LaTeX two-column layout does not keep text between borders

Question

I am using the \twocolumn tag to use the two-column layout in LaTeX. The problem is that this does not work properly and the text seems not to be fixed between the borders. Not sure if that minimal example helps, but at least you can see my includes and the text with which it happens.

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper, abstracton]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[backend=biber, sorting=none]{biblatex}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[hyphenbreaks]{breakurl}
\usepackage[left=2cm,right=2cm,top=2cm,bottom=2cm]{geometry}

\begin{document}
\twocolumn
\section{Introduction}
Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII), N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate peptidase I (NAALADase I), NAAG peptidase or prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) \dots
\end{document}

Screenshot of left column in PDF that shows the problem

Why does LaTeX write from the first column into the second column and how can I fix that? I would like to avoid change each line separately, where that happens. I am looking for a global solution.

Adriatic

Answer 1

Since the workarounds of the accepted answer were not satisfactory to me, I kept searching and found a more adequate and fast workaround, adding to my preamble the following:

\setlength{\emergencystretch}{3em}

The length 3em can be changed as needed, just keep it as low as possible in order to preserve optimal appearance.

More details here.

Inhalator

This even worked perfectly for urls. I could avoid using the breakurl package after this. – Adriatic

Answer 2

Latex has trouble finding a suitable break point because words with multiple capital letters are normally assumed to be acronyms which should not be hyphenated.

Possible workarounds:

• force a line break with \linebreak before the word. This might result in undesirable large spaces in the line, especially in your situation in with only a single white space in the line
• tell latex where possible break points are with long\-word (I don't know if there are any possible hyphenation points in NAALADase). This can also be globally for the whole document with \hyphenation{long-word} in your preamble
• rephrase the sentence
• use another layout. Very short lines combined with very long and unbreakable words is a tough combination

---

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[backend=biber, sorting=none]{biblatex}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[hyphenbreaks]{breakurl}
\usepackage[left=2cm,right=2cm,top=2cm,bottom=2cm]{geometry}

\begin{document}
\twocolumn
\section{Introduction}
Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII), N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate peptidase I \linebreak (NAALADase I), NAAG peptidase or prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) \dots
\end{document}

Robot