Unused global option(s)

This error appears when one of the global options of the class is used incorrectly. Most class files in LaTeX will come with different options, such as 10pt font size, or a5paper. These are inserted in the square brackets in \documentclass[options]{class} at the start of the document. If you specify these options incorrectly, you will generate an error message which looks like

Common Causes

Using a font option which is not available for that class:

Most standard LaTeX classes will only accept 10pt, 11pt or 12pt font options. If you write a font option such as \documentclass[13pt]{article} , you will generate an Unused global option(s) error, as 13pt font size is not a valid option.

Some classes, such as scrbook are capable of accepting any font size as an option. This allows the user to write options such as \documentclass[fontsize=16pt]{scrbook}. Whenever using a new class, you should always check what font options are available in the class documentation.

For a wider variety of font size options, one should consider the classes in the extsizes package. This package provides you with classes such as extarticle, extreport, extbook and extletter. These classes allow font options of 8pt, 9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 17pt or 20pt.

If you would like to learn more about different font sizes in LaTeX, check out our documentation.

Using an option not specified by the class:

Another common cause of this error message is when an option is used which is not specified by the class. An example of would be writing \documentclass[doublesided]{Thesis} when trying to use a two sided page format for the Thesis class. This is a mistake, because the Thesis class has named this option as twosided. To use a two sided page format, you therefore must write \documentclass[twosided]{Thesis}.

Options such as this can change from class to class. For this reason it is important to check the class file as well as any documentation which comes with it. This way you will know what options are available in that class.