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lncs-enhanced

Improved Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) template

Enhanced LNCS Template

Quick start for modern LaTeXing with LNCS.

This template is made for TeX Live 2026. On Overleaf, select TeX Live 2026 in the project settings (Menu → Settings → Compiler → TeX Live version).

The LaTeX snippets this template is assembled from can be inspected at https://latextemplates.github.io/latex-snippets/.

Examples

The source code examples use the minted package, which highlights code best; it needs Python and latexminted (contained in the Docker image and on Overleaf). The -basic-listings variants use the listings package instead and need no extra setup.

Quick start

As you see on GitHub actions, the paper compiles out of the box. There is no need to adjust the packages or to remove some of them. This might lead to undesired results such as hyperlinks not working any more or no good microtypographic features. In case you think, a package needs to be altered or added, feel free to open an issue.

Advanced quick start

Instead of downloading the ZIP, let git fetch the template; later template updates then merge into your text (see the FAQ). In an empty folder:

git init -b main
git remote add template https://github.com/latextemplates/lncs-enhanced.git
git fetch template
git merge template/main

Then edit and compile as above.

Benefits

Following features are enabled in this template:

Disabled features

Following features were not activated for this template. You can run the latex template generator to enable the features.

Hints on writing an abstract and thesis by Dirk Fahland.

Besides the default BibTeX setup (natbib + splncs04nat), biblatex is supported: generate with --bibtextool=biblatex to use the biblatex-lncs style (numeric, mimicking Springer’s splncs04 look, processed with biber).

For author-year citations (this template’s answer to llncs’s citeauthoryear option, whose Springer .bst files are not part of TeX Live), generate with --authoryear=true: this switches to biblatex with the authoryear style, so \citep{key} renders as “(Author, year)” and \citet{key} as “Author (year)”.

Contained directories and files

Directories

Files

Following additional files are included, which do not need to be adapted:

Background

The official template is available at https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines –> “Templates, samples files & useful links” –> “LaTeX2e Proceedings Templates (zip)”

LaTeX compilation

Compile either in a Docker container (recommended) or with a LaTeX distribution installed on your machine.

The TeX Live docker image by the Island of TeX works the same on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It ships a complete TeX Live including latexmk, biber, latexindent, Python, and latexminted. Thus, minted works out of the box - also on Windows, without a separate Python setup.

  1. Install Docker (Docker Desktop on Windows and macOS).

  2. Open a terminal in the directory of this document and compile in the container. The first run downloads the image (approx. 3 GB); its tag selects the TeX Live version of this template.

    Windows (PowerShell):

    docker run --rm -v "${PWD}:/workdir" registry.gitlab.com/islandoftex/images/texlive:latest latexmk paper

    Windows (Command Prompt):

    docker run --rm -v "%cd%:/workdir" registry.gitlab.com/islandoftex/images/texlive:latest latexmk paper

    Linux and macOS:

    docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/workdir" registry.gitlab.com/islandoftex/images/texlive:latest latexmk paper
  3. Optional: Let VS Code compile in the container, see “VS Code configuration”.

No Docker at hand? Open the repository in GitHub Codespaces and compile in the browser.

If you need additional tools in the image, extend the generated Dockerfile, build it with docker build -t ltg ., and use ltg instead of the image name.

Traditional

Install a LaTeX distribution on your machine:

To have minted running with a traditional installation, you have to do following steps on Windows (the Docker image already contains all of this):

  1. Install python: choco install python - that uses chocolatey to install Python
  2. Install latexminted: pip install latexminted - that uses the Python package manager to install the minted library

latexmk hints

latexmk runs the LaTeX tools (e.g., lualatex and bibtex) as often as needed to get the final PDF (why latexmk is great). It reads its configuration from .latexmkrc in the directory of the document. Overleaf reads .latexmkrc, too, so the “Compiler” setting of the Overleaf project does not matter; select TeX Live 2026 there. To use the configuration for all your documents, put it at the right place.

Build the document:

latexmk paper

In the Docker-based setup, put the docker run ... part from “Docker-based (recommended)” in front, or just run make. In the traditional setup, latexmk needs Perl (TeX Live ships it; with MiKTeX, install it, e.g., via choco install strawberryperl).

To recompile on every change and open the PDF, run:

latexmk -pvc paper

On Windows, the configuration opens the PDF in Sumatra PDF, which reloads the PDF automatically.

Tool hints

Editor and bibliography

Independent of the chosen setup:

Advanced usage

On the command line, there are additional features:

Without make (e.g., on Windows), run a target with make in the Docker image by DANTE e.V., which contains make and all tools, e.g., dictionaries:

docker run --rm -it -v "${PWD}:/workdir" -w /workdir danteev/texlive:2026-C make LOCAL=1 dictionaries

docker run --rm -it -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -e HOME=/tmp -v "$PWD:/workdir" -w /workdir danteev/texlive:2026-C make LOCAL=1 dictionaries

The textlint job of the Check workflow reports weakening words (e.g., “clearly”, “just”) in the English .tex files as annotations. Run it locally with npx (needs Node.js; rules come from .textlintrc.json):

npx --yes --package textlint --package textlint-plugin-latex2e --package textlint-filter-rule-allowlist --package textlint-rule-terminology --package textlint-rule-write-good textlint paper.tex content-markdown.md

The textidote job of the Check workflow checks spelling, grammar, and style of English documents with TeXtidote and reports its findings as annotations. Its options are in .textidote. Run it locally with make spellcheck-textidote: it writes the report textidote.html.

VS Code configuration

Currently, following extensions are recommended:

With the settings below, LaTeX Workshop compiles with the recipe “lualatex ➞ bibtex ➞ lualatex × 2”. To compile in the Docker container (see “Docker-based (recommended)”), add the following lines to VS Code’s settings.json (Shift+Ctrl+P, then “Preferences: Open Settings (JSON)”):

    "latex-workshop.docker.enabled": true,
    "latex-workshop.docker.image.latex": "registry.gitlab.com/islandoftex/images/texlive:latest",

The following settings are additionally recommended:

{
    "editor.wordWrap": "on",                                          // enable soft line breaks
    "latex-workshop.view.pdf.viewer": "tab",                          // display the generated PDF in a separate tab
    "latex-workshop.view.pdf.color.light.backgroundColor": "#cccccc", // light theme: use a darker background in the PDF viewer to lift the pages off it
    "latex-workshop.view.pdf.color.dark.backgroundColor": "#121314",  // dark theme: same, with a dark gray matching the editor
    "latex-workshop.latex.autoBuild.run": "never",                    // never automatically build; alternative: "onSave" (on saving .tex files)
    "editor.renderWhitespace": "all",                                 // display all whitespaces
}

Alternatively, just copy and paste the contents of the vscode.settings.json file to your VS Code settings file.

You can manually trigger compilation by hitting the green button in the extension or using other methods provided by LaTeX Workshop.

LTeX+ tips and tricks

LTeX+ is an offline grammar and spell checker with support for LaTeX and Markdown.

The main file starts with a magic comment that tells LTeX+ the language of the document, e.g., % LTeX: language=en-US. Add the same comment to further .tex files.

Final submission

arXiv

The first line of paper.tex is \ifdefined\pdfoutput\pdfoutput=1\fi. Keep it when uploading to arXiv: arXiv scans the first lines for \pdfoutput=1 to decide between pdflatex and DVI-producing latex. Without the line, arXiv falls back to latex, which cannot build the modern fonts (they ship without Metafont sources) and aborts with an error such as ! I can't find file 'clmr28t10+20'. See this question on TeX.SE for details.

FAQs

Q: How do I find the cause of a LaTeX error?

In case something goes wrong, you can instruct the LaTeX compiler to stop at the first error:

lualatex --synctex=1 paper

Run bibtex paper to get the bibliography rendered (execute lualatex afterwards).

Q: I get ! Package minted Error: minted v3+ executable is not installed

The complete output reads:

! Package minted Error: minted v3+ executable is not installed, is not added to
 PATH, or is not permitted with restricted shell escape; or MiKTeX is being use
d with -aux-directory or -output-directory without setting a TEXMF_OUTPUT_DIREC
TORY environment variable.

The minted package needs Python and the Python package latexminted. The Docker image and Overleaf contain both. For a local installation:

  1. Install Python, e.g., choco install python on Windows.
  2. Install or repair latexminted: python -m pip install --force-reinstall latexminted (see minted#425).

Without Python, use the *-basic-listings*.tex variant: it typesets source code with the listings package.

Q: How do I spell check a passage in another language?

Use the \foreignlanguage{language}{text} command. LTeX+ will detect these elements and automatically switch the spell checker’s language. For example:

\foreignlanguage{english}{Therefore, our proposed approach will change the world.}

Q: How do I add a word (e.g., the name of a tool) to the spell checkers?

Each spell checker reads its own word list; add the word as a new line:

Spell checker Word list
aspell (CI job spell-check, make spellcheck-aspell) .aspell.en.pws (English), .aspell.de.pws (German); below the first line, no hyphenated words
LTeX+ (VS Code) .vscode/ltex.dictionary.en-US.txt, .vscode/ltex.dictionary.de-DE.txt; “Add to dictionary” in VS Code writes there
TeXtidote (CI job textidote, make spellcheck-textidote) .textidote.dict
typos (CI job typos) .typos.toml, section [default.extend-words], e.g., Heros = "Heros"; only needed if typos reports the word

The word lists of aspell, LTeX+, and TeXtidote contain the same words. Instead of editing each of them, add the word to the aspell or the LTeX+ word list and run make dictionaries: it merges both and writes the word into all of them (hyphenated words not into aspell’s). On GitHub, the workflow Dictionaries does this after each push that changes one of these word lists and commits the result. To remove a word, delete it from the aspell and the LTeX+ word list and run make dictionaries.

Q: Overleaf outputs a warning regarding the llncs class

Overleaf might output following warning:

LaTeX Warning: You have requested, on input line 8, version 2018/03/10’ of document class llncs, but only version 2004/08/17 v2.14 LaTeX document class for Lecture Notes in Computer Science’ is available.

The reason is that you did not use llncs.cls (included in your LaTeX distribution). Please remove the file and update your LaTeX distribution.

Q: How can I synchronize updates from the template to my repository?

Set up the repository as described in the advanced quick start: this template is the git remote template. To get the latest template version, fetch and merge it:

git fetch template
git merge template/main

If you already have a repository, add the remote first: git remote add template https://github.com/latextemplates/lncs-enhanced.git. Notes on syncing with the upstream repository are available from GitHub.

Q: I get the error ! pdfTeX error (font expansion): auto expansion is only possible with scalable fonts.

Install the cm-super package using the MiKTeX package manager. Then, run initexmf --mkmaps on the command line. (Long description: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/324972/9075)

Q: I get Package csquotes Error: Unbalanced groups or invalid nesting. What can I do?

A: You have activated \MakeOuterQuote{"} and used some special babel command to allow hyphenation at other places as a dash. One example is writing application"=specific. Now, you have to decide whether you want keep using plain quotes to enquote a word or use the special hyphenation command. In other words: Do you want "quote" and app\-lication\-specific or \enquote{quote} and application"=specific?

Note that this should not happen when the template is generated as the setting tweakouterquote ensures that these two options are mutually exclusive.

Q: I need more space. What can I do?

The most simple solution to get more space is to exchange the font.

Q: How can I reformat my .tex files?

Execute latexindent -l -s -sl -w paper.tex

Alternatively, execute make format.

Q: How I want to obey the one-sentence-per-line rule. How to do?

See “How can I reformat my .tex files?”

Activate the llncsconf package. The possible options are listed in paper.tex.

Q: Is it possible produce a self-archiving version?

Use the authorarchive package; paper.tex contains a commented example.

Q: How do I prepare the sources for arXiv?

arXiv publishes the uploaded sources, including all comments (such as TODOs and commented-out text). arxiv-latex-cleaner removes comments and unused files and can shrink images:

pip install arxiv-latex-cleaner
arxiv_latex_cleaner .

Upload the content of the created directory ../<name of this directory>_arXiv. See also “arXiv” above.

Q: Can I also write in German?

Yes. You can regenerate the template and choose “German” as language.

Q: ngerman-x-latest is reported missing

Install the package dehyph-exptl.

Q: I get ! I can't find file `clmr28t10+20'.

latexmk runs latex, which produces a DVI file (and not a PDF file), because it does not find its configuration. Make sure that .latexmkrc is in the directory of the document.

Q: I get Font "LatinModernMath-Regular" not found.. What can I do?

Error message:

luaotfload | db : Reload initiated (formats: otf,ttf,ttc); reason: Font "LatinModernMath-Regular" not found.
luaotfload | resolve : sequence of 3 lookups yielded nothing appropriate.

! Package fontspec Error: The font "LatinModernMath-Regular" cannot be found.

Install the package lm-math manually.

Q: I get File `ushyphex.tex' not found.

Install package tugboat.

Q: I get ! Package fontspec Error: The font "TeXGyreTermes" cannot be found.. What can I do?

Install the package tex-gyre and tex-gyre-math manually.

Q: I get ! error: (type 1): cannot find encoding file 'ntx-ot1-tlf.enc' for reading. What can I do?

See https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/240850/9075: Install the packages newpx and newtxsf manually.

Q: I get ! TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [main memory size=3000000].. What can I do?

Follow the steps at https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/548335/9075

Try with following command

lualatex -shell-escape --extra-mem-top=10000000 --synctex=1 paper.tex

See https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/124206/9075 for details.

Q: There is an output that biber/biblatex too old

See installation hints of how to update them at different systems.

Q: MiKTeX complains about missing .sty files.

Use the MiKTeX console to refresh the package index. Then, automatic installation should work again.

Q: How to include Excel charts properly?

  1. Select the Excel chart you want to use.
  2. Print to PDF with the option “Print Selected Chart”.
  3. Remove empty space of the created PDF page with pdfcrop chart.pdf chart_cropped.pdf (install via MikTeX first, if not available; check via pdfcrop --version).
  4. Use pdfscissors to crop the borders and title (maybe you have to allow https://sites.google.com in the Java security center in the control panel).
  5. Include the PDF in LaTeX via \includegraphics{chart_cropped.pdf}.

Further information

License

The license of this work is 0BSD which corresponds to “public domain”. Any derived work can freely be relicensed and can omit original copyright and license information.