(La)TeX Support for manuscript preparation

T_EX/L^AT_EX Related Topics

Are there style files available to use with TeX/LaTeX?

Please download the following files for document preparation using LaTeX. Unfortunately, at the present time (and in the foreseeable future), there is no support for plain TeX or other flavors of TeX (such as AMSTeX, ConTeXt, etc.)

The zipped file pack ieeeconf.zip. This contains the LaTeX class file ieeeconf.cls, a sample LaTeX source file root.tex and the compiled document root.pdf.
BiBTeX files IEEEtranBST.zip
Guide to use ieeeconf.cls (based on IEEEtrans.cls) IEEEtran_HOWTO.pdf

Some conferences may require that special templates be used. Please check the website of your conference. These templates cannot be downloaded here.

The document root.tex may be configured for US Letter paper or A4. Please note the following important lines:

\documentclass[letterpaper, 10 pt, conference]{ieeeconf}  % Comment this line out if you need a4paper
                                                          
%\documentclass[a4paper, 10pt, conference]{ieeeconf}      % Use this line for a4 paper

\IEEEoverridecommandlockouts                              % This command is only needed if 
                                                          % you want to use the \thanks command
                                                          
\overrideIEEEmargins                                      % Needed to meet printer requirements.

What else do I need to create PDF documents using LaTeX?

In addition to above style files you need the following components:

A LaTeX distribution for your platform, e.g. MikTeX 2.3 or higher (for Windows), TeTeX 1.0.7 or higher (for Linux and other *nix flavors) and OzTeX 5.1 or higher (for Mac). Make sure that your installation uses Type 1 fonts. Earlier versions of LaTeX used Type 3 or Bitmapped fonts. These are not scalable (i.e. render well on screen as well as print). The paper submission system checks for fonts used and if it detects Type 3 fonts, the paper cannot be uploaded. We cannot assist with installation of these packages on your system, however, they all come with extensive installation notes.
One of the following
1. Ghostscript 7.0.4 or higher (Windows and Linux/Unix)
2. GSview 4.6 or higher together with the recommended version of Ghostscript (Windows)
3. Adobe Distiller 6 or higher (Windows). This comes with Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional 6 or higher.
4. OzTeX (Mac)
Options 1 and 2 are high quality open source software and widely in use. Adobe Distiller is a commercial product. There are several other products (free or commercial) in the market that can produce compatible PDF files. However, there is no support available for them through these pages.
Some distributions of LaTeX (e.g. MikTeX) come bundled with pdfTeX that can directly create PDF files from TeX source. However, this will require that you have all graphics/images of your document available in PDF format. It cannot convert encapsulated postscript to PDF. Its use requires minor modifications to the LaTeX source file and the details for that appear in pdfTeX documentation and are not repeated here.

How do I create compliant PDFs from LaTeX source?

Assuming that you have a LaTeX distribution for your platform with "Type 1" fonts installed, use one of the following options:

Using a recent distribution of MikTeX or TeTeX and Ghostscript (Linux/Unix and Windows)

Use the command lines

latex sample
dvips -Ppdf -G0 -tletter sample
ps2pdf -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dMAxSubsetPct=100 -dSubsetFonts=true 
   -dEmbedAllFonts=true -sPAPERSIZE=letter sample.ps sample.pdf

The ps2pdf command should go on a single line. To obtain A4 paper size output the commands are very similar

latex a4sample
dvips -Ppdf -G0 -ta4 a4sample
ps2pdf -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dMAxSubsetPct=100 -dSubsetFonts=true
   -dEmbedAllFonts=true -sPAPERSIZE=a4 a4sample.ps a4sample.pdf

These instructions have been tested under Linux with teTeX 1.0.7 and Ghostscript 7.0.4, and more recently with teTeX 3.0 and Ghostscript 8.15.

Without -d[options] listed above, ps2pdf will not embed and subset fonts as required by PDF compliance and your paper will not be ready for upload. Note that if you specify the Adobe Times, Helvetica and Courier font families (the so-called base 14 fonts) to be used but do not have them installed on your computer then they will not be embedded. Pdf files with these fonts missing may or may not be accepted depending on the conference settings; they often are.

Do not omit the target paper size in each step as your system may have a default paper size setting that differs from the target paper size.

Under Windows with MikTeX and Ghostscript the third line

ps2pdf -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dMAxSubsetPct=100 -dSubsetFonts=true 
   -dEmbedAllFonts=true -sPAPERSIZE=letter sample.ps sample.pdf

fails while producing an incomprehensible error message. This is because under Windows ps2pdf is implemented as a batch file which does not allow the character = to be used. In this case modify the command to

ps2pdf -dCompatibilityLevel#1.4 -dMAxSubsetPct#100 -dSubsetFonts#true 
   -dEmbedAllFonts#true -sPAPERSIZE#letter sample.ps sample.pdf

and it will work like a charm.

This was tested with MiKTeX 2.3 and Ghostscript 7.04 and more recently wth MikTeK 2.8 and Ghostscript 8.6.

Using a recent distribution of MikTeX and Ghostscript with GSview (Windows)

Using a recent distribution of MikTeX and Acrobat Distiller (Windows)

To produce PDF that will print well on paper as well as look sharp on the screen you must have Type 1 fonts installed with your LaTeX distribution. To create PDF, use the following steps

latex [a4]sample (if needed use also bibTeX and rerun LaTeX)
dvips -Ppdf -G0 -tletter sample (for letter sized document)
dvips -Ppdf -G0 -ta4 a4sample (for A4 sized document)

This generates the postscript file "sample.ps". Next, launch Adobe distiller. Here are the screen captures of settings in Distiller 5.0, similar settings also exist on other Distiller releases.

In the distiller select Settings | Job Options as shown in the first image -

Next, under "General" tab, set paper size to Letter (8.5"x11") as shown in the circled part of the image

Next, click on the "Fonts" tab and enable font embedding as shown in the third figure.

You may want to save this setting as (say) a joboption CSSconferences and you can reuse it for future conferences.

Alternatively, you may load the IEEE joboptions and it will set up suitable options.

Important: If you are setting up joboptions on your own, make sure that the PDF compatibility is set to "Acrobat 5.0 (PDF 1.4)".
IEEE will not accept papers with PDF 1.2 or 1.3 compatibility.

Using pdfTeX

Using OzTeX (Mac)

If you are using a Mac system with OS 8.6 or lower, you will need to use OzTeX 4.1 - then you have to make sure that you have Type 1 fonts installed since the installation comes with Type 3 fonts. Else, download and install the latest version OzTeX that comes standard with Type 1 CM and AMS fonts.
Download the Mac version of ieeeconf.cls with appropriate carriage returns. Some users have experienced difficulty converting the windows version to Mac leading to compilation problems.

Add the following lines to your "Add Outline Fonts" config file:

paper_width = 8.5in
paper_height = 11in

In Oztex 5.1, use the "Add Outline Fonts" config.

Finally, when you dvips, the options -CMPS should automatically pop-up. Leave it alone.

OzTeX hints and images courtesy of Brad Burchett.

Should I use dvips/ghostscript/distiller combination, PDFLaTeX or dvipdfm?

There are currently two viable alternatives in producing compliant PDF documents from LaTeX (the dvips method and the pdfTeX Method). The first option is currently the best one owing to the fact that the LaTeX source file does not have to be modified, all style and class files are supported, and bitmapped as well as postscript figures can be included directly into the final PDF. Both methods of creating compliant PDFs work well. However the work flow and requirements are slightly different. Of course, they all require that the TeX installation being used supports Type 1 fonts.

	dvips/ghostscript/distiller	pdfTeX
Fonts	Type 1	Type 1
Style files	All known styles supported	Limited support
Platforms	All	Linux (Y), Win (Y), Mac (?)
Graphics	EPS/JPEG/PNG	PDF
Workflow	latex+bibtex --> dvips --> PDF	latex+bibtex --> PDF

Dvipdfm generally works well, but has some bugs in processing certain types of .eps figures. The only reliable way to work with dvipdfm when including encapsulated postscript figures in your document is to first convert them to PDF.

My TeX installation uses bitmapped fonts, what should I do?

All earlier TeX/LaTeX installations used METAFONT technology to create Type 3 fonts. These fonts were customized for the printing device for which they were meant. Unfortunately that does not help in the creation of PDF that renders well on the screen as well as in print. If you have the (La)TeX system installed on your own computer, upgrade it to a newer version. Most newer packaged distributions come with Type 1 fonts. All packages mentioned above support Type 1 fonts. If you are using a network installation of LaTeX, please request your system administrator to upgrade the installation with a more recent distribution. Unfortunately, there is no reliable way to convert fonts from bitmapped to vector once the document has been generated. The changes have to be made when converting from latex --> dvi --> PDF.

I am using vector fonts, yet the PDF test says there are bitmap fonts in my paper. What should I do?

It may happen that even if your installation uses Type 1 fonts only your pdf document still contains bitmapped (Type 3) fonts. The most likely source for bitmapped fonts are images that might be using bitmapped fonts. You may check if these fonts originate from the graphics in the document by compiling the source file without the graphics.

The solution will be either to regenerate the offending images using Type 1 fonts or to convert them to raster images such as JPEG or PNG..