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<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label tmupfl</title>
</head><body>
<h3>&#8220;Too many unprocessed floats&#8221;</h3>
<p/>If LaTeX responds to a <code>\</code><code>begin{figure}</code> or
<code>\</code><code>begin{table}</code> command with the error message
<blockquote>
<pre>
! LaTeX Error: Too many unprocessed floats.

See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
</pre>

</blockquote><p>
your figures (or tables) are not being placed properly.  LaTeX
has a limited amount of storage for &#8216;floats&#8217; (figures, tables, or
floats you&#8217;ve defined yourself with the <i>float</i> package); if
something you have done has prevented LaTeX from typesetting
floats, it will run out of storage space.
<p/>This failure usually occurs in extreme cases of 
<a href="FAQ-floats.html">floats moving &#8220;wrongly&#8221;</a>;
LaTeX has found it can&#8217;t place a float, and floats of the same type
have piled up behind it.
<p/>How does this happen? &#8212; LaTeX guarantees that caption numbers are
sequential in the document, but the caption number is allocated when
the figure (or whatever) is created, and can&#8217;t be changed.  Thus, if
floats are placed out of order, their caption numbers would also
appear out of order in the body of the document (and in the list of
figures, or whatever).  As a result, enforcement of the guarantee
means that simple failure to place a float means that no subsequent
float can be placed; and hence (eventually) the error.
<p/>Techniques for solving the problem are discussed in the 
<a href="FAQ-floats.html">floats question</a> already referenced.
<p/>An alternative <em>may</em> be to use the <i>morefloats</i> package.
The package will allocate more &#8220;float skeletons&#8221; than LaTeX
does by default; each such skeleton may then be used to store a
float.  Beware that even with <i>morefloats</i>, the number you can
allocate is limited; even with the <i>etex</i> package (which makes
available many more registers, etc., than LaTeX does by default;
e-TeX can create lots more registers, but none of those &#8220;beyond
the original TeX default&#8221; may be used in float skeletons).  Thus,
<i>etex</i> may offer some relief, but it can <em>not</em> be
regarded as a panacea
<p/>The error also occurs in a long sequence of float environments, with
no intervening text.  Unless the environments will fit &#8220;here&#8221; (and
you&#8217;ve allowed them to go &#8220;here&#8221;), there will never be a page break,
and so there will never be an opportunity for LaTeX to reconsider
placement.  (Of course, the floats can&#8217;t all fit &#8220;here&#8221; if the
sequence is sufficiently prolonged: once the page fills, LaTeX
won&#8217;t place any more floats, leading to the error.
<p/>Techniques for resolution may involve redefining the floats using the
<i>float</i> package&#8217;s <code>[H]</code> float qualifier, but you are unlikely
to get away without using <code>\</code><code>clearpage</code> from time to time.
<dl>
<dt><tt><i>float.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/float.zip">macros/latex/contrib/float</a> (or <a href="http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/float/">browse the directory</a>); <a href="http://mirror.ctan.org/help/Catalogue/entries/float.html">catalogue entry</a>
<dt><tt><i>morefloats.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/morefloats.zip">macros/latex/contrib/morefloats</a> (or <a href="http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/morefloats/">browse the directory</a>); <a href="http://mirror.ctan.org/help/Catalogue/entries/morefloats.html">catalogue entry</a>
</dl>
<p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=tmupfl">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=tmupfl</a>
</body>