LaTeX
LaTeX is a system for document preparation. It gives the user control over typesetting, references, complex formulas, and more. It is widely used in communication and publication of scientific documents in many fields.
Overleaf for Science students and staff
The online LaTeX editor Overleaf is available to all students and staff at Leiden University Faculty of Science. The choice for this application is the result of a thorough, formal selection procedure.
How to use Overleaf
To use Overleaf, go to https://www.overleaf.com/edu/leidenuniv. This is the Overleaf portal for our faculty. Log in with your ULCN-account. This gives you access to the full functionality of Overleaf.
You can easily link an existing account to the faculty’s license.
Functionality
When you log into Overleaf using your ULCN-account, you will get the equivalent of an Overleaf Professional account. Functionality includes:
- Collaboration
- Change tracking
- Syntax checking
- Side by side view (source/compiled)
- Publication (templates and submission)
- References according to multiple standards
- Integration with GitHub, Mendeley, Zotero (among others).
Support and documentation
Overleaf provides support to end users 24/7. They also provide extensive documentation, tutorials and other learning materials via their website, and tips and news via Twitter.
If you still have a question or problem after consulting Overleaf, please send a mail to SEEDS.
Data protection, sensitive (personal) data
We have taken technical and legal measures to ensure the protection of your user data. Nevertheless, we advise not to use Overleaf when your document contains sensitive (personal) data.
When in doubt, please contact SEEDS. We can advise on alternative approaches and/or tools.
Your Overleaf account
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Visit the Overleaf portal for our faculty.
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Click on the big green button “Log in through your institution“ in the middle of the portal page.
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Log in as usual with your ULCN account.
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You should receive an e-mail confirming that your account has been linked to the institutional SSO (single sign-on).
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It is all right if the stated linked e-mail address ends in “@umail.leidenuniv.nl“. That is the e-mail address exchanged by Overleaf and the SSO provider.
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After doing this once, you can also log in via other routes, for example the “Log In” button on the Overleaf website.
Users who already have an Overleaf account are not automatically transferred to the FWN license. Someone may have a reason not to switch.
If you want to switch, visit the portal and select 'Link Account', or use the notification on your project dashboard.
You can check your account in Overleaf to see if the switch was successful. You can also ask Overleaf for a confirmation.
Your Overleaf account remains yours. Your projects will be preserved. You do need to add an e-mail address to your Overleaf account that you have access to.
More detailed information is available on Overleaf Help.
Existing Overleaf users will see a banner regardless of entitlement, until they dismiss the banner or link to the SSO. Users do not have to do this if they do not want to.
All new users who sign up for Overleaf using their Leiden University e-mail address will be prompted to confirm their affiliation with the university through the SSO login page.
To create a new account with a Leiden University e-mail address, they must go through the SSO. If you are not entitled to the Faculty of Science license, you will remain on your own plan (free or paid).
Templates
For information on how to create and share an Overleaf template, please see the Overleaf documentation.
Templates shared on Overleaf are accessible to everyone - even internet users without an Overleaf account. The is no option to limit access to templates to a certain group.
Furthermore, when creating an Overleaf template, users can add any tags they want. So when you search Overleaf templates for "Leiden University" (e.g.), you can also find "unofficial" and/or outdated templates.
If you want your students to use a certain template, include it with course information on Brightspace.
Once you have added a template on Overleaf, we can have it displayed on the Templates page of the Leiden University Overleaf portal. To keep this page usable and manageable, we only display templates that are useful for many users.
Request this via a mail to SEEDS. Please include a link to the template on Overleaf. Please give the template itself the tag "Leiden University".