[texhax] Will my Revtex Latex file, created in Overleaf, upload to Windows Miktex?

[Peter Flynn]

On 08/01/2019 20:50, Taylor, P wrote:
> Arthur Pletcher wrote:
> 
>> Thank you Philip, I was sent a message to use "MikTeX and Scientific
>> Workplace". Do you know if they are two separate softwares to be
>> installed separately, then used together? I am confused.

Yes,  MiKTeX and Scientific Workplace are two separate programs.

MiKTeX is TeX (including LaTeX and everything else).

Scientific Workplace is a editor for scientific articles. I believe it
uses MiKTeX to typeset them but I have not used it for many years so I
don't know for sure. I also believe Scientific Workplace saves its own
proprietary non-TeX file format, but that it is also capable of
exporting a reusable TeX or LaTeX document.

A ".tex file created in Windows Miktex" is nonsense in at least two ways:

 1. because MiKTeX is not an editor, so as Phil says, it is
    impossible to create a .tex file "IN"  MiKTeX. All you can
    do with MiKTeX is *typeset* a .tex file,  creating a .dvi
    or .pdf file  (you can create the .tex file with any editor);

 2. because MiKTeX is a Windows program, so the reference to
    Windows is tautologous and indicates that the journal has
    serious problems in their understanding of LaTeX.

I recommend:

a. Write the article in any LaTeX editor, the one you prefer to use, for
example Overleaf, using the appropriate RevTeX document class and styles.

b. Stick STRICTLY to the standard LaTeX and RevTeX commands. Do not
reinvent the wheel.

c. If you *have* to invent new macros, test them properly and ensure
that they do not cause any error messages.

d. Test the document and make sure there are no error messages.

e. Export the .tex file from Overleaf and ask a few friends or
colleagues to test it in their own LaTeX systems; or install LaTeX on
your own system locally and test it there. Make sure at least one of the
tests uses MiKTeX.

f. If you are using Linux or a Mac, convert the .tex file to use Windows
(DOS) newlines. There are utilities called mac2unix and unix2dos
available for this purpose. This will make sure that the Windows people
at the journal will be able to edit the file without seeing weird line-ends.

///Peter