LaTeX University Summary Template
The template provides a fully pre-configured LaTeX environment for writing professional university summaries, including a custom style, VSCode snippets, keyboard shortcuts, and an automated build pipeline. It was originally developed during my studies in Computer Science, but the template is designed for students across all disciplines from STEM and engineering to economics, finance, business, and medicine. The goal is simple: well-formatted, consistent lecture notes without fighting LaTeX tooling.
WHAT IS IT?
Writing university summaries in LaTeX produces results that Word simply cannot match: precise typography, consistent formatting, and PDFs that look genuinely professional. The problem is that getting started with LaTeX is painful: installing the right tools, configuring the editor, understanding the file structure, and building up a library of useful commands from scratch all take significant time.
This template solves all of that. Everything is pre-configured and ready to use from the first day. Open a .tex file, start writing, and get a polished PDF on every save without any setup friction or wasted time fighting the tooling.
FEATURES
Two template variants
A general template for any university, and an HSG-specific variant with the University of St. Gallen logo and name pre-filled on the title page.
Custom style out of the box
A custom mystyle.sty handles all imports, typography, spacing, colour boxes, code block styling, and even adds a fourth heading level (\subsubsubsection) that LaTeX doesn’t provide by default.
Snippets for everything you need
Type a short prefix, hit Tab, and a full LaTeX environment appears, with tab stops to jump between fields. Tables, figures, code blocks, colour boxes, side-by-side layouts, coloured text, and more.
Keyboard shortcuts that feel native
Bold with Cmd+B. Italic with Cmd+I. Underline with Cmd+U. Section headings on Cmd+1 through Cmd+4. All shortcuts are context-aware, they only activate in .tex files and support wrapping selected text automatically.
Auto-build and auto-clean
The PDF compiles on every save. Auxiliary files are cleaned up automatically. SyncTeX lets you click anywhere in the PDF to jump directly to the corresponding line in your source, and vice versa.
Sensible linting
ChkTeX linting is enabled to catch real mistakes, with a pre-configured .chktexrc that suppresses the false positives this template would otherwise trigger.
SNIPPETS
| Prefix | What it inserts |
|---|---|
itemize | Bullet point list |
enumerate | Numbered list |
table | 3-column professional table (booktabs style) |
image | Figure with \includegraphics, pre-pointed at the fig/ folder |
java | Java code block |
python | Python code block |
bbox | Colour box with dropdown colour picker (tcolorbox) |
ccode | Inline code |
ttext | Monospaced text |
lline | Horizontal rule with spacing |
minipage | Single minipage |
miniside | Two minipages side by side |
vspace-0.2 … vspace-2 | Vertical spacing shortcuts |
ccolour | Coloured text |
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
All shortcuts work on both Mac (Cmd) and Windows (Ctrl) and are active only when a .tex file is focused.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd/Ctrl + B | Bold (\textbf{}) |
Cmd/Ctrl + I | Italic (\textit{}) |
Cmd/Ctrl + U | Underline (\underline{}) |
Cmd/Ctrl + E | Enquote — smart quotation marks (\enquote{}) |
Cmd/Ctrl + R | Right arrow inline (→) |
Cmd/Ctrl + 1 | \section{} with decorative separators |
Cmd/Ctrl + 2 | \subsection{} |
Cmd/Ctrl + 3 | \subsubsection{} |
Cmd/Ctrl + 4 | \subsubsubsection{} — custom 4th level heading |
All formatting shortcuts (B, I, U, E) and all heading shortcuts (1–4) wrap selected text automatically.
WHO IS IT FOR?
While the template includes a dedicated HSG variant, the general template is designed for students at any university. Whether you’re a STEM student, a tech enthusiast, or simply someone who wants professional, well-formatted notes without fighting with formatting, this template makes it effortless.
If you regularly write summaries, reports, or can think of any other use case and want consistent, polished PDFs every time, this is for you. No matter your discipline. Finance, business, economics, medical, or engineering students: you’ll find it makes your life easier.
No prior LaTeX experience required. The setup guide walks you through everything, from installing MacTeX or MiKTeX to configuring VSCode. All the tricky LaTeX work is already handled by the style file and smart snippets, so you can focus on writing.
GET STARTED
The full documentation, including step-by-step setup for macOS and Windows, a complete snippet and shortcut reference, and guidance on working with the template day-to-day, lives in the GitHub README.
Built by Lukas Kapferer | lukas-kapferer.com