Aaltothesis

Workspace Navigation

Aalto Thesis LaTeX Template

This is the home of the Aaltothesis - Aalto BSc/MSc/Lic.Tech Thesis LaTeX Template - space.

History

The template and its accompanying style file were originally written for the TKK Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Automation thesis writers, but later—after Aalto University began its operation—the style file and template were extended in a fashion that makes it possible for all Aalto thesis writers to use the template. 

Files

File Size Comment

aaltothesis.cls

45873 LaTeX template class file

curves.pdf

30259 Graphics file

fullpackage20230210.zip

5464866 All template files (cls, tex, pdf & readme)

kandidatarbetsbotten.pdf

619491 Typeset pdf (Swedish)

kandidatarbetsbotten.tex

18790 LaTeX template (Swedish)

ledspole.jpg

350544 Graphics file

linediagram.pdf

37609 Graphics file

opinnaytepohja.pdf

858769 Typeset pdf (Finnish)

opinnaytepohja.tex

105538 LaTeX template (Finnish)

pdfa-instructions.pdf

505666 Guide and instructions for creating PDF/A documents

readme.txt

11025 Log of changes made

thesistemplate.pdf

862536 Typeset pdf (English)

thesistemplate.tex

107321 LaTeX template (English)

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a detailed listing of the files.

Notes

  • You will also need the Aalto logo package. Note that this package contains old logos of BIZ (nee ECON) and ARTS.  Should you need BIZ or ARTS logos you are on your own at the moment.
  • The default format is now pdf/a-2b, and pdf/a-1b is supported too (you can still produce HQ prints by using the dvips option).
  • The thesis text is in Finnish and in an incomplete version in English. The complete English version is in preparation. However, the template is heavily commented in English, so it should be easy to use this template in theses written in English.
  • The compiled thesis template (opinnaytepohja.pdf in Finnish) can be used as a stand-alone guide for all thesis writers no matter what typesetting software they are using. It should be noted that the typographical conventions used in the text are Finnish ones hence you will need to consult e.g. Chicago Manual of Style or such like when writing in English.
  • This template is not intended for doctoral dissertations as these are usually printed in the Aalto publication series. There is a different LaTeX template for doctoral theses.
  • School of Electrical Engineering thesis writers are encouraged to use the IEEE Citation Style when writing in English. Adapt the \thebibliography part to achieve this (see the comment by Ingrid Castrejon Suarez del Real posted on 19.4.2021) and learn to pay attention to the details that go in writing a list of references or bibliography.

See the latest comments below for useful, relevant additional information on the package files.

You can find a Word template to write your thesis at Word Thesis template for all Aalto University schools






Navigate space

83 Comments

  1. Note to thesis writers writing in English

    after having changed the default document language to

    \documentclass[english,12pt,a4paper,pdftex]{article}
    

    the compilation ends in errors. One is advised to remove all \foreignlanguage macros e.g. on line 895 change

    \foreignlanguage{english}{Massachusetts,} 1992.
    

    to simply

    Massachusetts, 1992.
    

    and the compilation errors will go away.

  2. When using hyperref, set the pagemode as UseNone (instead of None, as given in the template):

    \usepackage[pdfpagemode=UseNone,colorlinks=true,urlcolor=red, linkcolor=blue,citecolor=black,pdfstartview=FitH]{hyperref}
    

    This removes a warning when running pdflatex.

  3. I need to include two professors' name in the first page of my thesis.

    However I can't use this command:

    \supervisor{first professor's name \\ second professor's name}{}

    Any comment will be helpful.

    Thank you!

    1. There is no provision for two supervisors as the Degree Regulations (excluding School of Engineering Degree Regulations, and amendments in Fall 2012) do not allow two supervisors for M.Sc. or B.Sc. thesis.

      However, two instructors are possible. Just add second \instructor command.

      If you really need two supervisors, you should take a look at the source of aaltothesis.sty and see how \instructor{}{} was coded and modify the thesis style file accordingly.

      1. Thank you for your help. The reason for including two supervisors' names is I am an EM student, thus I need one supervisor from host university and another supervisor from home university.(smile)

      2. Hi,

         

        I am a Nordic master and I also have the same problem, namely two supervisors for my thesis work. And I didnt find aaltothesis.sty. Only aaltologo.sty is found but I dont think it is the correct one. Then could you just briefly explain that how I can add the second supervisor or instructor?

         

        BRs,

        1. aaltothesis.sty is no longer in use. The current version for typsetting one's thesis uses aaltothesis.cls and the new template opinnaytepohja.tex (in Finnish) or thesistemplate.tex (in English). The complete package is in opinnayteohjeet.tar.gz (compressed tar archive) below. In addition to the supervisor, you can specify one or more advisors via the macro \advisor. For two advisors, specify the names of the two advisors as follows:

          \advisor{D.Sc. Advisor One}

          \advisor{M.Sc. Advisor Two}

          Normally, you have only one supervisor, either your professor here in Finland or your professor in the university you came from, and optionally you can have one or more advisors. Also, as Perttu Puska states above, Aalto University's Degree Regulations allow only one supervisor. If you really need two supervisors after having discussed this issue with your two professors, make appropriate changes to the code for \supervisorname (refer to the code for \advisorname to help you).

          1. Thank you very much :D

          2. Hi,

             

            I've tried to modify the code for \supervisorname according to the code for \advisorname, but it does not work out finally.The following is what I tried. I think there should be some problem but since I am not familiar with the code, I have no idea what should I do. Could you offer some help on this? Thanks.

             

               %% Abstract header and field names in English

               \renewcommand*{\univ@rsity}{aalto university}%

               \renewcommand*{\authorname}{Author}%

               \renewcommand*{\thesisname}{Title}%

               \renewcommand*{\keywordsname}{Keywords}%

               \renewcommand*{\datename}{Date}%

               \renewcommand*{\langname}{Language}%

               \renewcommand*{\nofpgsname}{Number of pages}%

               \renewcommand*{\supervisorname}{%

                 \ifthenelse{\value{advisors}=0}{Supervisor and advisor}{Supervisor}{%

                  \ifthenelse{\value{supervisors}=1}{Supervisor}{%

                   \ifthenelse{\value{supervisors}>1}{Supervisors}{%

                  }}}%%%

               }%

               \renewcommand*{\advisorname}{%

                 \ifthenelse{\value{advisors}=0}{}{%

                   \ifthenelse{\value{advisors}=1}{Advisor}{%

                     \ifthenelse{\value{advisors}>1}{Advisors}{%

                 }}}%%%

               }%

            1. Hi,

              The part you have edited just redefines the macro \supervisorname, which is used as a variable in the code that contains the string "Supervisor". The actual typesetting—the placing of text on the page—is done starting from line 620 (under the comment "Do the cover page layout"). The macro that typesets "Supervisor" on the cover page is \cov@rsup@rvisor. You'll have to put two supervisors, as is done for the advisors using \Advis@r just below \cov@rsup@rvisor (lines 661–675). You must make the appropriate changes here too.

            2. You will also have to edit the abstract page, the layout of which is done starting from line 715 (some calculations are done prior to this just above).

              1. Hi,

                 

                I changed the those parts you've mentioned, but apparently I didn't modified it correctly.  Texmaker always complained errors. Is it fine for you to have a look at my edited file? I can send it to you via email. Or is it possible that you could help me edit it cause I really don't know the grammar the cls file is using?

                1. I managed to roughly change the .cls template file to accommodate 2 supervisors.

                  I'm attaching the git patch. You can apply it by going to the directory that contains your aaltothesis.cls file and doing "patch p0 < diff.patch" or "patch --dry-run < diff.patch" for a dry run. After that you can just add 2 \supervisor{} in your .tex


                  diff.patch

  4. Updated to 1.7 version.

    Minor fixes, mainly.

  5. I am trying to write chapters in separate files and then including them in the given template. Is it possible to get the cover page and abstract page and then includin it in some other template like the one in the following url

    https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/thesis/easy-thesis

    Anyone who can help me in this regard would be highly appreciated.

    1. You can split the stuff after the \begin{document} command in the opinaytepohja.tex file and put it into separate files in "almost" in any way you want, and then include them into your main file as \include{mysplitfile}. A more concrete example follows:

      Put \keywords and the two abstracts into the file myabstract.tex (note the extension must be .tex when using \include); put the preface, abbreviations and other stuff upto the beginning of the section "Introduction" into the file otherfrontmatter.tex; then the introduction text from \section{Johdanto/Introduction} upto  "ei kaipaa alaotsikoita." into file introduction.tex; and so on. Then, in your main file, say opinaytepohja.tex, you will have something like this:

      \documentclass[english,12pt,a4paper,pdftex]{article}
      \usepackage[elec,latin1]{aaltothesis}
      ...
      \begin{document}
      \degreeprogram{Electronics and electrical engineering}%
      {Elektroniikka ja sähkötekniikka}
      ...
      \include{myabstract}
      \include{otherfrontmatter}
      \newpage
      \thesistableofcontents
      \include{introduction}
      \include{...}
      ...
      \end{document}

      Of course, you can put the \newpage and \thesistableofcontents into a file as well

      Is this what you want? I couldn't look at the contents of the template in your link because I would have had to register myself and I didn't want to.

      1. I tried it with \include and \input, its not working properly. Could anyone change the .sty file to accomodate the attached template. Easy%20Thesis.zip

        1. The .sty file doesn't affect the use of \input or \include. You must have all the .tex files in the same directory/folder. If you want to work on one file only while keeping the page numbering and cross-reference correct, use \includeonly. You need to be more specific as to what isn't working. I don't really know what it is you want to do and what isn't working and why if you don't give me details. Post a minimum set of files showing the problem. Specify the platform (Windows, Linux,...) you're using. Including .tex files as done in the template \input{Settings/Packages.tex} isn't  the recommended way of doing this.

          1. I am doing as you mentioned and if I encounter any problem I will let you know. Thanks

  6. Hi,

    Where can I find the Microsoft Word template?

    1. I'm sorry, we have only resources to support LaTeX. Moreover we try encourage students to use LaTeX.

      1. Hi Perttu,

        At the time you answered me, I was thinking that Microsoft Office is a much efficient text editor, compared to Latex. But, because at that time I was new to Latex, I preferred not to claim it. Now, after some months of working with Latex, still I think in the same way.

        It is not always possible to make your text look in the best way, by Latex. And by "the best way" I am meaning the arrangement that makes it easiest for the reader to follow your story line. For example, sometimes it is really important for you to have a figure or a table at an exact place, and when Latex moves it to somewhere else, it hurts the readability of your text.

        I think this decision of eliminating Microsoft Office thesis template should be rethought.

         

        1. LaTeX is not a text editor, it is a publishing system for sciences. It is not meant for the same purpose as MS Word which is a WYSIWYG editor.  It is more difficult to make sure that writers stay within good typesetting limits and practices if they are using a WYSIWYG editor. The other problem with using a WYSIWYG editor as a publishing system substitute is that it is limited per se as what-you-see-is-all-you-get.

          NB Figures and tables may be placed at an exact place by enforcing the placing, see e.g. http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/8625/force-figure-placement-in-text or by not using floating environments such as \figure - you can always manually enforce placing by just issuing \includegraphics{... where you want the pic to be placed. However,  stylish and good-looking placement of tables and figures in a text is a subtle and difficult skill regardless of the system of typesetting you are using (this is the reason why there are  - or were -  professional typesetters). It is more likely that the result will not look good if the writer is forced to use exact placement of figures as in  MS Word.

           

           

  7. The Aalto thesis LaTeX template package has been updated. All the macros that were defined in aaltothesis.sty (v. 1.7) and the page settings in opinnaytepohja.tex (v. 1.7) have been integrated into the class file aaltothesis.cls. This has made the template TeX files opinnaytepohja.tex (and thesistemplate.tex) clearer. The template opinnaytepohja.tex has been partially translated into English in thesistemplate.tex. Thus the default language setting in opinnaytepohja.tex is Finnish, and in thesistemplate.tex it is English.

    Additionally, support for Swedish has been added, and the default input encoding has now been set to utf8.

  8. Is there a way to include the abstract in Finnish, Swedish and English?

    1. Please see the contents of the files before sending a query. You will see that the template opinnaytepohja.tex already contains the three abstracts in the order Finnish, English and Swedish. However, I don't see why you would want the abstract in all three languages. Also, check with your supervisor that this is OK. The B.Sc. thesis requires the abstract in the language of the thesis only while the M.Sc. thesis typically requires two, typically Finnish or Swedish and English.

  9. Hi, I downloaded the files and tried to compile them on Texmaker. I keep getting the following error:

    ! pdfTeX error (font expansion): auto expansion is only possible with scalablefonts. \@EveryShipout@Output...@Org@Shipout \box \@cclv \newpage

    I googled around, and found that it has something to do with the microtype package. However, I am not sure what exactly I  should do here. Any help would be appreciated..Thank!

      1. Thank you so much. Installing it with Package Manager worked!

  10. A new version of the thesis template package is now available. Since the subject  codes (e.g. S-xy) for the major subject of the Masters thesis will no longer be used, this part of the template has been appropriately modified. The change affects only MSc students and licentiate thesis writers, not BSc students.

  11. Has anyone got the template working with Lyx? 

    I got Lyx to understand the aaltothesis class file by creating a .layout file, but Lyx gives the following error:
    "LaTeX Error: Option clash for package inputenc."

    \setcounter
    {secnumdepth}{3}
    The package inputenc has already been loaded with options:
    [utf8,]
    There has now been an attempt to load it with options
    [latin9]
    Adding the global options:
    utf8,,latin9
    to your \documentclass declaration may fix this.
    Try typing <return> to proceed.

    Also an error about page numbering with roman numerals is given: " \setcounter{NMainPages}{vii}" does not work.

    Best Regards, Panu

  12. The Aalto thesis class file aaltothesis.cls has been changed so that, contrary to earlier versions, on the cover page the title of the thesis now comes first followed by the author's name.

  13. See my reply to your earlier query above.

  14. Hi, while I use the template, I just find that the first paragraph of each section or subsection will not automatically have the space at the first line. Is it what the thesis formation really is or just some small mistake?

     

    1. This is no mistake. Typesetting rules are different in different languages.

    2. We use the authoritative Typografian käsikirja by Terho Itkonen, which states clearly

      Ensimmäistä otsikon, väliotsikon tai muun katkon jälkeistä kappaletta ei sisennetä. Sisennyksen tarkoitushan on osoittaa kappaleen vaihtuminen ja tauottaa lukemista. Edellä mainituissa kohdissa niin tapahtuu ilman sisennystäkin. ...

      In any case, many international  typesetters (i.e. many US-originating international publishing houses) seem to be quite confused about the first indent. They should have taken advice from

      Robert Bringhurst whose Elements of Typographic Style,  states that "opening paragraphs" should be "flush left" because

      the function of a paragraph indent is to mark a pause, setting the paragraph apart from what precedes it. If a paragraph is preceded by a title or subhead, the indent is superfluous and can therefore be omitted. ...

      Apparently this curious rule of indenting the first paragraph seems to originate from high school essay writing conventions where it is easier to teach a simple rule ("always-indent-the-first-paragraph-no-matter-where-it-lies-in-the-text-body") than a more refined rule.

  15. Ran Xiao, I have deleted the two png files you attached in the table containing the files of the thesis package. This space is reserved for the package files only. Could you please reattach them to your comment?

    1. sorry, I uploaded them again unintentionally...please delete them. I have put the pic in my previous comment.

  16. Missä päin pakettia on määritelty lähdeluettelon otsikoksi "Viitteet"? Haluaisin muuttaa sen Lähdeluetteloksi, miten se onnistuisi? Miksi muuten paketissa käytetään \section-jaottelua lukujen teossa, eikö \chapter olisi parempi, sehän aloittaisi uuden luvun automaattisesti aina uudelta sivulta.

    1. "Viitteet" on määritelty LaTeXin kielimäärittelyjä tekevän babel-järjestelmän syöväreissä. Voit muuttaa sanan määrittelemällä sen uudelleen \begin{document} -käsky jälkeen näin :

      \renewcommand{\refname}{Lähdeluettelo}

      Kannattaa sijoittaa uudelleenmäärittely  juuri ennen \thesisbibliography -makroa syöttötiedoston luettavuuden ja selkeyden säilyttämisen vuoksi.

       

      Opinnäytetyö on raportti, ei kirja. Tämän takia lukujen jaottelussa käytetään \section -makroa, joka latoo uuden luvun alkamisivun oikealla tavalla. Saat opinnäytepohjan toimimaan haluamallasi tavalla korvaamalla käytettyä  \clearpage -makroa \cleardoublepage -makrolla ennen \section -makroa.

  17. I am trying to include Chapter numbers by using \chapter command and getting error " Undefined control sequence \chapter" .

    It seems that document class is article which doesn't support chapter command.  

    Any idea how to to include chapter number in the thesis?

  18. Hi

    thesis uses article-style and hence does not suppot \chapter. 

  19. Hi!

    I downloaded the newest version of Miktex (64-bit for windows) and tried the opinnaytepohja. It doesn't work. This is the error message I get when trying to compile it to pdf:

    Overfull \hbox (2.0pt too wide) in paragraph at lines 170--170

    []

     Overfull \hbox (2.00002pt too wide) in paragraph at lines 170--187

    []

    [2

    ! pdfTeX error (font expansion): auto expansion is only possible with scalable

    fonts.

    \@EveryShipout@Output ...@Org@Shipout \box \@cclv

     

    l.187 \end{abstractpage}

     

    ! ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!

    Transcript written on opinnaytepohja.log.

    texify: pdflatex failed for some reason (see log file).

    P.S. I tried the 32-bit version also and it gives the same error...

    1. Hi,

      I was unable to replicate the error you got. Try installing an older version of MikTeX. Perhaps that works better.

      1. I got the same error (...auto expansion is only possible with scalable fonts...). I tried MiKTeX 2.9.5105 and 2.9.4503 and my OS is Windows 8.1 64-bit. Any suggestions?

    2. It appears that the error is due to the character stringss ">>" and "<<" in file opinnatepohja.tex. These strings didn't cause trouble before (since 2010), but now they seem to result in an error when using MikTeX (doesn't happen in Linux). Remove these characters or replace them with " (lainausmerkki; quotation mark)  and the official opinnaytepohja.tex file should work. Your own thesis text should compile just fine too without these strings.

      These strings appear only in one place under the heading "Rakenne" as follows: ... >>Teoreettinen tausta>>...  >>Johtopäätökset>> tai >>Yhteenveto>>... I hope this solve your problem.

    3. Hi,

       

      For me, the problem was solved by changing the fonts the aaltothesis.cls-file tries to overwrite. The .cls-file was using Computer Modern -fonts, and the ones that worked for me were Latin Modern -fonts.

       

      On lines 177-179 in aaltothesis.cls, it should read

       

      \renewcommand{\rmdefault}{lmr}%

      \renewcommand{\ttdefault}{lmtt}%

      \renewcommand{\sfdefault}{lmss}%

       

      instead of 

       

      \renewcommand{\rmdefault}{cmr}%

      \renewcommand{\ttdefault}{cmtt}%

      \renewcommand{\sfdefault}{cmss}%

  20. I use the miktex and took character stringss ">>" and "<< and there after program says this.

    opinnaytepohja.aux

    85

    LaTeX Error: No counter 'NAbstracts' defined.

    See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
    Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
     ...                                              
                                                      
    l.85 \setcounter{NAbstracts}{2}

    aaltologo.sty

    493

    Package lcg Warning: Using an already existing counter rand on input line 493.

    What should I do?

  21. Mikael

    check out the discussion above regarding << and >>

     

     

  22. aaltothesis.cls has been fixed to deal with compiling problems experienced by MiKTeX users. Thanks to Jussi Tiihonen for pointing out the problem.

  23. I noticed that aaltothesis.cls counts the number of pages wrong in the abstract page. My thesis has 6+47 pages, but counter says 6+48. I don't really understand what went wrong and where, but I fixed it in my case as follows:

    Changed this line in aaltothesis.cls:

    \immediate\write\@auxout{\string\setcounter{NMainPages}{\thepage}}%

    ... to this:

    \immediate\write\@auxout{\string\setcounter{NMainPages}{\thepage-1}}%
    1. Encountered the same problem and used the same solution as Tuomas.

  24. Mu supervisor noticed that section and subsection titles uses different fonts! Third level titles are not too deep...

    1. In aaltoseries.cls file, change 

      \renewcommand\section{%
      \@startsection{section}{1}{0mm}{-1pt}{15.4pt}{%
      \vskip29.8pt\flushleft\bfseries\sffamily\fontsize{12pt}{12pt}\selectfont}%
      }
      \renewcommand\subsection{%
      \@startsection{subsection}{2}{0mm}{-1pt}{15.4pt}{%
      \vskip14.4pt\flushleft\bfseries\sffamily\fontsize{11pt}{11pt}\selectfont}%

      (subsection was \rmfamily whereas section was \sffamily)

       

  25. The file "diff.patch", which was uploaded to allow the inclusion of two supervisors instead one, causes the problems that follow:

    1. If two \supervisor{} lines are added, the FRONT PAGE shows "Thesis supervisor and advisor:" instead "Thesis supervisors:"
    2. Regardless of using one or two \supervisor{} lines, the ABSTRACT PAGE shows "Thesis supervisor and advisor:" and, furthermore, it shows no name at all.

    I have been going through the code "aaltothesis.cls" for quite a long time trying to find the error to no avail. Any idea how to solve this? I have tried both Sharelatex.com and TeXnicCenter and got the same result.

     

  26. Hi, 

    how can I add my references from a bib-file? I don't seem to be able to use /bibliography{NAMEOFBIBFILE}, nor any commands that would modify the appearance of my references. I'm trying to use this latex template instead of the old one. I would like to use my existing reference list from a bib file instead of writing them all again, and also I need to have the references in "LastName, X.Y, YEAR, etc. etc", not in the way they are now in the template. 

    1. I figured it out myself, in order to help others: remove the table of contents and bibliography commands in the aaltothesis.cls file, and then it is possible to refrences with e.g. biblatex.

  27. It might be worth inserting a \markboth{}{} at the end on the command which defines \thesisappendix in the file aaltostyle.cls to prevent the header of the bibliography section from bleeding into the appendix headers.

  28. The thesis template package has now been updated to version  3.0. This version produces a PDF/A-1b compliant pdf file, which means that the resulting pdf file is suitable for long-term archiving. In addition to the traditional asymmetrical, one-sided page layout suitable for binding your single-side printed thesis, you can now produce a document having a symmetrical page layout suitable for online publishing (submit this version to the library for online publishing). Also, the abstract page has been redone to comply with the new layout guidelines given by Aalto University.

    The older LaTeX templates opinnaytepohja.tex and thesistemplate.tex (< version 3.0) are not compatible with the new aaltothesis.cls LaTeX class file, and the new LaTeX  templatex (tex files) are not backward compatible with the older aaltothesis.cls files.

  29. The thesis template package has now been updated to version 3.01. An interface (macro) has been implemented to give the user control over the copyright text written in the pdf metadata and the human readable page. The user can now also suppress the human readable page, if so desired, although this is not recommended. Also, a minor change has been made to the abstract page in the master's thesis in compliance with the new recommendation from earlier this week: Department is replaced with Degree programme and Professorship with Major.

    Note! The Aalto thesis package version 3.0 and later requires pdfx.sty version 1.5.8 or newer to work. The latest version on the day of release of version 3.0 was 1.5.84, released on 2017/05/18.

  30. NOTE! The page numbering has of the thesis template changed completely as of version 3.0. The cover page is page one, and all the pages, including those before the introduction section of the thesis, from the cover to the end are now numbered continuously. The number of pages of the thesis from the cover to the possible appendix and the number of pages of the possible appendix or appendices are noted on the abstract page. 

  31. A bug in the page numbering has been corrected and the package files have been updated. Since the correction was really small, I didn't change the version number, it's still 3.01, but the date of the files in the newest version is 2017-10-06. Sorry for the numerous updates in such a short span of time.

  32. The class file aaltothesis.cls has be updated to version 3.02. The abstract page code has been rewritten to allow for abstracts to span more than one page. This has been done because bachelor's students are required to write an abstract of 400-500 words. The LaTeX template files opinnaytepohja.tex and thesistemplate.tex have not changed, hence their version number, 3.01, is the same as before. I have, however, updated the dates in these files. Thus, the earlier release of the .tex files should work with the new version of aaltothesis.cls.

  33. The aaltothesis package has been updated to version 3.1. The template now directly supports creating PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b and PDF/A-3b by specifying a-1b, a-2b or a-3b, respectively, as a \documentclass option. The option pdfa used earlier is no longer valid. Additionally, more error and compatibility checks have been added. The earlier LaTeX template files opinnaytepohja.tex and thesistemplate.tex should work after replacing the \documentclass option pdfa with a-1ba-2b or a-3b. Note, however, that the file submitted to the Aalto University library should NOT be PDF/A-3b compliant; only the a-1b and a2b options of this package should be used.

    The software recommended for validating one's thesis are Acrobat Pro, PDF-XChanger and the free online validator at https://www.pdf-online.com/osa/validate.aspx. Almost all of the nonconformity problems that have arisen to date in compiled theses have been tracked to files included into the theses, typically graphics files. So, first check your embedded files when you run into trouble with PDF/A validation. However, validating a pdf document for a-1b or a-2b conformity can be problematic and conflicting, and the conformity results can differ in different validating software.

    To illustrate this dilemma, this package is now provided with graphics files in the jpg, pdf and png formats for users to experience first hand (and possibly help me resolve this dilemma). When using pdflatex, jpg, pdf and png are the valid formats for graphics files. When the example document, that includes two graphics files, is compiled using pdflatex, a PDF/A-1b compliant file results as validated by all three of the above-mentioned validators for all of the valid file formats. When the example document is compiled for PDF/A-2b conformity with graphics file kuva1.pdf, the resulting pdf fails Acrobat Pro's validation test but passes the test of the other two validators. If this PDF/A-2b file is now repaired by Acrobat Pro for conformity, the repaired file fails the conformity test in PDF-XChanger and in the online service. To further confuse matters, when using graphics files kuva1.jpg or kuva1.png, the resulting pdf is judged as PDF/A-2b compliant by all three validators. The jpg, pdf and png files have been converted from the original eps files. If anyone knows or figures out why this is so, I would be most grateful to know the reason. And if there is a fix to this problem, I would be grateful if you share it with me/us.

  34. Thanks to Viktor Måsala for pointing out that the hyperref option pdfstartview=FitH caused problems. I have removed the setting. Removing this setting should not cause any problems since it only tells the pdf reader how the document should be viewed (fit width to window) on being opened. For those of you experiencing problems producing a valid PDF/A document in the earlier version, remove this setting in aaltothesis.cls on line 122.

  35. For those of you who want to use the online LaTeX engine at www.overleaf.com to compile this template, here is some advice.

    First, a little background information. This thesis package relies on pdfx.sty, version 1.5.84 released on 18.5.2017 or newer for it to successfully produce a PDF/A document. The Overleaf engine currently uses an older version (from 2016) and so this template will not compile. Overleaf will update its engine in the near future after which there should hopefully be no problem compiling the Aalto thesis template. They already have a beta version of their new engine that you can use to compile your thesis.

    The fix:

    1. Name your thesis LaTeX file main.tex (opinnaytepohja.tex or thesistemplate.tex → main.tex).
    2. Use the beta version Overleaf v2 at https://www.overleaf.com/help/342#.WtcbJnWFPRY.
    3. Upload main.tex, aaltothesis.cls and aaltologo.sty along with the graphics files (*.jpg, *.png or *.pdf) to the Overleaf v2 working directory.
    4. Download the latest pdfx.sty package from  https://ctan.org/pkg/pdfx?lang=en and upload it to the Overleaf v2 working directory.

    Now you're ready to go.

    Thanks to Julen Kahles for helping to solve this issue and providing this fix.

  36. The aaltothesis package has been updated to version 3.2. Although aaltothesis.cls has undergone a major rewrite in this round, the changes do not affect the user; no syntax changes have been made. Option a-3b implemented in version 3.1 has been removed since the use of PDF/A-3 is forbidden. This version now creates plain pdf with metadata in it when compiled using pdflatex and no PDF/A options (a-1b and a-2b). The details of the rewrite are in readme.txt.

    The template files opinnaytepohja.tex and thesistemplate.tex have been edited to remove and replace deprecated macros. Also, a Swedish template kandidatarbetsbotten.tex is now available as part of the package. This package is minimal in that it does not contain elaborate explanations regarding macros or their syntax, layout details and so on.

    The graphics in the package have been renewed. The PDF/A compatibility issues I described in my comment on 24.4.2018 were due to hidden fonts in the line diagram kuva1.pdf which were not embedded in the pdf. This issue is now resolved; the figure has been recreated appropriately.

  37. I have written a guide briefly describing the PDF/A standard along with guidelines and instructions on how to successfully create a PDF/A-compliant document. It is not part of the aaltothesis package, so you must download it separately if you want it. I will be happy to receive constructive criticism, comments and feedback on the guide, which I will use to write a possible new version of the guide in the future.

  38. This comment is for those of you using Overleaf. Now that the Overleaf engine has been updated to v2, you no longer need to add the new pdfx.ty file to your working directory, neither do you have to call your working file main.tex, as described in my earlier Overleaf comment above. Just upload aaltothesis.cls, aaltologo.sty and your thesis LaTeX file(s), e.g. thesistemplate.tex, opinnaytepohja.tex or whatever, along with your graphics files and you're ready to go.

  39. It is possible to add the references in IEEE style with BibTeX


    1. Understand how to insert the bibliography in the normal way:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS9GvK7cvmo&ab_channel=CharlesClayton   (There is no need to use the apacite package)
    2.  After  \thesisbibliography in the Aalto template insert:

                    \bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}
                    \bibliography{IEEEabrv,mybibfile}


         3. You may need to copy two files to your folder: IEEEtran.bst and IEEEabrv.bib  They are available         at: https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html  inside  "Latex bibliography files"
         4. Also inside the Latex Bibliography files is the "How to Use IEEEtran BIBTEX Style" document, where it describes (on page 1) where to store the previously mentioned files. 

  40. I was using the wrong latex template and I had different chapters of the thesis in their separate files. By using this new template is it possible to include those chapter files using maybe a single line for example \input{introduction.tex}? Thanks and hope for some reply. 

    1. You can do something like the following:

      \documentclass[12pt, pdfa, english,...]{aaltothesis}

      ...

      \begin{document}

      \include{file1}
      \include{file2}

      ...

      \include{filen}

      \end{document}

      It's better to use \include than \input


  41. On Ubuntu 20.04 I needed to install texlive-fonts-extra to compile succesfully, apparently at least beramono.sty is not included by default in some Linux systems.

    1. You shouldn't need to load any font files with this template. This template is for bachelors/masters theses. Are you using the template for bachelors/masters theses or the one for doctors theses?

      1. I'm writing a Master's thesis. The font beramono is included in the "aaltologo.sty" file, but not on my machine by default. Checking "tex --version", I get

        TeX 3.14159265 (TeX Live 2019/Debian)

        kpathsea version 6.3.1

  42. Would it be possible to transfer this to Aalto Version for proper version control?


  43. In case someone was wondering, aaltologo.sty can be found in this repo: https://version.aalto.fi/gitlab/latex/aaltologo

  44. The aaltothesis package has been updated to version 4.0.The visual outlook has changed greatly to match the look of the Word template. This means the fonts, cover,  and abstract page have changed. Also, the font used for titles is sans serif. The possibility to use Creative Commons licenses is integrated into the template. Support for embedding eps files has been removed.

    So, aaltothesis.cls has undergone many changes in this round. The tex files have been updated to accommodate these changes. The details of the rewrite are in readme.txt.

    The contents of the template files opinnaytepohja.tex and thesistemplate.tex have been completely rewritten. The most important addition to the content is the fairly elaborate description of how to cite and how to create a bibliography. The Swedish template kandidatarbetsbotten.tex still remains minimal in that it does not contain elaborate explanations regarding macros or their syntax, layout details and so on.

  45. Good evening. I am now doing master thesis via this Latex Template using the newest version 4.0, and I am doing it via Overleaf by uploading the relevant files from the zip to Overleaf, and I am going to write into thesistemplate.tex.


    So far everything seems good, but there is something I noticed when I tried to test thesistemplate.pdf (compiled from Overleaf) without changing anything (as pdfa-2b):

    Using online PDF validator at https://www.pdf-online.com/osa/validate.aspx , it is valid PDF/A document.

    But using online PDF validator at https://www.pdfforge.org/online/en/validate-pdfa , it says it is not valid PDF/A document because of "Embedded fonts shall define all glyphs referenced for rendering within the conforming file. A font referenced for use solely in rendering mode 3 is therefore not rendered and is thus exempt from the embedding requirement." and "For every font embedded in a conforming file and used for rendering, the glyph width information in the font dictionary and in the embedded font program shall be consistent."


    Should I be concerned in future, if pdf-online passed the test, but pdfforge didn't pass the test?




    Also, another thing I noticed that it didn't manage to validate pdfa-b1 in https://www.pdf-online.com/osa/validate.aspx because I got the following text:

    "File    aalto_thesistemplate.pdf
    Compliance    pdfa-1b
    Result    Document does not conform to PDF/A.
    Details    
    Validating file "aalto_thesistemplate.pdf" for conformance level pdfa-1b

    The key S has a value Transparency which is prohibited.

    The document does not conform to the requested standard.

    The document contains transparency.

    The document does not conform to the PDF/A-1b standard.

    Done."


    But using pdfa-2b passes the test so I think I will use pdfa-2b from now on, even though my figures do not need transparency, but at least it let it pass...

    1. Hi Thien Tran!

      Thanks for letting me know about the error message given by the validator at pdfforge.org. I'll investigate the issue. However, I have successfully tested the pdf file resulting using this template at pdf-online, using Acrobat Pro and PDFXChange, and so as far as getting your own thesis validated using this template, you needn't be concerned if the validation fails at pdfforge.org but passes at pdf-online.com.

      As for the validation failing when the template option is set to a-1b, it is because the transparency parameter, which isn't allowed in the pdf/a-1b standard (read the pdf/a guide and instructions document), is activated. I'll investigate this issue too, but this is nothing to worry about; just use the a-2b option.

  • No labels
  File Modified
File aaltothesis.cls LaTeX template class file Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
PDF File curves.pdf Graphics file Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
ZIP Archive fullpackage20230210.zip All template files (cls, tex, pdf & readme) Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
PDF File kandidatarbetsbotten.pdf Typeset pdf (Swedish) Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
File kandidatarbetsbotten.tex LaTeX template (Swedish) Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
JPEG File ledspole.jpg Graphics file Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
PDF File linediagram.pdf Graphics file Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
PDF File opinnaytepohja.pdf Typeset pdf (Finnish) Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
File opinnaytepohja.tex LaTeX template (Finnish) Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
PDF File pdfa-instructions.pdf Guide and instructions for creating PDF/A documents Sep 21, 2018 by Luis Costa
Text File readme.txt Log of changes made Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa
PDF File thesistemplate.pdf Typeset pdf (English) Feb 17, 2023 by Luis Costa
File thesistemplate.tex LaTeX template (English) Feb 10, 2023 by Luis Costa