Question

I’m using LaTeX and I would like to have vertical rule along left side of page, topmargin to bottommargin, 0.5in from the left edge of the page. I want this on every page, so I assume that means it must somehow be tied to the header or the footer?

I’ve made no progress at all, so I need help with (1) making the full-length rule itself and (2) making it happen automatically on every page of the document.

Can someone tell me how to do that?

Answer 1

I got a working answer to my question on the Latex Community forum: http://www.latex-community.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9072&p=34877#p34877

The answer I got uses the ‘Background’ package and this code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{background}
\usepackage{lipsum}% just to generate filler text for the example

\SetBgScale{1}
\SetBgAngle{0}
\SetBgColor{black}
\SetBgContents{\rule{.4pt}{\paperheight}}
\SetBgHshift{-9cm}

\begin{document}

\lipsum[1-90]

\end{document}

Works great and was easy to adjust to put one vrule in left margin area and one in the right margin area.