LaTeX Table Is Out of Place | Org-mode

Question

I am making my tables in pure LaTeX becuase Org-mode doesn't have the functionality to create what I want. My problem is, I am pasting the LaTeX code for the table under a heading but when I get the pdf export, I see that the table has moved under another heading, above some other text.

I had this happen to me before in this document again with an image (since I had used #+CAPTION on it) but using \usepackage{placeins} in LaTeX header and \FloatBarrier at the end of the image did work. I tried doing the same thing for the table but it simply won't work.

Answer 1

Your preamble shows that you use the float package. When you use the float package, the correct placement parameter for right here is H. So write your table like this in the Org mode file:

#+ATTR_LATEX: :placement [H]
#+CAPTION: My Table
|  a |    b |
|----+------|
|  1 |    1 |
|  2 |    4 |
|  3 |    9 |
| .. |  ... |

Without the float package, @mankoff's answer stands: :placement [!h] is the best that you can do.

But note that float placement is a complicated problem: Lamport's book describing the method (Section C.9.1) devotes four pages to the description - there are six rules (that "you will have to read ... slowly and carefully to understand what LaTeX is doing") and fifteen formatting parameters. So if LaTeX seems to be doing something wrong, you will have to go back and figure out which rule you are breaking.

Float placement has a long, contentious history: see https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/8625/force-figure-placement-in-text for some perspective.

EDIT: As the OP pointed out in the question and which I forgot about, he is NOT using Org mode tables. Instead he is inserting the table as raw LaTeX code (because Org mode can only deal with simple tables that don't have e.g. spanning columns). So all the talk about #ATTR_LATEX: is irrelevant in this case.

Org mode will deal with a raw LaTeX table in the Org mode file by exporting it verbatim into the resulting .tex file. So all the OP has to do in that case is make sure that the placement indicator is present in the raw LaTeX table (the following assumes that the float package is used for LaTeX: that enables the use of the H indicator; as pointed out above, without that package, the best one can do in order to place the table here is to use the !h placement indicator):

#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{float}

* An Org mode table
Here comes an Org mode table:

#+ATTR_LATEX: :placement[H]
#+CAPTION: My Table
|  a |    b |
|----+------|
|  1 |    1 |
|  2 |    4 |
|  3 |    9 |
| .. |  ... |

* A raw LaTeX table

Here comes a raw LaTeX table - the spanning `style` column
could not be done with an Org mode table (but it could probably 
be done with a table.el table - that's left as an exercise):

\begin{table}[H]
\caption{My raw \LaTeX table}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|r|}    \hline\hline
\emph{type} & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{\emph{style}} \\ \hline
smart        & red    & short \\
rather silly & puce   & tall \\ \hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

In general, it is always a good idea to look at the exported LaTeX file and see what Org mode did: even if you don't know any LaTeX, you should be able to figure out what needs to be done for simple changes and even if not, you can ask questions about it on the TeX SE site. IOW, Org mode export is enough for simple documents, but if you have something that is beyond what Org mode can do, you will need to learn some LaTeX. And this applies to the other exporters as well: Org mode can deal with 90% of what you need day to day, but you will need to know something about the target language in order to cover the remaining 10%.

Answer 2

Try adding #+ATTR_LATEX: :placement [!h] as a header to the table. That says: Place the table here. The trouble with it is that if the table doesn't fit here, you'll end up with lots of blank space and the table on the next page.

Alternatively, \clearpage at the end of a section forces all floats (tables, figures) to be placed.