title: How can I restrict the size of my \multicolumn cells in a longtable?
body: <p>I have a really long table in LaTeX that spans several pages and is (as it is now) also too wide for the page.</p>
  
  <p>I am using the longtable package with every column width specified with the <code>p{width}</code> command.</p>
  
  <p>The problem is, that most of the rows contain a multicolumn call, and thus are not adhering to the preamble <code>p{width}</code> command, which causes the total width of the table to be too large.</p>
  
  <p>Minimal example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>\begin{longtable}{|p{1in}|p{0.75in}|p{0.5in}|p{0.5in}|&gt;{p{1in}|p{1in}|}
  \caption{some cap} \label{somelable}\\
  \hline
  \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{\textbf{Text Header One}} &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{\textbf{Text Header Two}} &amp; \multirow{2}{*}{\textbf{Three}} &amp; \multirow{2}{*}{\textbf{Four}} \tabularnewline \cline{1-4}
  \textbf{Five} &amp; \textbf{Six} &amp; \textbf{Seven} &amp; \textbf{Eight} &amp;  &amp; \tabularnewline \hline
  Some Text String &amp; Longer Text String Here &amp; More Text Here &amp; Text Example &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hlineExample Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; \multicolumn{2}{|l|}{Multi-column Text String that doesn't fit column width} &amp; Text &amp; Text \tabularnewline \hline
  Example Text String Two &amp; Longer Text String Example Two &amp; width of box &amp; text &amp; Text &amp; Text  \tabularnewline \hline
  \end{longtable} 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am loading longtable in my preamble, and running pdflatex several times (as outlined in the longtable documentation). It compiles with 0 warnings and 0 errors.</p>
  
  <p>How can I get normal "narrow" cells?</p>