General ⇒ Faster Compiling in Multifile Documents

[LaTexLearner]

I've figured out how to use the \include and \input commands to organize a large project.

I'm used to doing all of my LaTeX in a single file, though, and compiling after every few lines of typing so I catch errors quickly.

That's a bit harder and slower now.

Any tips on compiling my work more quickly? Is there any way to not have to switch files to check that my code is working?

[Johannes_B]

Splitting the code in multiple files shouldn't make a noticable effect on compiling time.

What you can do to minimize compile time is commenting out the files you are not currently working on. Externalize your tikz-pictures (which are really slowing things down). Or work on a standalone document and copy ready parts to the big project.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

You could use \includeonly, as written in Structuring Large Documents.

Stefan

[LaTexLearner]

... Externalize your tikz-pictures (which are really slowing things down)...

What does this mean?

[Johannes_B]

Have a look at section 50 (Externalization library) of the TikZ manual.

[cgnieder]

I'm used to doing all of my LaTeX in a single file, though, and compiling after every few lines of typing so I catch errors quickly.

That's a bit harder and slower now.

To me this sounds as if your workflow slowed down (and not compilation time)…

Any tips on compiling my work more quickly? Is there any way to not have to switch files to check that my code is working?

Some editors know about master files…

I work with emacs/AUCTeX and if I have a large projects containing of several files I always mark the main file as master file and set said file as master of the files which are included. I then can compile without switching between files.

I know that TeXmaker and TeXStudio have similar concepts…

Regards

[Abstraction Mage]

For anyone joining in late, you may wanna try the subfiles package. It offers an alternative way to input or include .tex files that allows you to compile the included files on their own without the need to specify and change \includeonly all the time