Great news! The Office of Information Technology and Faculty Technology Council are excited to announce that SMU has licensed Overleaf Professional, now available to all students, faculty, and staff. Overleaf is a powerful tool designed to enhance your scholarly research, writing, and publishing workflows, and it’s here to support your academic and research endeavors.
What is Overleaf?
Overleaf is a cloud-based, collaborative LaTeX editor that simplifies the process of writing, editing, and producing research papers, reports, and other scientific documents. With Overleaf Professional, SMU community members will enjoy advanced features such as real-time track changes, unlimited collaborators, and full document history. For many years, this tool has been highly requested by our graduate students and research faculty, and we’re thrilled to bring it to the SMU community.
What is LaTeX?
LaTeX is a document preparation system widely used by scientists, mathematicians, and engineers for creating high-quality typeset documents. It excels at producing complex mathematical expressions, well-structured documents, and ensuring consistency in formatting. Whether you’re writing a journal article, a textbook, or your dissertation, LaTeX offers the precision and control needed to produce professional-quality work.
Key Benefits of Overleaf Professional Accounts:
- Collaborative Writing: Work with unlimited collaborators in real-time, with secure project access control.
- Error Detection: See LaTeX errors as they occur, aiding the learning process and improving document quality.
- Template Support: SMU will host a library of LaTeX templates, including school-specific dissertation formats. Reach out to OIT if you (or your area) have templates to contribute.
- Project History: Access the full history of your project, track changes in real-time, and revert to any point in time.
- Publishing Integration: Submit directly to journals through Overleaf’s integrated submission system.
- Teaching Support: Use Overleaf for interactive classroom demonstrations and templated assignments, with no installation required for students.
How Overleaf Supports Your Work:
Overleaf makes the process of writing, editing, and publishing your documents quicker and easier. It’s designed to streamline collaboration and improve productivity, whether you’re working on research papers, class assignments, or large-scale projects. With its powerful LaTeX editor and rich text options, Overleaf adapts to your workflow, allowing you to focus on your content without worrying about formatting details.
Get Started with Overleaf:
To claim your Overleaf Professional license or upgrade, simply sign in or sign up below by logging into our Overleaf portal. Be sure to link your account to your SMU single sign-on.
- Sign in to the SMU’s Overleaf Portal (www.overleaf.com/edu/smu)
- More information about Overleaf and LaTex is available on the service page at smu.edu/overleaf
Explore Overleaf:
For support, visit the Overleaf Portal or contact the IT Help Desk at help@smu.edu with OVERLEAF in the subject line.
We look forward to seeing how the SMU community will use Overleaf to enhance research, teaching, and learning. Happy writing!
