⟩} is called for each
⟨child template name⟩ in the ⟨child template list⟩.
The ⟨arguments for children⟩ come into play if the \setbeamertemplate command is called with a pre-
defined option name (not necessarily the same as the ⟨predefined option name⟩, we’ll come to that).
If \setbeamertemplate is called with some predefined option name, the children are called with the
⟨arguments for children⟩ instead. Let’s look at two examples:
Example: The following is the typical, simple usage:
\defbeamertemplateparent{itemize items}{itemize item,itemize subitem,itemize subsubitem}
{}
% The following command has the same effect as the three commands below:
\setbeamertemplate{itemize items}[circle]
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}[circle] % actually, the ‘‘empty’’ argument is added

\setbeamertemplate{itemize subitem}[circle]
\setbeamertemplate{itemize subsubitem}[circle]
Example: In the following case, an argument is passed to the children:

\defbeamertemplateparent{sections/subsections in toc shaded}
{section in toc shaded,subsection in toc shaded}[1][20]
{[#1]}
% The following command has the same effect as the two commands below:
\setbeamertemplate{sections/subsections in toc shaded}[default][35]
\setbeamertemplate{section in toc shaded}[default][35]

\setbeamertemplate{subsection in toc shaded}[default][35]
% Again:
\setbeamertemplate{sections/subsections in toc shaded}[default]
\setbeamertemplate{section in toc shaded}[default][20]

\setbeamertemplate{subsection in toc shaded}[default][20]
In detail, the following happens: When \setbeamertemplate is encountered for a parent template, beamer
first checks whether a predefined option follows. If not, a single argument is read and \setbeamertemplate
is called for all children for this template. If there is a predefined template option set, beamer evaluates
the ⟨argument for children⟩. It may contain parameters like #1 or #2. These parameters are filled with the
arguments that follow the call of \setbeamertemplate for the parent template. The number of arguments
must be the number given as ⟨argument number⟩. An optional argument can also be specified in the usual
way. Once the ⟨arguments for the children⟩ have been computed, \setbeamertemplate is called for all
children for the predefined template and with the computed arguments.
You may wonder what happens when certain predefined options take a certain number of arguments,
but another predefined option takes a different number of arguments. In this case, the above-described
mechanism cannot differentiate between the predefined options and it is unclear which or even how many
arguments should be contained in ⟨arguments for children⟩. For this reason, you can give the optional
argument ⟨predefined option name⟩ when calling \defbeamertemplateparent. If this optional argument is
specified, the parenthood of the template applies only to this particular ⟨predefined option name⟩. Thus, if
someone calls \setbeamertemplate for this ⟨predefined option name⟩, the given ⟨argument for children⟩ is
used. For other predefined option names a possibly different definition is used. You can imaging that leaving
176
out the optional ⟨predefined option name⟩ means “this ⟨argument for children⟩ applies to all predefined
option names that have not been specially defined differently.”
177
17 Colors
beamer’s color management allows you to specify the color of every element (like, say, the color of the section
entries in a table of contents or, say, the color of the subsection entries in a mini table of contents in a sidebar).
While the system is quite powerful, it is not trivial to use. To simplify the usage of the color system, you should
consider using a predefined color theme, which takes care of everything for you.
In the following, color themes are explained first. The rest of the section consists of explanations of how
the color management works internally. You will need to read these sections only if you wish to write your
own color themes; or if you are quite happy with the predefined themes but you absolutely insist that displayed
mathematical text simply has to be typeset in a lovely pink.
17.1 Color Themes

In order to also show the effect of the different color themes on the sidebar, in the following examples the color
themes are used together with the outer theme sidebar.
17.1.1 Default and Special-Purpose Color Themes

\usecolortheme{default}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid

The default color theme is very sober. It installs little special colors and even less backgrounds. The
default color theme sets up the default parent relations between the different beamer-colors.
The main colors set in the default color theme are the following:
• normal text is black on white.
• alerted text is red.
• example text is a dark green (green with 50% black).
• structure is set to a light version of MidnightBlue (more precisely, 20% red, 20% green, and 70%
blue).
Use this theme for a no-nonsense presentation. Since this theme is loaded by default, you cannot “reload”
it after having loaded another color theme.
\usecolortheme[⟨options⟩]{structure}
Example:
178
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
The example was created using \usecolortheme[named=SeaGreen]{structure}.

This theme offers a convenient way of changing the color used for structural elements. More precisely, it
just changes the foreground of the beamer-color structure. You can also achieve this by directly invoking
the function \setbeamercolor, but this color theme makes things a bit easier.
The theme offers several ⟨options⟩, which can be used to specify the color to be used for structural elements:
• rgb={⟨rgb tuple⟩} sets the structure foreground to the specified red-green-blue tuple. The numbers
are given as decimals between 0 and 1. For example, rgb={0.5,0,0} yields a dark red.
• RGB={⟨rgb tuple⟩} does the same as rgb, except that the numbers range between 0 and 255. For
example, RGB={128,0,0} yields a dark red.
• cmyk={⟨cmyk tuple⟩} sets the structure foreground to the specified cyan-magenta-yellow-black tuple.
The numbers are given as decimals between 0 and 1. For example, cmyk={0,1,1,0.5} yields a dark
red.
• cmy={⟨cmy tuple⟩} is similar to cmyk, except that the black component is not specified.
• hsb={⟨hsb tuple⟩} sets the structure foreground to the specified hue-saturation-brightness tuple. The
numbers are given as decimals between 0 and 1. For example, hsb={0,1,.5} yields a dark red.
• named={⟨color name⟩} sets the structure foreground to a named color. This color must pre-
viously have been defined using the \DefineNamedColor command. Adding the class option
xcolor=dvipsnames or xcolor=svgnames will install a long list of standard dvips or SVG color names
(respectively). See the file dvipsnam.def for the list.
\usecolortheme{sidebartab}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
179
This theme changes the colors in a sidebar such that the current entry in a table of contents shown there
gets highlighted by showing a different background behind it.
17.1.2 Complete Color Themes

A “complete” color theme is a color theme that completely specifies all colors for all parts of a frame. It installs
specific colors and does not derive the colors from, say, the structure beamer-color. Complete color themes
happen to have names of flying animals.
\usecolortheme{albatross}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
The color theme is a “dark” or “inverted” theme using yellow on blue as the main colors. The color theme
also installs a slightly darker background color for blocks, which is necessary for presentation themes that
use shadows, but which (in Till’s opinion) is undesirable for all other presentation themes. By using the
lily color theme together with this theme, the backgrounds for blocks can be removed.
When using a light-on-dark theme like this one, be aware that there are certain disadvantages:
• If the room in which the talk is given has been “darkened,” using such a theme makes it more difficult
for the audience to take or read notes.
• Since the room becomes darker, the pupil becomes larger, thus making it harder for the eye to focus.
This can make text harder to read.
• Printing such slides is difficult at best.
On the other hand, a light-on-dark presentation often appears to be more “stylish” than a plain black-on-
white one.
• overlystylish installs a background canvas that is, in Till’s opinion, way too stylish. But then, it is
not his intention to press his taste on other people. When using this option, it is probably a very good
idea to also use the lily color theme.
Example: The overlystylish option together with the lily color theme:
180
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
\usecolortheme{beetle}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
The main “theme behind this theme” is to use white and black text on gray background. The white text
is used for special emphasis, the black text for normal text. The “outer stuff” like the headline and the
footline use, however, a bluish color. To change this color, change the background of palette primary.
Great care must be taken with this theme since both the white/gray and the black/gray contrasts are much
lower than with other themes. Make sure that the contrast is high enough for the actual presentation.
You can change the “grayish” background by changing the background of normal text.
\usecolortheme{crane}
Example:
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Largest Prime Largest Prime There Is No Largest Prime Number
Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
This theme uses the colors of Lufthansa, whose logo is a crane. It is not an official theme by that company,
however.
\usecolortheme{dove}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
This theme is nearly a black and white theme and useful for creating presentations that are easy to print
on a black-and-white printer. The theme uses grayscale in certain unavoidable cases, but never color. It
also changes the font of alerted text to boldface.
When using this theme, you should consider using the class option gray, which ensures that all colors are
converted to grayscale. Also consider using the structurebold font theme.
\usecolortheme{fly}
Example:
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Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
This theme is the “consequent” version of beetle and uses white/black/gray throughout. It does not go
particularly well with themes that use shadows.
\usecolortheme{monarca}
Example:
Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
The theme is based on the colors of the Monarch butterfly.

Theme author: Max Dohse.
\usecolortheme{seagull}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
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Like the dove color theme, this theme is useful for printing on a black-and-white printer. However, it uses
different shades of gray extensively, which may or may not look good on a transparency.
\usecolortheme{wolverine}
Example:
Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
The theme is based on the colors of the University of Michigan’s mascot, a wolverine.
\usecolortheme{beaver}
Example:
Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
The theme is based on the colors of MIT’s mascot, a beaver.

\usecolortheme{spruce}
Example:
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Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
The theme is based on the colors of Michigan State University.

Theme author: Alan Munn.
17.1.3 Inner Color Themes

Inner color themes only specify the colors of elements used in inner themes. Most noticeably, they specify the
colors used for blocks. They can be used together with other (color) themes. If they are used to change the
inner colors installed by a presentation theme or another color theme, they should obviously be specified after
the other theme has been loaded. Inner color themes happen to have flower names.
\usecolortheme{lily}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
This theme is mainly used to uninstall any block colors setup by another theme, restoring the colors used
in the default theme. In particular, using this theme will remove all background colors for blocks.
\usecolortheme{orchid}
Example:
185
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
This theme installs white-on-dark block titles. The background of the title of a normal block is set to the
foreground of the structure color, the foreground is set to white. The background of alerted blocks are set
to red and of example blocks to green. The body of blocks get a nearly transparent background.
\usecolortheme{rose}
Example:
Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
This theme installs nearly transparent backgrounds for both block titles and block bodies. This theme is
much less “aggressive” than the orchid theme. The background colors are derived from the foreground of
the structure beamer-color.
17.1.4 Outer Color Themes

An outer color theme changes the palette colors, on which the colors used in the headline, footline, and sidebar
are based by default. Outer color themes normally do not change the color of inner elements, except possibly
for titlelike. They happen to be sea-animal names.
\usecolortheme{whale}
Example:
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Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
Installs a white-on-dark palette for the headline, footline, and sidebar. The backgrounds used there are set
to shades between the structure beamer-color and black. The foreground is set to white.
While this color theme can appear to be aggressive, you should note that a dark bar at the border of a
frame will have a somewhat different appearance during a presentation than it has on paper: During a
presentation the projection on the wall is usually surrounded by blackness. Thus, a dark bar will not create
a contrast as opposed to the way it does on paper. Indeed, using this theme will cause the main part of the
frame to be more at the focus of attention.
The counterpart to the theme with respect to blocks is the orchid theme. However, pairing it with the
rose color theme is also interesting.
\usecolortheme{seahorse}
Example:
Number Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem

Results
Installs a near-transparent backgrounds for the headline, footline, and sidebar. Using this theme will cause
navigational elements to be much less “dominant” than when using the whale theme (see the discussion on
contrast there, though).
It goes well with the rose or the lily color theme. Pairing it with the orchid overemphasizes blocks (in
Till’s opinion).
\usecolortheme{dolphin}
Example:
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Largest Prime
Number
Largest Prime
Number
Euklid Euklid
Results
Proof of the Main
Proof of the Main
Theorem Theorem
Theorem
Proof.
Results
A color theme somewhere in the middle between the whale and the seahorse. It was graciously donated by
Manuel Carro. Like the seahorse, it goes well with the rose and the lily color theme.
17.2 Changing the Colors Used for Different Elements of a Presentation

This section explains how beamer’s color management works.
17.2.1 Overview of Beamer’s Color Management

In beamer’s philosophy, every element of a presentation can have a different color. Unfortunately, it turned out
that simply assigning a single color to every element of a presentation is not such a good idea. First of all, we
sometimes want colors of elements to change during a presentation, like the color of the item indicators when
they become alerted or inside an example block. Second, some elements naturally have two colors, namely a
foreground and a background, but not always. Third, sometimes elements somehow should not have any special
color but should simply “run along” with the color of their surrounding. Finally, giving a special color to every
element makes it very hard to globally change colors (like changing all the different kind-of-blue things into
kind-of-red things) and it makes later extensions even harder.
For all these reasons, the color of an element in beamer is a structured object, which we call a beamer-color.
Every beamer-color has two parts: a foreground and a background. Either of these may be “empty,” which
means that whatever foreground or background was active before should remain active when the color is used.
beamer-colors can inherit from other beamer-colors and the default themes make extensive use of this
feature. For example, there is a beamer-color called structure and all sorts of elements inherit from this color.
Thus, if someone changes structure, the color of all these elements automatically change accordingly. When a
color inherits from another color, it can nevertheless still override only the foreground or the background.
It is also possible to “inherit” from another beamer-color in a more sophisticated way, which is more like
using the other beamer-color in an indirect way. You can specify that, say, the background of the title should
be a 90% of the background of normal text and 10% of the foreground of structure.
Inheritance and using of other beamer-colors is done dynamically. This means that if one of the parent
beamer-colors changes during the presentation, the derived colors automatically also change.
The default color theme, which is always loaded, installs numerous beamer-colors and inheritance relations
between them. These colors are explained throughout this guide. The color used for, say, frametitles is discussed
in the section on frametitles, and so on.
17.2.2 Using Beamer’s Colors

A beamer-color is not a normal color as defined by the color and xcolor packages and, accordingly, cannot be
used directly as in commands like \color or \colorlet. Instead, in order to use a beamer-color, you should
first call the command \usebeamercolor, which is explained below. This command will setup two (normal)
colors called fg (for foreground) and bg (for, well, guess what). You can then say \color{fg} to install the
foreground color and \color{bg} to install the background color. You can also use the colors fg and bg in any
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context in which you normally use a color like, say, red. If a beamer-color does not have a foreground or a
background, the colors fg or bg (or both) remain unchanged.
Inside templates, this command will typically have already been called for you with the option [fg].
\usebeamercolor*[⟨fg or bg⟩]{⟨beamer-color name⟩}

This command (possibly) changes the two colors fg and bg to the foreground and background color of the
⟨beamer-color name⟩. If the beamer-color does not specify a foreground, fg is left unchanged; if does not
specify a background, bg is left unchanged.
You will often wish to directly use the color fg or bg after using this command. For this common situation,
the optional argument ⟨fg or bg⟩ is useful, which may be either fg or bg. Giving this option will cause
the foreground fg or the background bg to be immediately installed after they have been setup. Thus, the
following command
\usebeamercolor[fg]{normal text}
is a shortcut for
\usebeamercolor{normal text}
\color{fg}
If you use the starred version of this command, the beamer-color normal text is used before the command
is invoked. This ensures that, barring evil trickery, the colors fg and bg will be setup independently of
whatever colors happened to be in use when the command is invoked.
This command has special side-effects. First, the (normal) color parent.bg is set to the value of bg prior
to this call. Thus you can access the color that was in use prior to the call of this command via the color
parent.bg.
Second, the special color ⟨beamer-color name⟩.fg is globally set to the same value as fg and ⟨beamer-color
name⟩.bg is globally set to the value of bg. This allows you to access the foreground or background of
a certain ⟨beamer-color name⟩ after another beamer-color has been used. However, referring to these
special global colors should be kept to the unavoidable minimum and should be done as locally as possible
since a change of the beamer-color will not reflect in a change of the colors ⟨beamer-color name⟩.fg and
⟨beamer-color name⟩.bg until the next invocation of \usebeamercolor. Also, if the ⟨beamer-color name⟩
does not specify a foreground or a background color, then the values of the special colors are whatever
happened to be the foreground or background at the time of the last invocation of \usebeamercolor.
So, try not to get into the habit of writing \color{structure.fg} all the time, at least not without a
\usebeamercolor{structure} close by.
Example:
This text is {\usebeamercolor[fg]{alerted text} alerted}. The
following box uses the fore- and background of frametitles:
{
\usebeamercolor[fg]{frametitle}
\colorbox{bg}{Frame Title}
}
\ifbeamercolorempty[⟨fg or bg⟩]{⟨beamer-color name⟩}{⟨if undefined⟩}{⟨if defined⟩}

This command can be used to check whether the foreground or background of some ⟨beamer-color name⟩ is
non-empty. If the foreground or background of ⟨beamer-color name⟩ is defined, ⟨if defined⟩ will be executed,
otherwise the ⟨if undefined⟩ code.
Example:
\ifbeamercolorempty[bg]{frametitle}
{ % ‘‘Transparent background’’
\insertframetitle
189
}
{ % Opaque background
\colorbox{bg}{\insertframetitle}
}
17.2.3 Setting Beamer’s Colors

To set or to change a beamer-color, you can use the command \setbeamercolor.
\setbeamercolor*{⟨beamer-color name⟩}{⟨options⟩}
Sets or changes a beamer-color. The ⟨beamer-color name⟩ should be a reasonably simple text (do not try
too much trickery and avoid punctuation symbols), but it may contain spaces. Thus, normal text is a
valid ⟨beamer-color name⟩ and so is My Color Number 2.
In the most simple case, you just specify a foreground by giving the fg= option and, possibly, also a
background using the bg= option.
Example: \setbeamercolor{normal text}{fg=black,bg=mylightgrey}
Example: \setbeamercolor{alerted text}{fg=red!80!black}
The effect of this command is accumulative, thus the following two commands
\setbeamercolor{section in toc}{fg=blue}
\setbeamercolor{section in toc}{bg=white}
have the same effect as

\setbeamercolor{section in toc}{fg=blue,bg=white}
Naturally, a second call with the same kind of ⟨option⟩ set to a different value overrides a previous call.
The starred version first resets everything, thereby “switching off” the accumulative effect. Use this starred
version to completely reset the definition of some beamer-color.
• fg=⟨color⟩ sets the foreground color of ⟨beamer-color name⟩ to the given (normal) ⟨color⟩. The ⟨color⟩
may also be a color expression like red!50!black, see the manual of the xcolor package. If ⟨color⟩ is
empty, the ⟨beamer-color name⟩ “has no special foreground” and when the color is used, the foreground
currently in force should not be changed.
Specifying a foreground this way will override any inherited foreground color.
• bg=⟨color⟩ does the same as the fg option, but for the background.
• parent=⟨parent beamer-color(s)⟩ specifies that ⟨beamer-color name⟩ should inherit from the specified
⟨parent beamer-color(s)⟩. Any foreground and/or background color set by the parents will also be used
when ⟨beamer-color name⟩ is used. If multiple parents specify a foreground, the last one “wins”; and
likewise for the backgrounds.
Example:
\setbeamercolor{father}{fg=red}
\setbeamercolor{mother}{bg=green}
\setbeamercolor{child}{parent={father,mother}}
\begin{beamercolorbox}{child}
Terrible red on green text.
\setbeamercolor{father}{fg=blue}
\begin{beamercolorbox}{child}
Now terrible blue on green text, since parent was changed.
190
Note that a change of the foreground or background of a parent changes the corresponding foreground
or background of the child (unless it is overruled).
A beamer-color can not only have parents, but also grandparents and so on.
• use=⟨another beamer-color⟩ is used to make sure that another beamer-color is setup correctly before
the foreground or background color specification are evaluated.
Suppose you wish the foreground of items to be a mixture of 50% of the foreground of structural
elements and 50% of the normal foreground color. You could try
\setbeamercolor{item}{fg=structure.fg!50!normal text.fg}
However, this will not necessarily give the desired result: If the beamer-color structure changes, the
(normal) color structure.fg is not immediately updated. In order to ensure that the normal color
structure.fg is correct, use the following:
\setbeamercolor{item}{use={structure,normal text},fg=structure.fg!50!normal text.fg}
This will guarantee that the colors structure.fg and normal text.fg are setup correctly when the
foreground of item is computed.
To show the difference, consider the following example:
\setbeamercolor{grandfather}{fg=red}
\setbeamercolor{grandmother}{bg=white}
\setbeamercolor{father}{parent={grandfather,grandmother}}
\setbeamercolor{mother}{fg=black}
{
\usebeamercolor{father}\usebeamercolor{mother}
%% Defines father.fg and mother.fg globally
}
\setbeamercolor{my color A}{fg=father.fg!50!mother.fg}
\setbeamercolor{my color B}{use={father,mother},fg=father.fg!50!mother.fg}
{\usebeamercolor[fg]{my color A} dark red text}

{\usebeamercolor[fg]{my color B} also dark red text}
\setbeamercolor{grandfather}{fg=green}
{\usebeamercolor[fg]{my color A} still dark red text}

{\usebeamercolor[fg]{my color B} now dark green text}
17.3 The Color of Mathematical Text

By default, mathematical text does not have any special color—it just inherits the “surrounding” color. Some
people prefer mathematical text to have some special color. Though we do not recommend this (we believe
mathematical text should not stand out amid the normal text), beamer makes it (reasonably) easy to change
the color of mathematical text. Simply change the following colors:
Beamer-Color math text

This color is the parent of math text inlined and math text displayed. It is empty by default. See
those colors for details.
Beamer-Color math text inlined

Color parents: math text
If the foreground of this color is set, inlined mathematical text is typeset using this color. This is done via
some \everymath hackery and may not work in all cases. If not, you’ll have to try to find a way around
the problem. The background is currently ignored.
191
Beamer-Color math text displayed
Color parents: math text
Like math text inlined, only for so-called “displayed” mathematical text. This is mathematical text
between \[ and \] or between $$ and $$ or inside environments like equation or align. The setup of this
color is somewhat fragile, use at your own risk. The background is currently ignored.
Beamer-Color normal text in math text

If the foreground of this color is set, normal text inside mathematical text (which is introduced using the
\text command) will be typeset using this color. The background is currently ignored.
17.4 The Color Palettes

When one designs a color theme, one faces the following problem: Suppose we want the colors in the headline
to gradually change from black to, say, blue. Whatever is at the very top of the headline should be black,
what comes right below it should be dark blue, and at the bottom of the headline things should just be blue.
Unfortunately, different outer themes will put different things at the top. One theme might put the author at
the top, another theme might put the document title there. This makes it impossible to directly assign one of
the three colors “black”, “dark blue,” and “blue” to the different elements that are typically rendered in the
headline. No matter how we assign them, things will look wrong for certain outer themes.
To circumvent this problem, beamer uses a layer of palette colors. Color themes typically only change
these palette colors. For example, a color theme might make the beamer-color palette primary blue, make
palette secondary a dark blue, and make palette tertiary black. Outer themes can now setup things such
that whatever they show at the top of the headline inherits from palette primary, what comes below inherits
from palette secondary, and whatever is at the bottom inherits from palette tertiary. This way, color
themes can change the way even complicated outer themes look and they can do so consistently.
Note that the user can still change the color of every element individually, simply by overriding the color(s) of
the elements in the headline. In a sense, the palette colors are just a “suggestion” how things should be colored
by an outer theme.
In detail, the following palette colors are used by outer themes.
Beamer-Color palette primary

Outer themes (should) base the color of navigational elements and, possibly, also of other elements, on the
four palette colors. The “primary” palette should be used for the most important navigational elements,
which are usually the ones that change most often and hence require the most attention by the audience.
The “secondary” and “tertiary” are less important, the “quaternary” one is the least important.
By default, the palette colors do not have a background and the foreground ranges from structure.fg to
black.
For the sidebar, there is an extra set of palette colors, see palette sidebar primary.
Beamer-Color palette secondary

See palette primary.
Beamer-Color palette tertiary

Beamer-Color palette quaternary

Beamer-Color palette sidebar primary

Similar to palette primary, only outer themes (should) base the colors of elements in the sidebar on the
four sidebar palette colors.
192
Beamer-Color palette sidebar secondary
See palette sidebar primary.
Beamer-Color palette sidebar tertiary

Beamer-Color palette sidebar quaternary

17.5 Miscellaneous Colors

In this section some “basic” colors are listed that do not “belong” to any special commands.
Beamer-Color/-Font normal text

The color is used for normal text. At the beginning of the document the foreground color is installed as
\normalcolor. The background of this color is used by the default background canvas for the background
of the presentation, see Section 8.2.7. The background is also the default value of the normal color bg.
Since the color is the “root” of all other beamer-colors, both a foreground and a background must be
installed. In particular, to get a transparent background canvas, make the background of the beamer-color
background canvas empty, not the background of this color.
The beamer-font currently is not used. In particular, redefining this font will not have any effect. This is
likely to change in the future.
Beamer-Color/-Font example text

The color/font is used when text is typeset inside an example block.
Beamer-Color/-Font titlelike
This color/font is a more specialized form of the structure color/font. It is the base for all elements that
are “like titles.” This includes the frame title and subtitle as well as the document title and subtitle.
Beamer-Color separation line

The foreground of this color is used for separating lines. If the foreground is empty, no separation line is
drawn.
Beamer-Color upper separation line head

Color parents: separation line
Special case for the uppermost separation line in a headline.
Beamer-Color middle separation line head

Special case for the middle separation line in a headline.
Beamer-Color lower separation line head

Special case for the lower separation line in a headline.
Beamer-Color upper separation line foot

Special case for the uppermost separation line in a footline.
193
Beamer-Color middle separation line foot
Special case for the middle separation line in a footline.
Beamer-Color lower separation line foot
Special case for the lower separation line in a footline.
17.6 Transparency Effects

By default, covered items are not shown during a presentation. Thus if you write \uncover<2>{Text.}, the
text is not shown on any but the second slide. On the other slides, the text is not simply printed using the
background color – it is not shown at all. This effect is most useful if your background does not have a uniform
color.
Sometimes however, you might prefer that covered items are not completely covered. Rather, you would like
them to be shown already in a very dim or shaded way. This allows your audience to get a feeling for what is
yet to come, without getting distracted by it. Also, you might wish text that is covered “once more” still to be
visible to some degree.
Ideally, there would be an option to make covered text “transparent.” This would mean that when covered
text is shown, it would instead be mixed with the background behind it. Unfortunately, pgf does not support
real transparency yet. Instead, transparency is created by mixing the color of the object you want to show with
the current background color (the color bg, which has hopefully been setup such that it is the average color of
the background on which the object should be placed). To install this effect, you can use:
\setbeamercovered{transparent}
This command allows you to specify in a quite general way how a covered item should be rendered. You can
even specify different ways of rendering the item depending on how long it will take before this item is shown
or for how long it has already been covered once more. The transparency effect will automatically apply to all
colors, except for the colors in images. For images there is a workaround, see the documentation of the pgf
package.
\setbeamercovered{⟨options⟩}
This command offers several different options, the most important of which is transparent. All options
are internally mapped to the two options still covered and again covered.
In detail, the following ⟨options⟩ may be given:
• invisible is the default and causes covered text to “completely disappear”.
• transparent=⟨opaqueness⟩ causes covered text to be typeset in a “transparent” way. By default, this
means that 85% of the background color is mixed into all colors or that the ⟨opaqueness⟩ of the text
is 15%. You can specify a different ⟨percentage⟩, where 0 means “totally transparent” and 100 means
“totally opaque.”
Unfortunately, this value is kind of “specific” to every projector. What looks good on your screen need
not look good during a presentation.
• dynamic Makes all covered text quite transparent, but in a dynamic way. The longer it will take till
the text is uncovered, the stronger the transparency.
• highly dynamic Has the same effect as dynamic, but the effect is stronger.
• still covered=⟨not yet list⟩ specifies how to render covered items that have not yet been uncovered.
The ⟨not yet list⟩ should be a list of \opaqueness commands, see the description of that command,
below.
Example:
\setbeamercovered{%
still covered={\opaqueness<1>{15}\opaqueness<2>{10}\opaqueness<3>{5}\opaqueness<4->{2}},
again covered={\opaqueness<1->{15}}}
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• again covered=⟨once more list⟩ specifies how to render covered items that have once more been
covered, that is, that had been shown before but are now covered again.
\opaqueness<⟨overlay specification⟩>{⟨percentage of opaqueness⟩}

The ⟨overlay specification⟩ specifies on which slides covered text should have which ⟨percentage of
opaqueness⟩. Unlike other overlay specifications, this ⟨overlay specification⟩ is a “relative” overlay spec-
ification. For example, the specification “3” here means “things that will be uncovered three slides ahead,”
respectively “things that have once more been covered for three slides.” More precisely, if an item is uncov-
ered for more than one slide and then covered once more, only the “first moment of uncovering” is used for
the calculation of how long the item has been covered once more.
An opaqueness of 100 is fully opaque and 0 is fully transparent. Currently, since real transparency is not yet
implemented, this command causes all colors to get a mixing of ⟨percentage of opaqueness⟩ of the current
bg. At some future point this command might result in real transparency.
The alternate pgf extension used inside an opaque area is ⟨percentage of opaqueness⟩opaque. In case of
nested calls, only the innermost opaqueness specification is used.
Example:
\setbeamercovered{still covered={\opaqueness<1->{15}},again covered={\opaqueness<1->{15}}}
\pgfdeclareimage{book}{book}
\pgfdeclareimage{book.!15opaque}{filenameforbooknearlytransparent}
Makes everything that is uncovered in two slides only 15 percent opaque.
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18 Fonts
The first subsection introduces the predefined font themes that come with beamer and which make it easy to
change the fonts used in a presentation. The next subsection describes further special commands for changing
some basic attributes of the fonts used in a presentation. The last subsection explains how you can get a much
more fine-grained control over the fonts used for every individual element of a presentation.
18.1 Font Themes

beamer comes with a set of font themes. When you use such a theme, certain fonts are changed as described
below. You can use several font themes in concert. For historical reasons, you cannot change all aspects of the
fonts used using font themes—in some cases special commands and options are needed, which are described in
the next subsection.
The following font themes only change certain font attributes, they do not choose special font families
(although that would also be possible and themes doing just that might be added in the future). Currently, to
change the font family, you need to load special packages as explained in the next subsection.
\usefonttheme{default}
Example:


The default font theme installs a sans serif font for all text of the presentation. The default theme installs
different font sizes for things like titles or head- and footlines, but does not use boldface or italics for
“highlighting.” To change some or all text to a serif font, use the serif theme.
Note: The command \mathrm will always produce upright (not slanted), serif text and the command
\mathsf will always produce upright, sans-serif text. The command \mathbf will produce upright, bold-
face, sans-serif or serif text, depending on whether mathsans or mathserif is used.
To produce an upright, sans-serif or serif text, depending on whether mathsans or mathserif is used, you
can use for instance the command \operatorname from the amsmath package. Using this command instead
of \mathrm or \mathsf directly will automatically adjust upright mathematical text if you switch from
sans-serif to serif or back.
\usefonttheme{professionalfonts}
This font theme does not really change any fonts. Rather, it suppresses certain internal replacements
performed by beamer. If you use “professional fonts” (fonts that you buy and that come with a complete
set of every symbol in all modes), you do not want beamer to meddle with the fonts you use. beamer
normally replaces certain character glyphs in mathematical text by more appropriate versions. For example,
beamer will normally replace glyphs such that the italic characters from the main font are used for variables
in mathematical text. If your professional font package takes care of this already, beamer’s meddling should
be switched off. Note that beamer’s substitution is automatically turned off if one of the following packages
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is loaded: arevmath, hvmath, kpfonts, lmodern, lucidabr, lucimatx, mathastext, mathpmnt, mathpple,
mathtime, mtpro, and mtpro2. It is also turned off when unicode-math is loaded for the use of Unicode
math fonts. If your favorite professional font package is not among these, use the professionalfonts
option (and write us an email, so that the package can be added).
\usefonttheme[⟨options⟩]{serif}
Example:


Theorem

Results
This theme causes all text to be typeset using the default serif font (except if you specify certain ⟨options⟩).
You might wish to consult Section 5.6.2 on whether you should use serif fonts.
• stillsansserifmath causes mathematical text still to be typeset using sans serif. This option only
makes sense if you also use the stillsansseriftext option since sans serif math inside serif text looks
silly.
• stillsansserifsmall will cause “small” text to be still typeset using sans serif. This refers to the
text in the headline, footline, and sidebars. Using this options is often advisable since small text is
often easier to read in sans serif.
• stillsansseriflarge will cause “large” text like the presentation title or the frame title to be still
typeset using sans serif. Sans serif titles with serif text are a popular combination in typography.
• stillsansseriftext will cause normal text (none of the above three) to be still typeset using sans
serif. If you use this option, you should most likely also use the first two. However, by not using
stillsansseriflarge, you get a serif (possibly italic) title over a sans serif text. This can be an
interesting visual effect. Naturally, “interesting typographic effect” can mean “terrible typographic
effect” if you choose the wrong fonts combinations or sizes. You’ll need some typographic experience
to judge this correctly. If in doubt, try asking someone who should know.
• onlymath is a short-cut for selecting all of the above options except for the first. Thus, using this option
causes only mathematical text to by typeset using a serif font. Recall that, by default, mathematical
formulas are also typeset using sans-serif letters. In most cases, this is visually the most pleasing and
easily readable way of typesetting mathematical formulas if the surrounding text is typeset using sans
serif. However, in mathematical texts the font used to render, say, a variable is sometimes used to
differentiate between different meanings of this variable. In such case, it may be necessary to typeset
mathematical text using serif letters. Also, if you have a lot of mathematical text, the audience may
be quicker to “parse” it if it is typeset the way people usually read mathematical text: in a serif font.
\usefonttheme[⟨options⟩]{structurebold}
Example:
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Theorem
Proof.
Results
This font theme will cause titles and text in the headlines, footlines, and sidebars to be typeset in a bold
font.
• onlysmall will cause only “small” text to be typeset in bold. More precisely, only the text in the
headline, footline, and sidebars is changed to be typeset in bold. Large titles are not affected.
• onlylarge will cause only “large” text to be typeset in bold. These are the main title, frame titles,
and section entries in the table of contents.
As pointed out in Section 5.6.1, you should use this theme (possibly with the onlysmall option) if your
font is not scaled down properly or for light-on-dark text.
The normal themes do not install this theme by default, while the old compatibility themes do. Since you
can reload the theme once it has been loaded, you cannot use this theme with the old compatibility themes
to set also titles to a bold font.
\usefonttheme[⟨options⟩]{structureitalicserif}
Example:


Theorem
Proof.
Results
This theme is similarly as the structurebold font theme, but where structurebold makes text bold, this
theme typesets it in italics and in the standard serif font. The same ⟨options⟩ as for the structurebold
theme are supported. See Section 5.6.3 for the pros and cons of using italics.
\usefonttheme[⟨options⟩]{structuresmallcapsserif}
Example:
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Theorem

Results
Again, this theme does exactly the same as the structurebold font theme, only this time text is set
using small caps and a serif font. The same ⟨options⟩ as for the structurebold theme are supported. See
Section 5.6.3 for the pros and cons of using small caps.
18.2 Font Changes Made Without Using Font Themes

While most font decisions can be made using font themes, for historical reasons some changes can only be made
using class options or by loading special packages. These options are explained in the following. Possibly, these
options will be replaced by themes in the future.
18.2.1 Choosing a Font Size for Normal Text

As pointed out in Section 5.6.1, measuring the default font size in points is not really a good idea for presentations.
Nevertheless, beamer does just that, setting the default font size to 11pt as usual. This may seem ridiculously
small, but the actual size of each frame size is by default just 128mm by 96mm and the viewer application
enlarges the font. By specifying a default font size smaller than 11pt you can put more onto each slide, by
specifying a larger font size you can fit on less.
To specify the font size, you can use the following class options:
\documentclass[8pt]{beamer}
This is way too small. Requires that the package extsize is installed.
This is also too small. Requires that the package extsize is installed.
If you really need to fit more onto each frame, use this option. Works without extsize.
\documentclass[smaller]{beamer}
Same as the 10pt option.
The default font size. You need not specify this option.
Makes all fonts a little bigger, which makes the text more readable. The downside is that less fits onto each
frame.
\documentclass[bigger]{beamer}
Same as the 12pt option.
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Makes all fonts somewhat bigger. Requires extsize to be installed.
This is about the default size of PowerPoint and OpenOffice.org Impress. Requires extsize to be installed.
This is really huge. Requires extsize to be installed.
18.2.2 Choosing a Font Family

By default, beamer uses the Computer Modern fonts. To change this, you can use one of the prepared packages
of LATEX’s font mechanism. For example, to change to Times/Helvetica, simply add
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{helvet}
in your preamble. Note that if you do not use the serif font theme, Helvetica (not Times) will be selected as
the text font.
There may be many other fonts available on your installation. Typically, at least some of the following
packages should be available: arev, avant, bookman, chancery, charter, euler, helvet, lmodern, mathtime,
mathptm, mathptmx, newcent, palatino, pifont, utopia.
18.2.3 Choosing a Font Encodings

The same font can come in different encodings, which are (very roughly spoken) the ways the characters of a text
are mapped to glyphs (the actual shape of a particular character in a particular font at a particular size). In TEX
two encodings are often used with Latin characters: the T1 encoding and the OT1 encoding (old T1 encoding).
Conceptually, the newer T1 encoding is preferable over the old OT1 encoding. For example, hyphenation
of words containing umlauts (like the famous German word Fräulein) will work only if you use the T1 encod-
ing. Unfortunately, the EC fonts, that is, the T1-encoded Computer Modern fonts, are distributed on small
installations just as MetaFont sources and only have bitmap renditions of each glyph. For this reason, using the
T1-encoded EC fonts on such small installations will produce pdf files that render poorly.
TEX Live (cross-platform; replaced older teTeX for unix/Linux) and MiKTEX (for Windows platforms) can
be installed with different levels of completeness. Concerning the Computer Modern fonts, the following packages
can be installed: cm-super fonts, lmodern (Latin Modern) fonts, and lgc fonts, the latter containing the Latin,
Greek, and Cyrillic alphabets. Concerning other fonts, the txfonts and pxfonts are two extended sets of the
Times and the Palatino PostScript fonts, both packages containing extended sets of mathematical glyphs. Most
other standard PostScript fonts are also available in T1 encoding.
Among the packages that make available the Computer Modern fonts in the T1 encoding, the package
lmodern may be suggested. If you use lmodern, several extra fonts become available (like a sans-serif boldface
math) and extra symbols (like proper guillemots).
To select the T1 encoding, use \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}. Thus, if you have the LM fonts installed, you
could write
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
to get beautiful outline fonts and correct hyphenation. Note, however, that certain older versions of the LM bun-
dle did not include correct glyphs for ligatures like “fi,” which may cause trouble. Double check that all ligatures
are displayed correctly and, if not, update your installation.
Everything mentioned above applies to pdflatex and latex+dvips. Unlike those engines, xelatex and
lualatex support OpenType fonts, and that means that you can use system fonts in your documents relatively
easy. Details will eventually be documented in this manual. For now, you can take a look at the documentation
for the fontspec package which supports both engines. Also, note that when you use lualatex or xelatex
with TU encoding, respectively, by default you get OpenType Latin Modern fonts.
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18.3 Changing the Fonts Used for Different Elements of a Presentation
This section explains how beamer’s font management works.
18.3.1 Overview of Beamer’s Font Management

beamer’s font mechanism is somewhat similar to beamer’s color mechanism, but not quite the same. As for
colors, every beamer element, like the frame titles, the document title, the footnotes, and so on has a certain
beamer-font. As for colors, on the one hand you can specify the font of each element individually; on the
other hand fonts also use inheritance, thereby making it easy to globally change the fonts used for, say, “titlelike
things” or for “itemizelike things.”
While a beamer-color has a certain foreground and a certain background, either of which may be empty, a
beamer-font has a size, a shape, a series, and a family, each of which may be empty. The inheritance relation
among beamer-fonts is not necessarily the same as between beamer-colors, though we have tried to match
them whenever possible.
Multiple inheritance plays a more important rule for fonts than it does for colors. A font might inherit the
attributes of two different fonts. If one of them specifies that the font should be, say, boldface and the other
specifies that the font should be, say, large, then the child font will be both large and bold.
As for fonts, the description of the font used for an element is given after the description of the element.
18.3.2 Using Beamer’s Fonts

To use a beamer-font, you can use the command \usebeamerfont. Inside the templates for elements, this
command will (typically) have already been called for you, so you will only seldomly have to use this command.
\usebeamerfont*{⟨beamer-font name⟩}
This command changes the current font to the font specified by the ⟨beamer-font name⟩. The ⟨beamer-font
name⟩ can be a not-too-fancyful text and may contain spaces. Typical examples are frametitle or
section in toc or My Font 1. beamer-fonts can have (and should) have the same name as beamer-
templates and beamer-colors.
Example: \usebeamerfont{frametitle} In the unstarred version of this command, the font is changed ac-
cording to the attributes specified in the ⟨beamer-font name⟩, but unspecified attributes remain unchanged.
For example, if the font specifies that the font should be “bold,” but specifies nothing else, and if the current
font is large, then \usebeamerfont causes the current font to become large and bold.
In the starred version of this command, the font is first reset before the font’s attributes are applied. Thus,
in the above example of a beamer-font having only the attribute “boldface” set, saying \usebeamerfont*
will always cause the current font to become a normal-size, normal-shape, bold, default-family font.
18.3.3 Setting Beamer’s Fonts

As for beamer-colors, there exists a central command for setting and changing beamer-fonts.
\setbeamerfont*{⟨beamer-font name⟩}{⟨attributes⟩}
This command sets or resets certain attributes of the beamer-font ⟨beamer-font name⟩. In the unstarred
version, this command just adds those attributes that have not been mentioned in a previous call and
overwrites those that have been mentioned. Thus, the following two command blocks have the same effect:
Example:
\setbeamerfont{frametitle}{size=\large}
\setbeamerfont{frametitle}{series=\bfseries}
\setbeamerfont{frametitle}{size=\large,series=\bfseries}
In the starred version, the font attributes are first completely reset, that is, set to be empty.
The following ⟨attributes⟩ may be given:
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• size=⟨size command⟩ sets the size attribute of the beamer font. The ⟨size command⟩ should be a
normal LATEX-command used for setting the font size or it should be empty. Useful commands include
\tiny, \scriptsize, \footnotesize, \small, \normalsize, \large, \Large, \huge, and \Huge.
beamer also introduces the two font sizes \Tiny and \TINY for really small text. But you should
know exactly what you are doing if you use them. You have been warned.
Note that there is a difference between specifying an empty command and specifying \normalsize:
Making the size attribute “empty” means that the font size should not be changed when this font is
used, while specifying \normalsize means that the size should be set to the normal size whenever this
font is used.
• size*={⟨size in pt⟩}{⟨baselineskip⟩} sets the size attribute of the font to the given ⟨size in pt⟩ and
the baseline skip to the given value. Note that, depending on what kind of font you use, not all font
sizes may be available. Also, certain font sizes are much less desirable than other ones; the standard
commands take care of choosing appropriate sizes for you. Do not use this option unless you have a
good reason. This command has the same effect as size={\fontsize{⟨size in pt⟩}{⟨baselineskip⟩}}.
• shape=⟨shape command⟩ sets the shape attribute of the font. The command should be a command
like \itshape, \slshape, \scshape, or \upshape.
• shape*={⟨shape attribute abbreviation⟩} sets the shape attribute of the font using the LATEX’s abbre-
viations for attributes. This command has the same effect as shape={\fontshape{⟨shape attributes
abbreviation⟩}}.
• series=⟨series command⟩ sets the “series” attribute of the font. The command should be a command
like \bfseries.
• series*={⟨series attribute abbreviation⟩} has the same effect as series={\fontseries{⟨series
attributes abbreviation⟩}}.
• family=⟨family command⟩ sets the font family attribute. The command should be a LATEX-font com-
mand like \rmfamily or \sffamily.
• family*={⟨family name⟩} sets the font family attribute to the given ⟨family name⟩. The command
has the same effect as family={\fontfamily{⟨family name⟩}}. The ⟨family name⟩ is, normally, a
somewhat cryptic abbreviation of a font family name that installed somewhere on the system. For
example, the ⟨family name⟩ for Times happens to be ptm. No one can remember these names, so it’s
perfectly normal if you have to look them up laboriously.
• parent={⟨parent list⟩} specifies a list of parent fonts. When the beamer-font is used, the parents are
used first. Thus, any font attributes set by one of the parents is inherited by the beamer-font, except
if this attribute is overwritten by the font.
Example:
\setbeamerfont{parent A}{size=\large}
\setbeamerfont{parent B}{series=\bfseries}
\setbeamerfont{child}{parent={parent A, parent B},size=\small}
\normalfont
This text is in a normal font.
\usebeamerfont{parent A}
This text is large.
\usebeamerfont{parent B}
This text is large and bold.
\usebeamerfont{parent B}
This text is still large and bold.
\usebeamerfont*{parent B}
This text is only bold, but not large.
\usebeamerfont{child}
This text is small and bold.
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Part IV
Creating Supporting Material
The objective of the beamer class is to simplify the creation of presentations using a projector. However, a
presentation rarely exists in isolation. Material that accompanies a presentation includes:
• Presentations should normally be accompanied by handouts, written text that the audience can read during
and/or after your presentation is given.
• You might wish to create notes for yourself that, ideally, are shown to you on your computer screen while
the audience sees the presentation.
• You might wish to create a printout of your talk, either for yourself or for checking for errors.
• You might wish to create a transparencies version of your talk as a fall-back.
This part discusses how beamer helps you with the creation of the above.
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19 Adding Notes for Yourself
A note is text that is intended as a reminder to yourself of what you should say or should keep in mind when
presenting a slide. Notes are usually printed out on paper, but with two-screen support they can also be shown
on your laptop screen while the main presentation is shown on the projector.
19.1 Specifying Note Contents

To add a note to a slide or a frame, use the \note command. This command can be used both inside and outside
frames, but it has quite different behaviors then: Inside frames, \note commands accumulate and append a single
note page after the current slide; outside frames each \note directly inserts a single note page with the given
parameter as contents. Using the \note command inside frames is usually preferably over using them outside,
since only commands issued inside frames profit from the class option onlyslideswithnotes, see below.
Inside a frame, the effect of \note⟨text⟩ is the following: When you use it somewhere inside the frame on
a specific slide, a note page is created after the slide, containing the ⟨text⟩. Since you can add an overlay
specification to the \note command, you can specify after which slide the note should be shown. If you use
multiple \note commands on one slide, they “accumulate” and are all shown on the same note.
To make the accumulation of notes more convenient, you can use the \note command with the option
[item]. The notes added with this option are accumulated in an enumerate list that follows any text inserted
using \note.
The following example will produce one note page that follows the second slide and has two entries.
\begin{frame}
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> Eggs
\item<2-> Plants
\note[item]<2>{Tell joke about plants.}
\note[item]<2>{Make it short.}
\item<3-> Animals
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
Outside frames, the command \note creates a single note page. It is “independent” of any usage of the
\note commands inside the previous frame. If you say \note inside a frame and \note right after it, two note
pages are created.
In the following, the syntax and effects of the \note command inside frames are described:
\note<⟨overlay specification⟩>[⟨options⟩]{⟨note text⟩}

Effects inside frames:
This command appends the ⟨note text⟩ to the note that follows the current slide. Multiple uses of this
command on a slide accumulate. If you do not specify an ⟨overlay specification⟩, the note will be added to
all slides of the current frame. This is often not what you want, so adding a specification like <1> is usually
a good idea.
• item causes the note to be put as an item in a list that is shown at the end of the note page.
Example: \note<2>{Do not talk longer than 2 minutes about this.}

article Notes are ignored in article mode.
Next, the syntax and effects of the \note command outside frames are described:
\note[⟨options⟩]{⟨note text⟩}
Outside frames, this command creates a note page. This command is not affected by the option
notes=onlyframeswithnotes, see below.
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• itemize will enclose the whole note page in an itemize environment. This is just a convenience.
• enumerate will enclose the whole note page in an enumerate environment.
Example:
\frame{some text}
\note{Talk no more than 1 minute.}
\note[enumerate]
{
\item Stress this first.
\item Then this.
}
article Notes are ignored in article mode.
The following element dictates how the note pages are rendered:
Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font note page

This template is used to typeset a note page. The template should contain a mentioning of the insert
\insertnote, which will contain the note text. To squeeze more onto note pages you might consider
changing the size of the beamer-font note page to something small. The default is \small.
• [default] The default template shows the last slide in the upper right corner and some “hints” that
should help you match a note page to the slide that is currently shown.
• [compress] The option produces an output that is similar to the default, only more fits onto each
note page at the price of legibility.
• [plain] Just inserts the note text, no fancy hints.
The following two inserts are useful for note pages:
• \insertnote Inserts the text of the current note into the template.
• \insertslideintonotes{⟨magnification⟩} Inserts a “mini picture” of the last slide into the current
note. The slide will be scaled by the given magnification.
Note: The backgrounds, headlines, footlines and sidebars will not appear in the slide.
Example: \insertslideintonotes{0.25}
This will give a mini slide whose width and height are one fourth of the usual size.
19.2 Specifying Contents for Multiple Notes

Sometimes you wish some text to be shown on every note or at least on every note in a long series of notes. To
achieve this effect, you can use the following two commands:
\AtBeginNote{⟨text⟩}
The ⟨text⟩ will be inserted at the beginning of every note in the scope of the command. To stop the effect,
either use \AtBeginNote{} or enclose the area in a TEX group.
It is advisable to add a \par command or an empty line at the end of the ⟨text⟩ since otherwise any note
text will directly follow the ⟨text⟩ without a line break.
Example:
\section{My Section}
\AtBeginNote{Finish this section by 14:35.\par}

\begin{frame}
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...
\note{some note}
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
...
\note{some other note}
\end{frame}
\AtBeginNote{}
\AtEndNote{⟨text⟩}
This command behaves the same way as \AtBeginNote, except that the text is inserted at the end (bottom).
You may wish to add a \par at the beginning of ⟨text⟩.
19.3 Specifying Which Notes and Frames Are Shown

Since you normally do not wish the notes to be part of your presentation, you must explicitly say so in the
preamble if notes should be included in your presentation. You can use the following beamer options for this:
\setbeameroption{hide notes}
Notes are not shown. This is the default in a presentation.
\setbeameroption{show notes}
Include notes in the output file. Normal slides are also included and the note pages are interleaved with
them.
\setbeameroption{show notes on second screen=⟨location⟩}

When this option is given, a two screen version of your talk is created, see Section 22 for further details.
The second screen, which is displayed on the right by default, shows your notes. By specifying a different
⟨location⟩, you can also place the second screen on the left, bottom, or top.
Example:
\setbeameroption{show notes on second screen}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
A frame.
\note{This is shown on the right.}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
In detail, the following happens: The presentation is typeset normally and shown on the main screen or,
to be precise, on pgfpages’s logical page number zero. The second screen (logical screen number one) is
initialized to be empty.
Whenever a note page is to be typeset, either because a frame contained \note commands or because the
frame was followed by a \note command, the note page is normally typeset. Then the note page is put on
the second screen. Then the whole page is shipped out. (The exact details are bit more complex, but that
is what happens, basically.)
An important effect of this behavior is that a note page following a frame is shown next to this frame.
Normally, this is exactly what you want and expect. However, if there are multiple note pages for a single
slide only the last one is shown, currently. This may change in the future, so do not rely on this effect.
Example:
\begin{frame}
First frame.
\end{frame}
\note{This note is not shown at all (currently).}
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\note{This note is shown together with the first frame.}
\begin{frame}
Second frame.
\note{This note is shown together with the second frame.}
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
No note text is shown for this frame.
\end{frame}
If you really need multiple note pages for a single slide, you will have to use something more complicated
like this:
\begin{frame}<1-3>
First frame.
\note<1>{First page of notes for this frame.}
\note<2>{Second page of notes for this frame.}
\note<3>{Third page of notes for this frame.}
\end{frame}
\setbeameroption{show only notes}

Include only the notes in the output file and suppresses all frames. This options is useful for printing them.
If you specify this command, the .aux and .toc files are not updated. So, if you add a section and reTEX
your presentation, this will not be reflected in the navigation bars (which you do not see anyway since only
notes are output).
207
20 Creating Transparencies
The main aim of the beamer class is to create presentations for projectors (sometimes called beamers, hence the
name). However, it is often useful to print transparencies as backup, in case the hardware fails. A transparencies
version of a talk often has less slides than the main version, since it takes more time to switch slides, but it may
have more slides than the handout version. For example, while in a handout an animation might be condensed
to a single slide, you might wish to print several slides for the transparency version.
In order to create a transparencies version, specify the class option trans. If you do not specify anything
else, this will cause all overlay specifications to be suppressed. For most cases this will create exactly the desired
result.
\documentclass[trans]{beamer}
Create a version that uses the trans overlay specifications.
In some cases, you may want a more complex behavior. For example, if you use many \only commands to
draw an animation. In this case, suppressing all overlay specifications is not such a good idea, since this will
cause all steps of the animation to be shown at the same time. In some cases this is not desirable. Also, it might
be desirable to suppress some \alert commands that apply only to specific slides in the handout.
For a fine-grained control of what is shown on a handout, you can use mode specifications. They specify
which slides of a frame should be shown for a special version, for example for the handout version. As explained
in Section 9.2, a mode specification is written alongside the normal overlay specification inside the pointed
brackets. It is separated from the normal specification by a vertical bar and a space. Here is an example:
\only<1-3,5-9| trans:2-3,5>{Text}
This specification says: “Normally (in beamer mode), insert the text on slides 1–3 and 5–9. For the trans-
parencies version, insert the text only on slides 2, 3, and 5.” If no special mode specification is given for trans
mode, the default is “always.” This causes the desirable effect that if you do not specify anything, the overlay
specification is effectively suppressed for the handout.
An especially useful specification is the following:
\only<3| trans:0>{Not shown on transparencies.}
Since there is no zeroth slide, the text is not shown. Likewise, \alert<3| trans:0>{Text} will not alert
the text on a transparency.
You can also use a mode specification for the overlay specification of the {frame} environment as in the
following example.
\begin{frame}<1-| trans:0>
Text...
\end{frame}
This causes the frame to be suppressed in the transparencies version. Also, you can restrict the presentation
such that only specific slides of the frame are shown on the handout:
\begin{frame}<1-| trans:4-5>
Text...
\end{frame}
It is also possible to give only an alternate overlay specification. For example, \alert<trans:0>{...} causes
the text to be always highlighted during the presentation, but never on the transparencies version. Likewise,
\frame<trans:0>{...} causes the frame to be suppressed for the handout.
Finally, note that it is possible to give more than one alternate overlay specification and in any order.
For example, the following specification states that the text should be inserted on the first three slides in the
presentation, in the first two slides of the transparency version, and not at all in the handout.
\only<trans:1-2| 1-3| handout:0>{Text}
If you wish to give the same specification in all versions, you can do so by specifying all: as the version.
For example,
\frame<all:1-2>{blah...}
ensures that the frame has two slides in all versions.
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21 Creating Handouts and Lecture Notes
During a presentation it is very much desirable that the audience has a handout or even lecture notes available
to it. A handout allows everyone in the audience to individually go back to things he or she has not understood.
Always provide handouts as early as possible, preferably weeks before the talk. Do not retain the handout
till the end of the talk.
The beamer package offers two different ways of creating special versions of your talk; they are discussed
in the following. The first, easy, way is to create a handout version by adding the handout option, which will
cause the document to be typeset in handout mode. It will “look like” a presentation, but it can be printed
more easily (the overlays are “flattened”). The second, more complicated and more powerful way is to create an
independent “article” version of your presentation. This version coexists in your main file.
21.1 Creating Handouts Using the Handout Mode

The easiest way of creating a handout for your audience (though not the most desirable one) is to use the
handout option. This option works exactly like the trans option.
\documentclass[handout]{beamer}
Create a version that uses the handout overlay specifications.
You might wish to choose a different color and/or presentation theme for the handout.
When printing a handout created this way, you will typically wish to print at least two and possibly four
slides on each page. The easiest way of doing so is presumably to use pgfpages as follows:
\pgfpagesuselayout{2 on 1}[a4paper,border shrink=5mm]
Instead of 2 on 1 you can use 4 on 1 (but then you have to add landscape to the list of options) and you
can use, say, letterpaper instead of a4paper.
21.2 Creating Handouts Using the Article Mode

In the following, the “article version” of your presentation refers to a normal TEX text typeset using, for example,
the document class article or perhaps llncs or a similar document class. This version of the presentation will
typically follow different typesetting rules and may even have a different structure. Nevertheless, you may wish
to have this version coexist with your presentation in one file and you may wish to share some part of it (like a
figure or a formula) with your presentation.
In general, the article version of a talk is better suited as a handout than a handout created using the simple
handout mode since it is more economic and can include more in-depth information.
21.2.1 Starting the Article Mode

The article mode of a presentation is created by specifying article or book or some other class as the document
class instead of beamer and by then loading the package beamerarticle.
The package beamerarticle defines virtually all of beamer’s commands in a way that is sensible for
the article mode. Also, overlay specifications can be given to commands like \textbf or \item once
beamerarticle has been loaded. Note that, except for \item, these overlay specifications also work: by writing
\section<presentation>{Name} you will suppress this section command in the article version. For the exact
effects overlay specifications have in article mode, please see the descriptions of the commands to which you
wish to apply them.
\usepackage[⟨options⟩]{beamerarticle}
Makes most beamer commands available for another document class.
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• activeospeccharacters will leave the character code of the pointed brackets as specified by other
packages. Normally, beamer will turn off the special behavior of the two characters < and >. Using
this option, you can reinstall the original behavior at the price of possible problems when using overlay
specifications in the article mode.
• noamssymb will suppress the automatic loading of the amssymb package. Normally, beamer will load
this package since many themes use AMS symbols. This option allows you to opt-out from this
behavior in article mode, thus preventing clashes with some classes and font packages that conflict
with amssymb. Note that, if you use this option, you will have to care for yourself that amssymb or an
alternative package is loaded if you use respective symbols.
• noamsthm will suppress the loading of the amsthm package. No theorems will be defined.
• nokeywords will suppress the creation of a \keywords command.
• notheorems will suppress the definition of standard environments like theorem, but amsthm is still
loaded and the \newtheorem command still makes the defined environments overlay-specification-
aware. Using this option allows you to define the standard environments in whatever way you like
while retaining the power of the extensions to amsthm.
• envcountsect causes theorem, definitions and the like to be numbered with each section. Thus instead
of Theorem 1 you get Theorem 1.1. We recommend using this option.
• noxcolor will suppress the loading of the xcolor package. No colors will be defined.
Example:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{beamerarticle}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A frame title}
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> You can use overlay specifications.
\item<2-> This is useful.
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
There is one remaining problem: While the article version can easily TEX the whole file, even in the
presence of commands like \frame<2>, we do not want the special article text to be inserted into our original
beamer presentation. That means, we would like all text between frames to be suppressed. More precisely, we
want all text except for commands like \section and so on to be suppressed. This behavior can be enforced by
specifying the option ignorenonframetext in the presentation version.
\documentclass[ignorenonframetext]{beamer}
Cause beamer to ignore (almost) all texts and commands outside frames in the presentation mode. The
option will insert a \mode* at the beginning of your presentation.
Note: When using \include or \input commands, conversions of modes must be controlled manually. See
Section 21.3 for details.
The following example shows a simple usage of the article mode:
\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
%\documentclass[ignorenonframetext,red]{beamer}
\mode<article>{\usepackage{fullpage}}
\mode<presentation>{\usetheme{Berlin}}
% everyone:
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\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{pgf}
\pgfdeclareimage[height=1cm]{myimage}{filename}
\begin{document}
This is the introduction text. This text is not shown in the

presentation, but will be part of the article.
\begin{frame}
\begin{figure}
% In the article, this is a floating figure,
% In the presentation, this figure is shown in the first frame
\pgfuseimage{myimage}
\end{figure}
\end{frame}
This text is once more not shown in the presentation.
\section{Main Part}
While this text is not shown in the presentation, the section command
also applies to the presentation.
We can add a subsection that is only part of the article like this:
\subsection<article>{Article-Only Section}
With some more text.
\begin{frame}
This text is part both of the article and of the presentation.
\begin{itemize}
\item This stuff is also shown in both version.
\item This too.
\only<article>{\item This particular item is only part
of the article version.}
\item<presentation:only@0> This text is also only part of the article.
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
There is one command whose behavior is a bit special in article mode: The line break command \\. Inside
frames, this command has no effect in article mode, except if an overlay specification is present. Then it has
the normal effect dictated by the specification. The reason for this behavior is that you will typically inserts
lots of \\ commands in a presentation in order to get control over all line breaks. These line breaks are mostly
superfluous in article mode. If you really want a line break to apply in all versions, say \\<all>. Note that
the command \\ is often redefined by certain environments, so it may not always be overlay-specification-aware.
In such a case you have to write something like \only<presentation>{\\}.
21.2.2 Workflow
The following workflow steps are optional, but they can simplify the creation of the article version.
• In the main file main.tex, delete the first line, which sets the document class.
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• Create a file named, say, main.beamer.tex with the following content:
\input{main.tex}
• Create an extra file named, say, main.article.tex with the following content:
\documentclass{article}
\setjobnamebeamerversion{main.beamer}
\input{main.tex}
• You can now run pdflatex or latex on the two files main.beamer.tex and main.article.tex.
The command \setjobnamebeamerversion tells the article version where to find the presentation version.
This is necessary if you wish to include slides from the presentation version in an article as figures.
\setjobnamebeamerversion{⟨filename without extension⟩}

Tells the beamer class where to find the presentation version of the current file.
21.2.3 Including Slides from the Presentation Version in the Article Version
If you use the package beamerarticle, the \frame command becomes available in article mode. By adjusting
the frame template, you can “mimic” the appearance of frames typeset by beamer in your articles. However,
sometimes you may wish to insert “the real thing” into the article version, that is, a precise “screenshot” of a
slide from the presentation. The commands introduced in the following help you do exactly this.
In order to include a slide from your presentation in your article version, you must do two things: First,
you must place a normal LATEX label on the slide using the \label command. Since this command is overlay-
specification-aware, you can also select specific slides of a frame. Also, by adding the option label=⟨name⟩ to
a frame, a label ⟨name⟩<⟨slide number⟩> is automatically added to each slide of the frame.
Once you have labeled a slide, you can use the following command in your article version to insert the slide
into it:
\includeslide[⟨options⟩]{⟨label name⟩}
This command calls \pgfimage with the given ⟨options⟩ for the file specified by
\setjobnamebeamerversion⟨filename⟩
Furthermore, the option page=⟨page of label name⟩ is passed to \pgfimage, where the ⟨page of label name⟩
is read internally from the file ⟨filename⟩.snm.
Example:
\article
\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\includeslide[height=5cm]{slide1}
\end{center}
\caption{The first slide (height 5cm). Note the partly covered second item.}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\includeslide{slide2}
\end{center}
\caption{The second slide (original size). Now the second item is also shown.}
\end{figure}
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The exact effect of passing the option page=⟨page of label name⟩ to the command \pgfimage is explained in
the documentation of pgf. In essence, the following happens:
• For old versions of pdflatex and for any version of latex together with dvips, the pgf package will look
for a file named
⟨filename⟩.page⟨page of label name⟩.⟨extension⟩

For each page of your .pdf or .ps file that is to be included in this way, you must create such a file by hand.
For example, if the PostScript file of your presentation version is named main.beamer.ps and you wish to
include the slides with page numbers 2 and 3, you must create (single page) files main.beamer.page2.ps
and main.beamer.page3.ps “by hand” (or using some script). If these files cannot be found, pgf will
complain.
• For new versions of pdflatex, pdflatex also looks for the files according to the above naming scheme.
However, if it fails to find them (because you have not produced them), it uses a special mechanism to
directly extract the desired page from the presentation file main.beamer.pdf.
21.3 Details on Modes

This subsection describes how modes work exactly and how you can use the \mode command to control what
part of your text belongs to which mode.
When beamer typesets your text, it is always in one of the following five modes:
• beamer is the default mode.

• second is the mode used when a slide for an optional second screen is being typeset.
• handout is the mode for creating handouts.
• trans is the mode for creating transparencies.
• article is the mode when control has been transferred to another class, like article.cls. Note that the
mode is also article if control is transferred to, say, book.cls.
In addition to these modes, beamer recognizes the following names for modes sets:
• all refers to all modes.

• presentation refers to the first four modes, that is, to all modes except for the article mode.
all
presentation article
beamer second handout trans
Depending on the current mode, you may wish to have certain text inserted only in that mode. For example,
you might wish a certain frame or a certain table to be left out of your article version. In some situations, you
can use the \only command for this purpose. However, the command \mode, which is described in the following,
is much more powerful than \only.
The command actually comes in three “flavors,” which only slightly differ in syntax. The first, and simplest,
is the version that takes one argument. It behaves essentially the same way as \only.
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\mode<⟨mode specification⟩>{⟨text⟩}
Causes the ⟨text⟩ to be inserted only for the specified modes. Recall that a ⟨mode specification⟩ is just an
overlay specification in which no slides are mentioned.
The ⟨text⟩ should not do anything fancy that involves mode switches or including other files. In particular,
you should not put an \include command inside ⟨text⟩. Use the argument-free form below, instead.
Example:
\mode<article>{Extra detail mentioned only in the article version.}
\mode
<beamer| trans>
{\frame{\tableofcontents[currentsection]}}
The second flavor of the \mode command takes no argument. “No argument” means that it is not followed
by an opening brace, but any other symbol.
\mode<⟨mode specification⟩>
In the specified mode, this command actually has no effect. The interesting part is the effect in the non-
specified modes: In these modes, the command causes TEX to enter a kind of “gobbling” state. It will now
ignore all following lines until the next line that has a sole occurrence of one of the following commands:
\mode, \mode*, \begin{document}, \end{document}. Even a comment on this line will make TEX skip it.
Note that the line with the special commands that make TEX stop gobbling may not directly follow the line
where the gobbling is started. Rather, there must either be one non-empty line before the special command
or at least two empty lines.
When TEX encounters a single \mode command, it will execute this command. If the command is \mode
command of the first flavor, TEX will resume its “gobbling” state after having inserted (or not inserted) the
argument of the \mode command. If the \mode command is of the second flavor, it takes over.
Using this second flavor of \mode is less convenient than the first, but there are different reasons why you
might need to use it:
• The line-wise gobbling is much faster than the gobble of the third flavor, explained below.
• The first flavor reads its argument completely. This means, it cannot contain any verbatim text that
contains unbalanced braces.
• The first flavor cannot cope with arguments that contain \include.
• If the text mainly belongs to one mode with only small amounts of text from another mode inserted,
this second flavor is nice to use.
Note: When searching line-wise for a \mode command to shake it out of its gobbling state, TEX will not
recognize a \mode command if a mode specification follows on the same line. Thus, such a specification
must be given on the next line.
Note: When a TEX file ends, TEX must not be in the gobbling state. Switch this state off using \mode on
one line and <all> on the next.
Note: The behavior of \mode command is different inside a frame: instead of line-wise gobbling, it puts every
subsequent tokens inside a “comment box” until another \mode command is encountered. Some commands
may cause errors in this situation, including the assignment of global variables and \mode of the first flavor,
since they are not actually “gobbled”. Please use \mode command of any flavor outside frames.
Example:
\mode<article>
This text is typeset only in |article| mode.

\verb!verbatim text is ok {!
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\mode
<presentation>
{ % this text is inserted only in presentation mode
\frame{\tableofcontents[currentsection]}}
Here we are back to article mode stuff. This text

is not inserted in presentation mode
\mode
<presentation>
This text is only inserted in presentation mode.
The last flavor of the mode command behaves quite differently.
\mode*
The effect of this mode is to ignore all text outside frames in the presentation modes. In article mode
it has no effect.
This mode should only be entered outside of frames. Once entered, if the current mode is a presentation
mode, TEX will enter a gobbling state similar to the gobbling state of the second “flavor” of the \mode
command. The difference is that the text is now read token-wise, not line-wise. The text is gobbled
token by token until one of the following tokens is found: \mode, \frame, \againframe, \part, \section,
\subsection, \appendix, \note, \begin{frame}, and \end{document} (the last two are not really tokens,
but they are recognized anyway).
Once one of these commands is encountered, the gobbling stops and the command is executed. However,
all of these commands restore the mode that was in effect when they started. Thus, once the command is
finished, TEX returns to its gobbling.
Normally, \mode* is exactly what you want TEX to do outside of frames: ignore everything except for the
above-mentioned commands outside frames in presentation mode. However, there are cases in which you
have to use the second flavor of the \mode command instead: If you have verbatim text that contains one
of the commands, if you have very long text outside frames, or if you wish some text outside a frame (like
a definition) to be executed also in presentation mode.
The class option ignorenonframetext will switch on \mode* at the beginning of the document.
Example:
\begin{document}
\mode*
This text is not shown in the presentation.
\begin{frame}
This text is shown both in article and presentation mode.
\end{frame}
this text is not shown in the presentation again.
\section{This command also has effect in presentation mode}
Back to article stuff again.
\frame<presentation>
{ this frame is shown only in the presentation. }
\end{document}
Example: The following example shows how you can include other files in a main file. The contents of a
main.tex:
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\begin{document}
This is star mode stuff.
Let’s include files:

\mode<all>
\include{a}
\include{b}
\mode*
Back to star mode

\end{document}
And a.tex (and likewise b.tex):
\mode*
\section{First section}
Extra text in article version.
\begin{frame}
Some text.
\end{frame}
\mode<all>
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22 Taking Advantage of Multiple Screens
This section describes options provided by beamer for taking advantage of computers that have more than one
video output and can display different outputs on them. For such systems, one video output can be attached
to a projector and the main presentation is shown there. The second video output is attached to a small
extra monitor (or is just shown on the display of the computer) and shows, for example, special notes for you.
Alternatively, the two outputs might be attached to two different projectors. One can then show the main
presentation on the first projection and, say, the table of contents on the second. Or the second projection might
show a version translated into a different language. Or the second projection might always show the “previous”
slide. Or . . . —we are sure you can think of further useful things.
The basic idea behind beamer’s support of two video outputs is the following: Using special options you
can ask beamer to create a pdf-file in which the “pages” are unusually wide or high. By default, their height
will still be 128mm, but their width will be 192mm (twice the usual default 96mm). These “superwide” pages
will show the slides of the main presentation on the left and auxiliary material on the right (this can be switched
using appropriate options, though hyperlinks will only work if the presentation is on the left and the second
screen on the right).
For the presentation you attach two screens to the system. The windowing system believes that the screen is
twice as wide as it actually is. Everything the windowing system puts on the left half of this big virtual screen
is redirected to the first video output, everything on the right half is redirected to the second video output.
When the presentation program displays the specially prepared superwide beamer-presentation, exactly
the left half of the screen will be filled with the main presentation, the right part is filled with the auxiliary
material—voilà. Not all presentation programs support this special feature. For example, the Acrobat Reader
6.0.2 will only use one screen in fullscreen mode on MacOS X. On the other hand, a program named PDF
Presenter supports showing dual-screen presentations. Generally, you will have to find out for yourself whether
your display program and system support showing superwide presentations stretching over two screens.
beamer uses the package pgfpages to typeset two-screen presentations. One can choose from several
appropriate options for showing something special on the second screen. These options are discussed in the
following sections.
One of the things these options do is to setup a certain pgfpages-layout that is appropriate for two-screen
presentations. However, you can still change the pgfpages-layout arbitrarily, afterwards. For example, you
might wish to enlarge the virtual pages. For details, see the documentation of pgfpages.
22.1 Showing Notes on the Second Screen

The first way to use a second screen is to show the presentation on the main screen and to show your notes on
the second screen. The option show notes on second screen can be used for this. It is described on page 206.
22.2 Showing Second Mode Material on the Second Screen

The second way to use the second screen is to show “a different version” of the presentation on the second screen.
This different version might be a translation or it might just always be the current table of contents.
To specify what is shown on the second screen, you can use a special beamer-mode called second. This
mode behaves similar to modes like handout or beamer, but its effect depends on the exact options used:
\setbeameroption{second mode text on second screen=⟨location⟩}

This option causes the second screen to show the second mode material. The ⟨location⟩ of the second screen
can be left, right, bottom, or top.
In detail, the following happens: When a new frame needs to be typeset, beamer checks whether the special
option typeset second is given. If not, the frame is typeset normally and the slides are put on the main
presentation screen (more precisely, on the logical pgfpages-page number zero). The second screen (logical
page number one) shows whatever it showed before the frame was typeset.
If the special frame option typeset second is given, after each slide of the frame the frame contents is
typeset once more, but this time for the mode second. This results in another slide, which is put on the
second screen (on logical page number one). Then the whole page is shipped out.
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The second mode behaves more like the beamer mode than other modes: Any overlay specification for
beamer will also apply to second mode, unless an explicit second mode specification is also given. In
particular, \only<1-2>{Text} will be shown on slides 1 and 2 in second mode, but only on the first slide
in handout mode or trans mode.
Example:
\setbeameroption{second mode text on second screen}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[typeset second]
This text is shown on the left and on the right.
\only<second>{This text is only shown on the right.}
\only<second:0>{This text is only shown on the left.}
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
This text is shown on the left. The right shows the same as for the
previous frame.
\end{frame}
\alt<second>{The \string\alt command is useful for second
mode. Let’s show the table of contents, here: \tableofcontents}
{Here comes some normal text for the first slide.}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
Example: The following example shows how translations can be added in a comfortable way.
\setbeameroption{second mode text on second screen}
\DeclareRobustCommand\translation[1]{\mytranslation#1\relax}
\long\def\mytranslation#1|#2\relax{\alt<second>{#2}{#1}}
\title{\translation{Preparing Presentations|Vortr\"age vorbereiten}}
\begin{document}
\titlepage
\end{frame}
\frametitle{\translation{This is the frame title.|Dies ist der Titel des Rahmens.}}
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> \translation{First|Erstens}.
\item<2-> \translation{Second|Zweitens}.
\item<3-> \translation{Third|Drittens}.
\end{itemize}
\translation{Do not use line-by-line uncovering.|Man sollte Text nicht
Zeile f\"ur Zeile aufdecken.}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
In the last of the above example, it is a bit bothersome that the option typeset second has to be added to
each frame. The following option globally sets this option:
\setbeameroption{always typeset second mode=⟨true or false⟩}

When this option is set to true, every following frame will have the option typeset second set to true.
22.3 Showing the Previous Slide on the Second Screen

\setbeameroption{previous slide on second screen=⟨location⟩}
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This option causes the second screen to show the previous slide that was typeset, unless this is overruled by
a frame with the [typeset second] option set. The idea is that if you have two projectors you can always
present “the last two” slides simultaneously and talk about them.
Using this option will switch off the updating of external files like the table of contents.
219
Part V
Howtos
This part contains explanations-of-how-to-do-things (commonly known as howtos). These explanations are not
really part of the “beamer core.” Rather, they explain how to use beamer to achieve a certain effect or how
get something special done.
The first howto is about tricky uncovering situations.
The second howto explains how you can import (parts or) presentations created using some other LATEX-
presentation class, like prosper.
220
23 How To Uncover Things Piecewise
23.1 Uncovering an Enumeration Piecewise
A common usage of overlays is to show a list of points in an enumeration in a piecewise fashion. The easiest
and most flexible way to do this is the following:
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-> First point.
\item<2-> Second point.
\item<3-> Third point.
\end{itemize}
The advantage of this approach is that you retain total control over the order in which items are shown. By
changing, for example, the last specification to <2->, you can have the last two points uncovered at the same
time.
A disadvantage of the approach is that you will have to renumber everything if you add a new item. This is
usually not such a big problem, but it can be a nuisance.
To automatize the uncovering, you can use the following code:
\item First point.
\item Second point.
\item Third point.
\end{itemize}
The effect of the [<+->] is to install a default overlay specification, see the definition of itemize for details.
Now, suppose you wish the second and third point to be shown at the same time. You could achieve this by
adding the specification <2-> to either the second or third \item command. However, then you still have to do
some renumbering if you add a new item at the beginning. A better approach is to temporarily use a different
overlay specification and the dot-notation:
\item First point.
\item<.-> Second point.
\item Third point.
\end{itemize}
You might wish to build your own macros based on these ideas (like an itemstep environment or a
\itemlikeprevious command).
23.2 Highlighting the Current Item in an Enumeration

If you uncover an enumeration piecewise, it is sometimes a good idea to highlight the last uncovered point to
draw the audience’s attention to it. This is best achieved as follows:
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-| alert@1> First point.
\item<2-| alert@2> Second point.
\item<3-| alert@3> Third point.
\end{itemize}
or
\item First point.
\item Second point.
\item Third point.
\end{itemize}
Note that this will draw the little item symbol also in red.
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23.3 Changing Symbol Before an Enumeration
When uncovering a list of tasks or problems, you may desire that the symbol in front of the last uncovered
symbol is, say, a ballot X, while for the previous items it is a check mark (you’ll find these characters in some
Dingbats fonts).
The best way to achieve this is to implement a new action environment. If this action is activated, it
temporarily changes the item symbol template to the other symbol:
\newenvironment{ballotenv}
{\only{%
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{code for showing a ballot}%
\setbeamertemplate{itemize subitem}{code for showing a smaller ballot}%
\setbeamertemplate{itemize subsubitem}{code for showing a smaller ballot}}}
{}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{code for showing a check mark}

\setbeamertemplate{itemize subitem}{code for showing a smaller check mark}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize subsubitem}{code for showing a smaller check mark}
The effect of the code is to install a check mark as the default template. If the action ballot is now requested
for some item, this template will temporarily be replaced by the ballot templates.
Note that the ballotenv is invoked with the overlay specification given for the action directly following it.
This causes the \only to be invoked exactly for the specified overlays.
Here are example usages:
\begin{itemize}
\item<1-| ballot@1> First point.
\item<2-| ballot@2> Second point.
\item<3-| ballot@3> Third point.
\end{itemize}
and
\begin{itemize}[<+-| ballot@+>]
\item First point.
\item Second point.
\item Third point.
\end{itemize}
In the following example, more and more items become “checked” from slide to slide:
\begin{itemize}[<ballot@+-| visible@1-,+(1)>]
\item First point.
\item Second point.
\item Third point.
\end{itemize}
The important point is ballot@+. The funny visible@1-,+(1) has the following effect: Although it has no
effect with respect to what is shown (after all, it applies to all slides), it ensures that in the enumeration the
slide number 4 is mentioned. Thus there will also be a slide in which all three points are checked.
23.4 Uncovering Tagged Formulas Piecewise

Suppose you have a three-line formula as the following:
\begin{align}
A &= B \\
&= C \\
&= D
\end{align}
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Uncovering this formula line-by-line is a little tricky. A first idea is to use the \pause or \onslide commands.
Unfortunately, these do not work since align internally reprocesses its input several times, which messes up the
delicate internals of the commands. The next idea is the following, which works a little better:
\begin{align}
A &= B \\
\uncover<2->{&= C \\}
\uncover<3->{&= D}
\end{align}
Unfortunately, this does not work in the presence of tags (so it works for the align* environment). What
happens is that the tag of the last line is shown on all slides. The problem here is that the tag is created when \\
is encountered or when \end{align} is encountered. In the last line these are already “behind” the \uncover.
To solve this problem, you can add an empty line without a tag and then insert a negative vertical skip to
undo the last line:
\begin{align}
A &= B \\
\uncover<2->{&= C \\}
\uncover<3->{&= D \\}
\notag
\end{align}
\vskip-1.5em
23.5 Uncovering a Table Rowwise

When you wish to uncover a table line-by-line, you will run into all sorts of problems if there are vertical and
horizontal lines in the table. The reason is that the first vertical line at the left end is drawn before the line is
even read (and thus, in particular, before any \onslide command can be read). However, placing a \pause or
\uncover at the end of the line before is also not helpful since it will then suppress the horizontal line below
the last uncovered line.
A possible way to solve this problem is not to use either horizontal or vertical lines. Instead, coloring the lines
using the colortbl package is a good alternative to structure the table. Here is an optically pleasing example,
where the table is uncovered line-wise:
\rowcolors[]{1}{blue!20}{blue!10}
\begin{tabular}{l!{\vrule}cccc}
Class & A & B & C & D \\\hline
X & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 \pause\\
Y & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 \pause\\
Z & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
\end{tabular}
By using \onslide instead of \pause, you can get more fine-grained control over which line is shown on
which slide.
23.6 Uncovering a Table Columnwise

The same problems as for uncovering a table linewise arise for uncovering it columnwise.
Once more, using the colortbl package offers a solution. In the following example, the tabular header is
used to insert \onslide commands, one for each column, that cover the entries in the column from a certain
slide on. At the end of the last column, the \onslide without a specification ensures that the first column on
the next row is once more shown normally.
Inserting a horizontal line is tricky since it will protrude over the full width of the table also in the covered
version. The best idea is just not to use horizontal bars.
\rowcolors[]{1}{blue!20}{blue!10}
\begin{tabular}{l!{\vrule}c<{\onslide<2->}c<{\onslide<3->}c<{\onslide<4->}c<{\onslide}c}
Class & A & B & C & D \\
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X & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 \\
Y & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 \\
Z & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
\end{tabular}
224
24 How To Import Presentations Based on
Other Packages and Classes
The beamer class comes with a number of emulation layers for classes or packages that do not support beamer
directly. For example, the package beamerseminar maps some (not all) commands of the seminar class to
appropriate beamer commands. This way, individual slides or whole sets of slides that have been prepared for
a presentation using seminar can be used inside beamer, provided they are reasonably simple.
None of the emulation layers is a perfect substitute for the original (emulations seldom are) and it is not
intended that they ever will be. If you want/need/prefer the features of another class, use that class for preparing
your presentations. The intention of these layers is just to help speed up creating beamer presentations that
use parts of old presentations. You can simply copy these parts in verbatim, without having to worry about the
subtle differences in syntax.
A useful effect of using an emulation layer is that you get access to all the features of beamer while using
the syntax of another class. For example, you can use the article mode to create a nice article version of a
prosper talk.
24.1 Prosper, HA-Prosper and Powerdot

The package beamerprosper maps the commands of the prosper package, developed by Frédéric Goualard,
to beamer commands. Also, some commands of the ha-prosper and powerdot packages, developed by
Hendri Adriaens, are mapped to beamer commands. These mappings cannot perfectly emulate all of Prosper!
Rather, these mappings are intended as an aid when porting parts of presentations created using prosper to
beamer. No styles are implemented that mimic Prosper styles. Rather, the normal beamer themes must be
used (although, one could implement beamer themes that mimics existing prosper styles; we have not done
that and do not intend to).
The workflow for creating a beamer presentation that uses prosper code is the following:
1. Use the document class beamer, not prosper. Most options passed to prosper do not apply to beamer
and should be omitted.
2. Add a \usepackage{beamerprosper} to start the emulation.
3. If you add slides relying on ha-prosper, you may wish to add the option framesassubsections to
beamerprosper, though we do not recommend it (use the normal \subsection command instead; it gives
you more fine-grained control).
4. If you also copy the title commands, it may be necessary to adjust the content of commands like \title
or \author. Note that in prosper the \email command is given outside the \author command, whereas
in beamer and also in ha-prosper it is given inside.
5. When copying slides containing the command \includegraphics, you will almost surely have to adjust
its usage. If you use pdfLATEX to typeset the presentation, than you cannot include PostScript files. You
should convert them to .pdf or to .png and adjust any usage of \includegraphics accordingly.
6. When starting to change things, you can use all of beamer’s commands and even mix them with prosper
commands.
An example can be found in the file beamerexample-prosper.tex.
There are, unfortunately, quite a few places where you may run into problems:
• In beamer, the command \PDForPS will do exactly what the name suggests: insert the first argument
when run by pdflatex, insert the second argument when run by latex. However, in prosper, the code
inserted for the pdf case is actually PostScript code, which is only later converted to pdf by some external
program. You will need to adjust this PostScript code such that it works with pdflatex (which is not
always possible).
225
• If you used fine-grained spacing commands, like adding a little horizontal skip here and a big negative
vertical skip there, the typesetting of the text may be poor. It may be a good idea to just remove these
spacing commands.
• If you use pstricks commands, you will either have to stick to using latex and dvips or will have to
work around them using, for example, pgf. Porting lots of pstricks code is bound to be difficult, if you
wish to switch over to pdflatex, so be warned. You can read more about that in Section 13 that talks
about graphics.
• If the file cannot be compiled because some prosper command is not implemented, you will have to delete
this command and try to mimic its behavior using some beamer command.
\usepackage{beamerprosper}
Include this package in a beamer presentation to get access to prosper commands. Use beamer as the
document class, not prosper. Most of the options passed to the class prosper make no sense in beamer,
so just delete them.
This package takes the following options:
• framesassubsections causes each frame to create its own subsection with the frame title as subsection
name. This behavior mimics ha-prosper’s behavior. In a long talk this will create way too many
subsections.
article The framesassubsections option has no effect in article mode.

Example:
\documentclass[notes]{beamer}
\usepackage[framesassubsections]{beamerprosper}
\title{A Beamer Presentation Using (HA-)Prosper Commands}

\subtitle{Subtitles Are Also Supported}
\institution{The Institution is Mapped To Institute}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\tsectionandpart{Introduction}
\overlays{2}{
\begin{slide}{About this file}
\begin{itemstep}
\item
This is a beamer presentation.
\item
You can use the prosper and the HA-prosper syntax.
\item
This is done by mapping prosper and HA-prosper commands to beamer
commands.
\item
The emulation is by no means perfect.
\end{itemstep}
\end{slide}
}
\section{Second Section}
\subsection{A subsection}
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\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A frame created using the \texttt{frame} environment.}
\item You can still use the original beamer syntax.
\item The emulation is intended only to make recycling slides
easier, not to install a whole new syntax for beamer.
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\begin{notes}{Notes for these slides}

My notes for these slides.
\end{notes}
\end{document}
You can run, for example, pdfLATEX on the file to get a beamer presentation with overlays. Adding the
notes option will also show the notes. Certain commands, like \LeftFoot, are ignored. You can change
the theme using the usual commands. You can also use all normal beamer commands and concepts, like
overlay-specifications, in the file. You can also create an article version by using the class article and
including the package beamerarticle.
In the following, the effects of prosper commands in beamer are listed.
\email{⟨text⟩}
Simply typesets its argument in typewriter text. Should hence be given inside the \author command.
\institution{⟨text⟩}
This command is mapped to beamer’s \institute command if given outside the \author command,
otherwise it typesets its argument in a smaller font.
\Logo(⟨x⟩,⟨y⟩){⟨logo text⟩}
This is mapped to \logo{⟨logo text⟩}. The coordinates are ignored.
\begin{slide}[⟨options⟩]{⟨frame title⟩}
\end{slide}
Inserts a frame with the fragile=singleslide option set. The ⟨frame title⟩ will be enclosed in a
\frametitle command.
• trans=⟨prosper transition⟩ installs the specified ⟨prosper transition⟩ as the transition effect when show-
ing the slide.
• ⟨prosper transition⟩ has the same effect as trans=⟨prosper transition⟩.
• toc=⟨entry⟩ overrides the subsection table of contents entry created by this slide by ⟨entry⟩. Note that
a subsection entry is created for a slide only if the framesassubsections options is specified.
• template=⟨text⟩ is ignored.
Example: The following two texts have the same effect:

\begin{slide}[trans=Glitter,toc=short]{A Title}
Hi!
\end{slide}
and
\subsection{short} % omitted, if framesassubsections is not specified
\begin{frame}[fragile=singleslide]
\transglitter
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\frametitle{A Title}
Hi!
\end{frame}
\overlays{⟨number⟩}{⟨slide environment⟩}
This will put the ⟨slide environment⟩ into a frame that does not have the fragile option and which can
hence contain overlaid text. The ⟨number⟩ is ignored since the number of necessary overlays is computed
automatically by beamer.
Example: The following code fragments have the same effect:
\overlays{2}{
\begin{slide}{A Title}
\begin{itemstep}
\item Hi!
\item Ho!
\end{itemstep}
\end{slide}}
and
\subsection{A Title} % omitted, if framesassubsections is not specified
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{A Title}
\begin{itemstep}
\item Hi!
\item Ho!
\end{itemstep}
\end{frame}
\fromSlide{⟨slide number⟩}{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \uncover<⟨slide number⟩->{⟨text⟩}.
\fromSlide*{⟨slide number⟩}{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \only<⟨slide number⟩->{⟨text⟩}.
\onlySlide{⟨slide number⟩}{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \uncover<⟨slide number⟩>{⟨text⟩}.
\onlySlide*{⟨slide number⟩}{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \only<⟨slide number⟩>{⟨text⟩}.
\untilSlide{⟨slide number⟩}{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \uncover<-⟨slide number⟩>{⟨text⟩}.
\untilSlide*{⟨slide number⟩}{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \only<-⟨slide number⟩>{⟨text⟩}.
\FromSlide{⟨slide number⟩}
This is mapped to \onslide<⟨slide number⟩->.
\OnlySlide{⟨slide number⟩}
This is mapped to \onslide<⟨slide number⟩>.
\UntilSlide{⟨slide number⟩}
This is mapped to \onslide<-⟨slide number⟩>.
228
\slideCaption{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \date{⟨text⟩}.
\fontTitle{⟨text⟩}
Simply inserts ⟨text⟩.
\fontText{⟨text⟩}
Simply inserts ⟨text⟩.
\PDFtransition{⟨prosper transition⟩}
Maps the ⟨prosper transition⟩ to an appropriate \transxxxx command.
\begin{Itemize}
\end{Itemize}
This is mapped to itemize.
\begin{itemstep}
\end{itemstep}
This is mapped to itemize with the option [<+->].
\begin{enumstep}
\end{enumstep}
This is mapped to enumerate with the option [<+->].
\hiddenitem
This is mapped to \addtocounter{beamerpauses}{1}.
\prosperpart[⟨options⟩]{⟨text⟩}
This command has the same effect as prosper’s \part command. beamer’s normal \part command
retains its normal semantics. Thus, you might wish to replace all occurrences of \part by \prosperpart.
\tsection*{⟨section name⟩}
Creates a section named ⟨section name⟩. The star, if present, is ignored.
\tsectionandpart*{⟨part text⟩}
Mapped to a \section command followed by a \prosperpart command.
article In article mode, no part page is added.
\dualslide[⟨x⟩][⟨y⟩][⟨z⟩]{⟨options⟩}{⟨left column⟩}{⟨right column⟩}
This command is mapped to a columns environment. The ⟨left column⟩ text is shown in the left column,
the ⟨right column⟩ text is shown in the right column. The options ⟨x⟩, ⟨y⟩, and ⟨z⟩ are ignored. Also, all
⟨options⟩ are ignored, except for lcolwidth= and rcolwidth=. These set the width of the left or right
column, respectively.
\PDForPS{⟨PostScript text⟩}{⟨PDF text⟩}
Inserts either the ⟨PostScript text⟩ or the ⟨PDF text⟩, depending on whether latex or pdflatex is used.
When porting, the ⟨PDF text⟩ will most likely be incorrect, since in prosper the ⟨PDF text⟩ is actually
PostScript text that is later transformed to pdf by some external program.
If the ⟨PDF text⟩ contains an \includegraphics command (which is its usual use), you should change the
name of the graphic file that is included to a name ending .pdf, .png, or .jpg. Typically, you will have to
convert your graphic to this format.
229
\onlyInPDF⟨PDF text⟩
The ⟨PDF text⟩ is only included if pdflatex is used. The same as for the command \PDForPS applies here.
\onlyInPS⟨PS text⟩
The ⟨PS text⟩ is only included if latex is used.
\begin{notes}{⟨title⟩}
\end{notes}
Mapped to \note{\textbf{⟨title⟩}⟨environment contents⟩} (more or less).
The following commands are parsed by beamer, but have no effect:

• \myitem,
• \FontTitle,
• \FontText,
• \ColorFoot,
• \DefaultTransition,
• \NoFrenchBabelItemize,
• \TitleSlideNav,
• \NormalSlideNav,
• \HAPsetup,
• \LeftFoot, and
• \RightFoot.
24.2 Seminar
The package beamerseminar maps a subset of the commands of the seminar package to beamer. As for
prosper, the emulation cannot be perfect. For example, no portrait slides are supported, no automatic page
breaking, the framing of slides is not emulated. Unfortunately, for all frames (slide environments) that contain
overlays, you have to put the environment into a frame environment “by hand” and must remove all occurrences
of \newslide inside the environment by closing the slide and opening a new one (and then putting these into
frame environments).
The workflow for the migration is the following:
1. Use the document class beamer, not seminar. Most options passed to seminar do not apply to beamer
and should be omitted.
2. If you copy parts of a presentation that is mixed with normal text, add the ignorenonframetext option
and place every slide environment inside a frame since beamer will not recognize the \begin{slide}
as the beginning of a frame.
3. Add a \usepackage{beamerseminar} to start the emulation. Add the option accumulated if you wish to
create a presentation to be held with a video projector.
4. Possibly add commands to install themes and templates.
5. There should not be commands in the preamble having to do with page and slide styles. They do not
apply to beamer.
6. If a \newslide command is used in a slide (or similarly slide*) environment that contains an overlay,
you must replace it by a closing \end{slide} and an opening \begin{slide}.
7. Next, for each slide or slide* environment that contains an overlay, you must place a frame environment
around it. You can remove the slide environment (and hence effectively replace it by frame), unless you
use the accumulated option.
230
8. If you use \section or \subsection commands inside slides, you will have to move them outside the
frames. It may then be necessary to add a \frametitle command to the slide.
9. If you use pdfLATEX to typeset the presentation, you cannot include PostScript files. You should convert
them to .pdf or to .png and adjust any usage of \includegraphics accordingly.
10. When starting to change things, you can use all of beamer’s commands and even mix them with seminar
commands.
An example can be found in the file beamerexample-seminar.tex.
There are, unfortunately, numerous places where you may run into problems:
• The whole note management of seminar is so different from beamer’s, that you will have to edit notes “by
hand.” In particular, commands like \ifslidesonly and \ifslide may not do exactly what you expect.
• If you use pstricks commands, you will either have to stick to using latex and dvips or will have to
work around them using, for example, pgf. Porting lots of pstricks code is bound to be difficult, if you
wish to switch over to pdflatex, so be warned.
• If the file cannot be compiled because some seminar command is not implemented, you will have to delete
this command and try to mimic its behavior using some beamer command.
\usepackage{beamerseminar}
Include this package in a beamer presentation to get access to seminar commands. Use beamer as the
document class, not seminar. Most of the options passed to the class seminar make no sense in beamer,
so just delete them.
This package takes the following options:
• accumulated causes overlays to be accumulated. The original behavior of the seminar package is
that in each overlay only the really “new” part of the overlay is shown. This makes sense, if you
really print out the overlays on transparencies and then really stack overlays on top of each other.
For a presentation with a video projector, you rather want to present an “accumulated” version of
the overlays. This is what this option does: When the new material of the 𝑖-th overlay is shown, the
material of all previous overlays is also shown.
Example: The following example is an extract of beamerexample-seminar.tex:

\usepackage[accumulated]{beamerseminar}
\usepackage{beamerthemeclassic}
\title{A beamer presentation using seminar commands}

\let\heading=\frametitle
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\maketitle
\end{frame}
This is some text outside any frame. It will only be shown in the
article version.
\begin{frame}
\begin{slide}
\heading{This is a frame title.}
231
\begin{enumerate}
{\overlay1
\item Overlays are a little tricky in seminar.
{\overlay2
\item But it is possible to use them in beamer.
}
}
\end{enumerate}
\end{slide}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
You can use all normal beamer commands and concepts, like overlay-specifications, in the file. You can
also create an article version by using the class article and including the package beamerarticle.
In the following, the effects of seminar commands in beamer are listed.
\overlay{⟨number⟩}
Shows the material till the end of the current TEX group only on overlay numbered ⟨number⟩ + 1 or, if the
accumulated option is given, from that overlay on. Usages of this command may be nested (as in seminar).
If an \overlay command is given inside another, it temporarily “overrules” the outer one as demonstrated
in the following example, where it is assumed that the accumulated option is given.
Example:
\begin{frame}
\begin{slide}
This is shown from the first slide on.
{\overlay{2}
This is shown from the third slide on.
{\overlay{1}
This is shown from the second slide on.
}
This is shown once more from the third slide on.
}
\end{slide}
\end{frame}
\begin{slide}*
\end{slide}
Mainly installs an \overlay{0} around the ⟨environment contents⟩. If the accumulated option is given,
this has no effect, but otherwise it will cause the main text of the slide to be shown only on the first slide.
This is useful if you really wish to physically place slides on top of each other.
The starred version does the same as the nonstarred one.
If this command is not issued inside a \frame, it sets up a frame with the fragile=singleframe option
set. Thus, this frame will contain only a single slide.
Example:
\begin{slide}
Some text.
\end{slide}
\frame{
\begin{slide}
Some text. And an {\overlay{1} overlay}.
\end{slide}
}
232
\red
Mapped to \color{red}.
\blue
Mapped to \color{blue}.
\green
Mapped to \color{green}.
\ifslide
True in the presentation modes, false in the article mode.
\ifslidesonly
Same as \ifslide.
\ifarticle
False in the presentation modes, true in the article mode.
\ifportrait
Always false.

• \ptsize.
24.3 FoilTEX
The package beamerfoils maps a subset of the commands of the foils package to beamer. Since this package
defines only few non-standard TEX commands and since beamer implements all the standard commands, the
emulation layer is pretty simple.
A copyright notice: The FoilTEX package has a restricted license. For this reason, no example from the
foils package is included in the beamer class. The emulation itself does not use the code of the foils package
(rather, it just maps foils commands to beamer commands). For this reason, our understanding is that the
emulation offered by the beamer class is “free” and legally so. IBM has a copyright on the foils class, not on
the effect the commands of this class have. (At least, that’s our understanding of things.)
1. Use the document class beamer, not foils.
2. Add a \usepackage{beamerfoils} to start the emulation.
3. Possibly add commands to install themes and templates.
4. If the command \foilhead is used inside a \frame command or frame environment, it behaves like
\frametitle. If it used outside a frame, it will start a new frame (with the allowframebreaks option,
thus no overlays are allowed). This frame will persist till the next occurrence of \foilhead or of the new
command \endfoil. Note that a \frame command will not end a frame started using \foilhead.
5. If you rely on automatic frame creation based on \foilhead, you will need to insert an \endfoil before
the end of the document to end the last frame.
6. If you use pdfLATEX to typeset the presentation, than you cannot include PostScript files. You should
convert them to .pdf or to .png and adjust any usage of \includegraphics accordingly.
7. Sizes of objects are different in beamer, since the scaling is done by the viewer, not by the class. Thus a
framebox of size 6 inches will be way too big in a beamer presentation. You will have to manually adjust
explicit dimension occurring in a foilTEX presentation.
233
\usepackage{beamerfoils}
Include this package in a beamer presentation to get access to foils commands. Use beamer as the document
class, not foils.
Example: In the following example, frames are automatically created. The \endfoil at the end is needed
to close the last frame.
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\foilhead{First Frame}
This is on the first frame.

\pagebreak
This is on the second frame, which is a continuation of the first.
\foilhead{Third Frame}
This is on the third frame.
\endfoil
\end{document}
Example: In this example, frames are manually inserted. No \endfoil is needed.

\begin{document}
\frame{\maketitle}
\frame{
\foilhead{First Frame}
This is on the first frame.
}
\frame{
\foilhead{Second Frame}
This is on the second frame.
}
\end{document}
In the following, the effects of foils commands in beamer are listed.
\MyLogo{⟨logo text⟩}
This is mapped to \logo, though the logo is internally stored, such that it can be switched on and off using
\LogoOn and \LogoOff.
\LogoOn
Makes the logo visible.
\LogoOff
Makes the logo invisible.
234
\foilhead[⟨dimension⟩]{⟨frame title⟩}
If used inside a \frame command or frame environment, this is mapped to \frametitle{⟨frame title⟩}.
If used outside any frames, a new frame is started with the option allowframebreaks. If a frame was
previously started using this command, it will be closed before the next frame is started. The ⟨dimension⟩
is ignored.
\rotatefoilhead[⟨dimension⟩]{⟨frame title⟩}
This command has exactly the same effect as \foilhead.
\endfoil
This is a command that is not available in foils. In beamer, it can be used to end a frame that has
automatically been opened using \foildhead. This command must be given before the end of the document
if the last frame was opened using \foildhead.
\begin{boldequation}*
\end{boldequation}
This is mapped to the equation or the equation* environment, with \boldmath switched on.
\FoilTeX
Typesets the foilTEX name as in the foils package.
\bm{⟨text⟩}
Implemented as in the foils package.
\bmstyle{⟨text⟩}{⟨more text⟩}
Implemented as in the foils package.
The following additional theorem-like environments are predefined:

• Theorem*,
• Lemma*,
• Corollary*,
• Proposition*, and
• Definition*.
For example, the first is defined using \newtheorem*{Theorem*}{Theorem}.

• \leftheader,
• \rightheader,
• \leftfooter,
• \rightfooter,
• \Restriction, and
• \marginpar.
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24.4 TEXPower
The package beamertexpower maps a subset of the commands of the texpower package, due to Stephan
Lehmke, to beamer. This subset is currently rather small, so a lot of adaptions may be necessary. Note that
texpower is not a full class by itself, but a package that needs another class, like seminar or prosper to do
the actual typesetting. It may thus be necessary to additionally load an emulation layer for these also. Indeed,
it might be possible to directly use texpower inside beamer, but we have not tried that. Perhaps this will be
possible in the future.
Currently, the package beamertexpower mostly just maps the \stepwise and related commands to appro-
priate beamer commands. The \pause command need not be mapped since it is directly implemented by
beamer anyway.
1. Replace the document class by beamer. If the document class is seminar or prosper, you can use the
above emulation layers, that is, you can include the files beamerseminar or beamerprosper to emulate the
class.
All notes on what to do for the emulation of seminar or prosper also apply here.
2. Additionally, add \usepackage{beamertexpower} to start the emulation.
\usepackage{beamertexpower}
Include this package in a beamer presentation to get access to the texpower commands having to do with
the \stepwise command.
A note on the \pause command: Both beamer and texpower implement this command and they have the
same semantics; so there is no need to map this command to anything different in beamertexpower. However, a
difference is that \pause can be used almost anywhere in beamer, whereas it may only be used in non-nested
situations in texpower. Since beamer is only more flexible than texpower here, this will not cause problems
when porting.
In the following, the effect of texpower commands in beamer are listed.
\stepwise{⟨text⟩}
As in texpower, this initiates text in which commands like \step or \switch may be given. Text contained
in a \step command will be enclosed in an \only command with the overlay specification <+(1)->. This
means that the text of the first \step is inserted from the second slide onward, the text of the second \step
is inserted from the third slide onward, and so on.
\parstepwise{⟨text⟩}
Same as \stepwise, only \uncover is used instead of \only when mapping the \step command.
\liststepwise{⟨text⟩}
Same as \stepwise, only an invisible horizontal line is inserted before the ⟨text⟩. This is presumably useful
for solving some problems related to vertical spacing in texpower.
\step{⟨text⟩}
This is either mapped to \only<+(1)->⟨text⟩ or to \uncover<+(1)->⟨text⟩, depending on whether this
command is used inside a \stepwise environment or inside a \parstepwise environment.
\steponce{⟨text⟩}
This is either mapped to \only<+(1)>⟨text⟩ or to \uncover<+(1)>⟨text⟩, depending on whether this com-
mand is used inside a \stepwise environment or inside a \parstepwise environment.
\switch{⟨alternate text⟩}{⟨text⟩}
This is mapped to \alt<+(1)->{⟨text⟩}{⟨alternate text⟩}. Note that the arguments are swapped.
236
\bstep{⟨text⟩}
This is always mapped to \uncover<+(1)->⟨text⟩.
\dstep
This just advances the counter beamerpauses by one. It has no other effect.
\vstep
Same as \dstep.
\restep{⟨text⟩}
Same as \step, but the ⟨text⟩ is shown on the same slide as the previous \step command. This is imple-
mented by first decreasing the counter beamerpauses by one before calling \step.
\reswitch{⟨alternate text⟩}⟨text⟩
Like \restep, only for the \switch command.
\rebstep⟨text⟩
Like \restep, only for the \bstep command.
\redstep
This command has no effect.
\revstep
This command has no effect.
\boxedsteps
Temporarily (for the current TEX group) changes the effect of \step to issue an \uncover, even if used
inside a \stepwise environment.
\nonboxedsteps
Temporarily (for the current TEX group) changes the effect of \step to issue an \only, even if used inside
a \parstepwise environment.
\code{⟨text⟩}
Typesets the argument using a boldface typewriter font.
\codeswitch
Switches to a boldface typewriter font.
237
Index
This index only contains automatically generated entries, sorry. A good index should also contain carefully
selected keywords.
⟨professional font package⟩ package, 19 \AtEndNote, 206

10pt class option, 199 \author, 95
11pt class option, 199
12pt class option, 199 babel package, 16
14pt class option, 200 background template/color/font, 77
17pt class option, 200 background canvas template/color/font, 77
20pt class option, 200 Beamer colors
8pt class option, 199 abstract, 131
9pt class option, 199 abstract title, 131
alerted text, 119
abstract color/font, 131 background, 77
abstract environment, 131 background canvas, 77
abstract begin template, 131 bibliography entry author, 104
abstract end template, 131 bibliography entry location, 105
abstract title template/color/font, 131 bibliography entry note, 105
\action, 91 bibliography entry title, 104
actionenv environment, 91 bibliography item, 105
\addfootbox, 150 block body, 120
\addheadbox, 150 block body alerted, 120
\addtobeamertemplate, 174 block body example, 121
\againframe, 110 block title, 120
albatross color theme, 180 block title alerted, 120
AlDraTex package, 16 block title example, 121
\alert, 119 button, 108
alertblock environment, 120 button border, 108
alerted text color/font, 119 caption, 128
alerted text begin template, 119 caption name, 128
alerted text end template, 119 description item, 117
alertenv environment, 119 enumerate item, 115
alltt package, 16 enumerate mini template, 116
\alt, 83 enumerate subitem, 115
altenv environment, 85 enumerate subsubitem, 116
always typeset second mode beamer option, 218 example text, 193
amsthm package, 16 footline, 67
\animate, 140 footnote, 133
\animatevalue, 140 footnote mark, 133
AnnArbor presentation theme, 151 framesubtitle, 76
Antibes presentation theme, 153 frametitle, 75
\appendix, 106 frametitle continuation, 60
aspectratio=141 class option, 78 headline, 64
aspectratio=149 class option, 78 item, 117
aspectratio=1610 class option, 77 item projected, 117
aspectratio=169 class option, 78 itemize item, 114
aspectratio=32 class option, 78 itemize subitem, 114
aspectratio=43 class option, 78 itemize subsubitem, 114
aspectratio=54 class option, 78 local structure, 118
\AtBeginLecture, 101 logo, 74
\AtBeginNote, 205 lower separation line foot, 194
\AtBeginPart, 100 lower separation line head, 193
\AtBeginSection, 97 math text, 191
\AtBeginSubsection, 98 math text displayed, 192
\AtBeginSubsubsection, 98 math text inlined, 191
238
middle separation line foot, 194 bibliography entry author, 104
middle separation line head, 193 bibliography entry location, 105
mini frame, 70 bibliography entry note, 105
navigation symbols, 73 bibliography entry title, 104
normal text, 193 bibliography item, 105
normal text in math text, 192 block body, 120
note page, 205 block body alerted, 120
page number in head/foot, 67 block body example, 121
palette primary, 192 block title, 120
palette quaternary, 192 block title alerted, 120
palette secondary, 192 block title example, 121
palette sidebar primary, 192 button, 108
palette sidebar quaternary, 193 caption, 128
palette sidebar secondary, 193 caption name, 128
palette sidebar tertiary, 193 description item, 117
palette tertiary, 192 enumerate item, 115
part name, 100 enumerate mini template, 116
part title, 100 enumerate subitem, 115
qed symbol, 123 enumerate subsubitem, 116
quotation, 132 example text, 193
quote, 132 footline, 67
section in head/foot, 71 footnote, 133
section in sidebar, 71 footnote mark, 133
section in sidebar shaded, 72 framesubtitle, 76
section in toc, 96 frametitle, 75
section in toc shaded, 96 frametitle continuation, 60
section name, 98 headline, 64
section title, 98 item, 117
separation line, 193 item projected, 117
sidebar left, 68 itemize item, 114
sidebar right, 68 itemize subitem, 114
structure, 118 itemize subsubitem, 114
subitem, 117 logo, 74
subitem projected, 117 mini frame, 70
subsection in head/foot, 72 navigation symbols, 73
subsection in sidebar, 72 normal text, 193
subsection in toc, 96 note page, 205
subsection in toc shaded, 97 page number in head/foot, 67
subsection name, 99 part name, 100
subsection title, 99 part title, 100
subsubitem, 117 qed symbol, 123
subsubitem projected, 117 quotation, 132
subsubsection in head/foot, 72 quote, 132
subsubsection in sidebar, 72 section in head/foot, 71
subsubsection in toc, 97 section in sidebar, 71
subsubsection in toc shaded, 97 section in toc, 96
title page, 94 section in toc shaded, 96
titlelike, 193 section name, 98
upper separation line foot, 193 section title, 98
upper separation line head, 193 sidebar left, 68
verse, 132 sidebar right, 68
Beamer elements, see Beamer templates, colors, and structure, 118
fonts subitem, 117
Beamer fonts subitem projected, 117
abstract, 131 subsection in head/foot, 72
abstract title, 131 subsection in sidebar, 72
alerted text, 119 subsection in toc, 96
background, 77 subsection in toc shaded, 97
background canvas, 77 subsection name, 99
239
subsection title, 99 itemize/enumerate body end, 116
subsubitem, 117 logo, 74
subsubitem projected, 117 mini frame, 70
subsubsection in head/foot, 72 mini frame in current subsection, 70
subsubsection in sidebar, 72 mini frame in other subsection, 70
subsubsection in toc, 97 navigation symbols, 73
subsubsection in toc shaded, 97 note page, 205
tiny structure, 118 page number in head/foot, 67
title page, 94 part page, 100
titlelike, 193 proof begin, 125
verse, 132 proof end, 125
Beamer options qed symbol, 123
always typeset second mode, 218 quotation begin, 132
hide notes, 206 quotation end, 132
previous slide on second screen, 218 quote begin, 132
second mode text on second screen, 217 quote end, 132
show notes, 206 section in head/foot, 71
show notes on second screen, 206 section in head/foot shaded, 71
show only notes, 207 section in sidebar, 71
Beamer templates section in sidebar shaded, 72
abstract begin, 131 section in toc, 96
abstract end, 131 section in toc shaded, 96
abstract title, 131 section page, 98
alerted text begin, 119 sidebar canvas left, 68
alerted text end, 119 sidebar canvas right, 69
background, 77 sidebar left, 68
background canvas, 77 sidebar right, 68
bibliography entry author, 104 structure begin, 118
bibliography entry location, 105 structure end, 119
bibliography entry note, 105 subsection in head/foot, 72
bibliography entry title, 104 subsection in head/foot shaded, 72
bibliography item, 105 subsection in sidebar, 72
block alerted begin, 120 subsection in sidebar shaded, 72
block alerted end, 120 subsection in toc, 96
block begin, 120 subsection in toc shaded, 97
block end, 120 subsection page, 99
block example begin, 121 subsubsection in head/foot, 72
block example end, 121 subsubsection in head/foot shaded, 72
button, 108 subsubsection in sidebar, 72
caption, 128 subsubsection in sidebar shaded, 72
caption label separator, 129 subsubsection in toc, 97
description body begin, 117 subsubsection in toc shaded, 97
description body end, 117 theorem begin, 124
description item, 117 theorem end, 125
enumerate item, 115 title page, 94
enumerate mini template, 116 verse begin, 132
enumerate subitem, 115 verse end, 132
enumerate subsubitem, 116 beamerarticle package, 209
footline, 67 beamerboxesrounded environment, 127
footnote, 133 \beamerbutton, 107
frame begin, 63 beamercolorbox environment, 125
frame end, 63 \beamerdefaultoverlayspecification, 91
frametitle, 75 beamerfoils package, 234
frametitle continuation, 60 \beamergotobutton, 108
headline, 64 beamerprosper package, 226
itemize item, 114 \beamerreturnbutton, 108
itemize subitem, 114 beamerseminar package, 231
itemize subsubitem, 114 \beamerskipbutton, 108
itemize/enumerate body begin, 116 beamertexpower package, 236
240
beaver color theme, 184 aspectratio=43, 78
beetle color theme, 181 aspectratio=54, 78
Bergen presentation theme, 150 bigger, 199
Berkeley presentation theme, 155 c, 76
Berlin presentation theme, 157 color=⟨list of options⟩, 16
\bibitem, 105 compress, 70
bibliography entry author template/color/font, 104 draft, 31
bibliography entry location template/color/font, envcountsect, 122
105 fleqn, 123
bibliography entry note template/color/font, 105 handout, 209
bibliography entry title template/color/font, 104 hyperref=⟨list of options⟩, 17
bibliography item template/color/font, 105 ignorenonframetext, 210
bigger class option, 199 leqno, 123
block environment, 120 noamssymb, 123
block alerted begin template, 120 noamsthm, 123
block alerted end template, 120 notheorems, 123
block begin template, 120 smaller, 199
block body color/font, 120 t, 76
block body alerted color/font, 120 trans, 208
block body example color/font, 121 ucs, 17
block end template, 120 usepdftitle=false, 95
block example begin template, 121 utf8, 18
block example end template, 121 utf8x, 18
block title color/font, 120 xcolor=⟨list of options⟩, 20
block title alerted color/font, 120 Classes
block title example color/font, 121 foils, 17
blocks parent template, 119 prosper, 19
\blue, 233 seminar, 19
\bm, 235 \code, 237
\bmstyle, 235 \codeswitch, 237
Boadilla presentation theme, 150 color package, 16
boldequation environment, 235 Color themes
\boxedsteps, 237 albatross, 180
boxes presentation theme, 149 beaver, 184
\bstep, 237 beetle, 181
button template/color/font, 108 crane, 181
button border color, 108 default, 178
dolphin, 187
c class option, 76 dove, 182
CambridgeUS presentation theme, 152 fly, 182
caption template/color/font, 128 lily, 185
caption label separator template, 129 monarca, 183
caption name color/font, 128 orchid, 185
circles inner theme, 164 rose, 186
CJK package, 16 seagull, 183
Class options for beamer seahorse, 187
10pt, 199 sidebartab, 179
11pt, 199 spruce, 184
12pt, 199 structure, 178
14pt, 200 whale, 186
17pt, 200 wolverine, 184
20pt, 200 color=⟨list of options⟩ class option, 16
8pt, 199 Colors, see Beamer colors
9pt, 199 colortbl package, 16
aspectratio=141, 78 \column, 130
aspectratio=149, 78 column environment, 130
aspectratio=1610, 77 columns environment, 129
aspectratio=169, 78 compress class option, 70
aspectratio=32, 78
241
conference-talks/conference-ornate-20min exampleblock, 121
solution, 43 frame, 59
Copenhagen presentation theme, 161 Itemize, 229
crane color theme, 181 itemize, 113
itemstep, 229
Darmstadt presentation theme, 159 notes, 230
\date, 95 onlyenv, 85
default color theme, 178 overlayarea, 86
default font theme, 196 overprint, 86
default inner theme, 163 proof, 122
default outer theme, 166 quotation, 132
default presentation theme, 149 quote, 132
\defbeamertemplate, 174 semiverbatim, 131
\defbeamertemplatealias, 175 slide, 227, 232
\defbeamertemplateparent, 176 structureenv, 118
definition environment, 122 thebibliography, 104
deluxetable package, 16 theorem, 121
description environment, 116 verse, 132
description body begin template, 117 example environment, 122
description body end template, 117 example text color/font, 193
description item template/color/font, 117 exampleblock environment, 121
dolphin color theme, 187 \expandbeamertemplate, 173
dove color theme, 182
draft class option, 31 fleqn class option, 123
DraTex package, 17 fly color theme, 182
Dresden presentation theme, 158 \foilhead, 235
\dstep, 237 foils class, 17
\dualslide, 229 \FoilTeX, 235
Font themes
EastLansing presentation theme, 152 default, 196
Elements, see Beamer templates, colors, and fonts professionalfonts, 196
\email, 227 serif, 197
\endfoil, 235 structurebold, 197
enumerate environment, 114 structureitalicserif, 198
enumerate package, 17 structuresmallcapsserif, 198
enumerate item template/color/font, 115 fontenc package, 17
enumerate items parent template, 115 Fonts, see Beamer fonts
enumerate mini template template/color/font, 116 \fontText, 229
enumerate subitem template/color/font, 115 \fontTitle, 229
enumerate subsubitem template/color/font, 116 footline template/color/font, 67
enumstep environment, 229 \footnote, 132
envcountsect class option, 122 footnote template/color/font, 133
Environments footnote mark color/font, 133
abstract, 131 fourier package, 17
actionenv, 91 frame environment, 59
alertblock, 120 frame begin template, 63
alertenv, 119 frame end template, 63
altenv, 85 \framesubtitle, 76
beamerboxesrounded, 127 framesubtitle color/font, 76
beamercolorbox, 125 \frametitle, 75
block, 120 frametitle template/color/font, 75
boldequation, 235 frametitle continuation template/color/font, 60
column, 130 \framezoom, 111
columns, 129 Frankfurt presentation theme, 159
definition, 122 \FromSlide, 228
description, 116 \fromSlide, 228
enumerate, 114
enumstep, 229 generic-talks/generic-ornate-15min-45min
example, 122 solution, 43
242
Goettingen presentation theme, 156 \insertcaptionname, 128
\green, 233 \insertcaptionnumber, 128
\insertcontinuationcount, 60
HA-prosper package, 17 \insertcontinuationcountroman, 60
handout class option, 209 \insertcontinuationtext, 60
Hannover presentation theme, 157 \insertdate, 94
headline template/color/font, 64 \insertdescriptionitem, 117
\hiddenitem, 229 \insertdocnavigationsymbol, 74
hide notes beamer option, 206 \insertdocumentendpage, 67
\hyperlink, 109 \insertdocumentstartpage, 67
\hyperlinkappendixend, 110 \insertenumlabel, 115, 116
\hyperlinkappendixstart, 110 \insertfootnotemark, 133
\hyperlinkdocumentend, 110 \insertfootnotetext, 133
\hyperlinkdocumentstart, 110 \insertframeendpage, 66
\hyperlinkframeend, 109 \insertframenavigationsymbol, 74
\hyperlinkframeendprev, 109 \insertframenumber, 66
\hyperlinkframestart, 109 \insertframestartpage, 66
\hyperlinkframestartnext, 109 \insertframesubtitle, 76
\hyperlinkmovie, 139 \insertframetitle, 76
\hyperlinkmute, 144 \insertgotosymbol, 108
\hyperlinkpresentationend, 109 \insertinstitute, 94
\hyperlinkpresentationstart, 109 \insertlogo, 74
\hyperlinkslidenext, 109 \insertmainframenumber, 66
\hyperlinkslideprev, 109 \insertnavigation{⟨width ⟩}, 65
\hyperlinksound, 144 \insertnote, 205
hyperref package, 17 \insertoverlaynumber, 66
hyperref=⟨list of options⟩ class option, 17 \insertpagenumber, 65
\hypertarget, 107 \insertpart, 100
\insertpartendpage, 66
\ifarticle, 233 \insertpartheadnumber, 71
\ifbeamercolorempty, 189 \insertpartnumber, 100
\ifbeamertemplateempty, 173 \insertpartstartpage, 66
\ifportrait, 233 \insertpresentationendpage, 66
\ifslide, 233 \insertpresentationstartpage, 66
\ifslidesonly, 233 \insertproofname, 125
ignorenonframetext class option, 210 \insertreturnsymbol, 108
Ilmenau presentation theme, 158 \insertromanpartnumber, 100
\includeonlyframes, 31 \insertsection, 65, 98
\includeonlylecture, 101 \insertsectionendpage, 66
\includeslide, 212 \insertsectionhead, 71
infolines outer theme, 166 \insertsectionheadnumber, 71
inmargin inner theme, 165 \insertsectionnavigation, 65
Inner themes \insertsectionnavigationhorizontal, 65
circles, 164 \insertsectionnavigationsymbol, 74
default, 163 \insertsectionnumber, 99
inmargin, 165 \insertsectionstartpage, 66
rectangles, 164 \insertshortauthor, 65
rounded, 164 \insertshortdate, 66
inputenc package, 17 \insertshortinstitute, 66
Inserts \insertshortpart, 66
\insertappendixendpage, 67 \insertshortsubtitle, 66
\insertappendixframenumber, 66 \insertshorttitle, 66
\insertappendixstartpage, 66 \insertskipsymbol, 108
\insertauthor, 94 \insertslideintonotes, 205
\insertbackfindforwardnavigationsymbol, 74 \insertslidenavigationsymbol, 74
\insertbiblabel, 105 \insertslidenumber, 66
\insertblocktitle, 120 \insertsubenumlabel, 115
\insertbuttontext, 108 \insertsubsection, 66, 99
\insertcaption, 128 \insertsubsectionendpage, 66
243
\insertsubsectionhead, 72 \LogoOff, 234
\insertsubsectionheadnumber, 72 \LogoOn, 234
\insertsubsectionnavigation, 66 lower separation line foot color, 194
\insertsubsectionnavigationhorizontal, 66 lower separation line head color, 193
\insertsubsectionnavigationsymbol, 74 Luebeck presentation theme, 161
\insertsubsectionnumber, 99
\insertsubsectionstartpage, 66 Madrid presentation theme, 151
\insertsubsubenumlabel, 116 \maketitle, 94
\insertsubsubsection, 66 Malmoe presentation theme, 161
\insertsubsubsectionhead, 72 Marburg presentation theme, 156
\insertsubsubsectionheadnumber, 72 math text color, 191
\insertsubtitle, 94 math text displayed color, 192
\inserttheoremaddition, 125 math text inlined color, 191
\inserttheoremblockenv, 125 middle separation line foot color, 194
\inserttheoremheadfont, 125 middle separation line head color, 193
\inserttheoremname, 125 mini frame template/color/font, 70
\inserttheoremnumber, 125 mini frame in current subsection template, 70
\inserttheorempunctuation, 125 mini frame in other subsection template, 70
\inserttitle, 94 mini frames parent template, 70
\inserttitlegraphic, 94 miniframes outer theme, 167
\inserttocsection, 96 \mode, 214, 215
\inserttocsectionnumber, 96 monarca color theme, 183
\inserttocsubsection, 96 Montpellier presentation theme, 154
\inserttocsubsectionnumber, 96 \movie, 137
\inserttocsubsubsection, 97 msc package, 18
\inserttocsubsubsectionnumber, 97 \multiinclude, 141
\inserttotalframenumber, 66 multimedia package, 137
\insertverticalnavigation, 66 musixtex package, 18
\institute, 95 \MyLogo, 234
\institution, 227
\invisible, 83 navigation symbols template/color/font, 73
\item, 84 \newcommand, 87
item color/font, 117 \newenvironment, 88
item projected color/font, 117 \newtheorem, 123
Itemize environment, 229 noamssymb class option, 123
itemize environment, 113 noamsthm class option, 123
itemize item template/color/font, 114 \nonboxedsteps, 237
itemize items parent template, 114 normal text color/font, 193
itemize subitem template/color/font, 114 normal text in math text color, 192
itemize subsubitem template/color/font, 114 \note, 204
itemize/enumerate body begin template, 116 note page template/color/font, 205
itemize/enumerate body end template, 116 notes environment, 230
items parent template, 116 notheorems class option, 123
itemstep environment, 229
\only, 83
JuanLesPins presentation theme, 154 onlyenv environment, 85
\onlyInPDF, 230
\keywords, 95 \onlyInPS, 230
\OnlySlide, 228
\label, 84 \onlySlide, 228
\lecture, 100 \onslide, 82
leqno class option, 123 \opaqueness, 195
lily color theme, 185 orchid color theme, 185
listings package, 18 Outer themes
\liststepwise, 236 default, 166
local structure color, 118 infolines, 166
\Logo, 227 miniframes, 167
\logo, 74 shadow, 169
logo template/color/font, 74 sidebar, 168
244
smoothbars, 168 \partpage, 100
smoothtree, 170 \pause, 80
split, 169 \PDForPS, 229
tree, 170 pdfpages package, 19
\overlay, 232 \PDFtransition, 229
overlayarea environment, 86 Pittsburgh presentation theme, 153
\overlays, 228 Presentation themes
overprint environment, 86 AnnArbor, 151
Antibes, 153
Packages Bergen, 150
⟨professional font package⟩, 19 Berkeley, 155
AlDraTex, 16 Berlin, 157
alltt, 16 Boadilla, 150
amsthm, 16 boxes, 149
babel, 16 CambridgeUS, 152
beamerarticle, 209 Copenhagen, 161
beamerfoils, 234 Darmstadt, 159
beamerprosper, 226 default, 149
beamerseminar, 231 Dresden, 158
beamertexpower, 236 EastLansing, 152
CJK, 16 Frankfurt, 159
color, 16 Goettingen, 156
colortbl, 16 Hannover, 157
deluxetable, 16 Ilmenau, 158
DraTex, 17 JuanLesPins, 154
enumerate, 17 Luebeck, 161
fontenc, 17 Madrid, 151
fourier, 17 Malmoe, 161
HA-prosper, 17 Marburg, 156
hyperref, 17 Montpellier, 154
inputenc, 17 PaloAlto, 156
listings, 18 Pittsburgh, 153
msc, 18 Rochester, 153
multimedia, 137 Singapore, 160
musixtex, 18 Szeged, 160
paralist, 19 Warsaw, 162
pdfpages, 19 previous slide on second screen beamer option,
pstricks, 19 218
texpower, 19 professionalfonts font theme, 196
textpos, 19 proof environment, 122
ucs, 20 proof begin template, 125
xcolor, 20 proof end template, 125
xmpmulti, 141 prosper class, 19
page number in head/foot template/color/font, 67 \prosperpart, 229
palette primary color, 192 pstricks package, 19
palette quaternary color, 192
palette secondary color, 192 qed symbol template/color/font, 123
palette sidebar primary color, 192 quotation color/font, 132
palette sidebar quaternary color, 193 quotation environment, 132
palette sidebar secondary color, 193 quotation begin template, 132
palette sidebar tertiary color, 193 quotation end template, 132
palette tertiary color, 192 quote color/font, 132
PaloAlto presentation theme, 156 quote environment, 132
paralist package, 19 quote begin template, 132
\parstepwise, 236 quote end template, 132
\part, 99
part name color/font, 100 \rebstep, 237
part page template, 100 rectangles inner theme, 164
part title color/font, 100 \red, 233
245
\redstep, 237 Solutions
\renewcommand, 88 conference-talks/conference-ornate-20min, 43
\renewenvironment, 89 generic-talks/generic-ornate-15min-45min, 43
\resetcounteronoverlays, 89 short-talks/speaker_introduction-ornate-2min,
\resetcountonoverlays, 89 43
\restep, 237 \sound, 143
\reswitch, 237 split outer theme, 169
\revstep, 237 spruce color theme, 184
Rochester presentation theme, 153 \step, 236
rose color theme, 186 \steponce, 236
\rotatefoilhead, 235 \stepwise, 236
rounded inner theme, 164 \structure, 118
structure color theme, 178
seagull color theme, 183 structure color/font, 118
seahorse color theme, 187 structure begin template, 118
second mode text on second screen beamer option, structure end template, 119
217 structurebold font theme, 197
\section, 96 structureenv environment, 118
section in head/foot template/color/font, 71 structureitalicserif font theme, 198
section in head/foot shaded template, 71 structuresmallcapsserif font theme, 198
section in sidebar template/color/font, 71 subitem color/font, 117
section in sidebar shaded template/color, 72 subitem projected color/font, 117
section in toc template/color/font, 96 \subject, 95
section in toc shaded template/color/font, 96 \subsection, 96, 97
section name color/font, 98 subsection in head/foot template/color/font, 72
section page template, 98 subsection in head/foot shaded template, 72
section title color/font, 98 subsection in sidebar template/color/font, 72
\sectionpage, 98 subsection in sidebar shaded template, 72
sections/subsections in toc parent template, 103 subsection in toc template/color/font, 96
sections/subsections in toc shaded parent subsection in toc shaded template/color/font, 97
template, 103 subsection name color/font, 99
seminar class, 19 subsection page template, 99
semiverbatim environment, 131 subsection title color/font, 99
separation line color, 193 \subsectionpage, 99
serif font theme, 197 subsubitem color/font, 117
\setbeamercolor, 190 subsubitem projected color/font, 117
\setbeamercovered, 194 \subsubsection, 97
\setbeamerfont, 201 subsubsection in head/foot template/color/font, 72
\setbeamersize, 78 subsubsection in head/foot shaded template, 72
\setbeamertemplate, 173 subsubsection in sidebar template/color/font, 72
\setjobnamebeamerversion, 212 subsubsection in sidebar shaded template, 72
shadow outer theme, 169 subsubsection in toc template/color/font, 97
short-talks/speaker_introduction-ornate-2min subsubsection in toc shaded template/color/font, 97
solution, 43 \subtitle, 95
show notes beamer option, 206 \switch, 236
show notes on second screen beamer option, 206 Szeged presentation theme, 160
show only notes beamer option, 207
sidebar outer theme, 168 t class option, 76
sidebar canvas left template, 68 \tableofcontents, 101
sidebar canvas right template, 69 Template inserts, see Inserts
sidebar left template/color/font, 68 Templates, see Beamer templates
sidebar right template/color/font, 68 \temporal, 83
sidebartab color theme, 179 texpower package, 19
Singapore presentation theme, 160 textpos package, 19
slide environment, 227, 232 thebibliography environment, 104
\slideCaption, 229 Themes, see Presentation themes
smaller class option, 199 theorem environment, 121
smoothbars outer theme, 168 theorem begin template, 124
smoothtree outer theme, 170 theorem end template, 125
246
theorems parent template, 124 xcolor=⟨list of options⟩ class option, 20
tiny structure font, 118 xmpmulti package, 141
\title, 94
title page template/color/font, 94
\titlegraphic, 95
titlelike color/font, 193
\titlepage, 94
trans class option, 208
\transblindshorizontal, 145
\transblindsvertical, 145
\transboxin, 145
\transboxout, 145
\transcover, 145
\transdissolve, 145
\transduration, 146
\transfade, 145
\transfly, 146
\transglitter, 146
\transpush, 146
\transreplace, 146
\transsplithorizontalin, 146
\transsplithorizontalout, 146
\transsplitverticalin, 146
\transsplitverticalout, 146
\transwipe, 146
tree outer theme, 170
\tsection, 229
\tsectionandpart, 229
ucs class option, 17

ucs package, 20
\uncover, 83
\UntilSlide, 228
\untilSlide, 228
upper separation line foot color, 193
upper separation line head color, 193
\usebeamercolor, 189
\usebeamerfont, 201
\usebeamertemplate, 173
\usecolortheme, 148
\usefonttheme, 148
\useinnertheme, 148
\useoutertheme, 148
usepdftitle=false class option, 95
\usetheme, 148
utf8 class option, 18
utf8x class option, 18
verse color/font, 132

verse environment, 132
verse begin template, 132
verse end template, 132
\visible, 83
\vstep, 237
Warsaw presentation theme, 162

whale color theme, 186
wolverine color theme, 184
xcolor package, 20
247

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The beamer class

User Guide for version 3.63.

There Is No Largest Prime Number There Is No Largest Prime Number

Copyright 2003–2007 by Till Tantau

Till Tantau, Joseph Wright, Vedran Miletić

3 Tutorial: Euclid’s Presentation 21

5 Guidelines for Creating Presentations 33

7 Licenses and Copyright 44

10 Structuring a Presentation: The Static Global Structure 94

11 Structuring a Presentation: The Interactive Global Structure 107

14 Animations, Sounds, and Slide Transitions 137

III Changing the Way Things Look 147

16 Inner Themes, Outer Themes, and Templates 163

IV Creating Supporting Material 203

20 Creating Transparencies 208

21 Creating Handouts and Lecture Notes 209

22 Taking Advantage of Multiple Screens 217

1.1 Main Features

• You can easily create overlays and dynamic effects.

1.4 How to Read this User’s Guide

\somebeamercommand[⟨optional arguments⟩]{⟨first argument⟩}{⟨second argument⟩}

\begin{somebeamerenvironment}[⟨optional arguments⟩]{⟨first argument⟩}

Beamer-Template/-Color/-Font some beamer element

\setbeamertemplate{some beamer element}[circle]{3pt}

1.5 Getting Help

2.1 Versions and Dependencies

2.2 Installation of Pre-bundled Packages

2.2.1 TEX Live and MacTEX

2.2.2 MiKTEX and proTEXt

2.2.3 Debian and Ubuntu

and place all files of the package in this directory.

2.4 Updating the Installation

2.5 Testing the Installation

Alternatively, you can also use the \hypersetup command.

\usepackage{⟨professional font package⟩}

3.1 Problem Statement

3.2 Solution Template

which Euclid finds hardly surprising. Next comes a line reading

3.3 Title Material

3.5 Creating the Presentation PDF File

3.6 The Table of Contents

3.7 Sections and Subsections

3.8 Creating a Simple Frame

3.9 Creating Simple Overlays

3.10 Using Overlay Specifications

3.11 Structuring a Frame

3.12 Adding References

and he can then add a citation:

3.13 Verbatim Text

\visible<4->{Note the use of \alert{\texttt{std::}}.}

The result seems some more subdued to him.

4.1 Step One: Setup the Files

4.2 Step Two: Structure Your Presentation

\title{Example Presentation Created with the Beamer Package}

4.3 Step Three: Creating a PDF or PostScript File

4.3.1 Creating PDF

4.3.2 Creating PostScript

Second, you can use the following command: