Mrthfx

I have a document with many figures; I want to print a short version of it with some figures hidden, but I would like that the global numbering of figures remain the same, and that labels still works. Here is a MWE:

documentclass{article}



usepackage{graphicx}



begin{document}



Figure ref{figure1} shows ldots



begin{figure}[ht]

    centering

    includegraphics[width=5cm]{figure1.jpg}

    caption{label{figure1}}

end{figure}



Figure ref{figure2} shows ldots



begin{figure}[ht]

    centering

    includegraphics[width=5cm]{figure2.jpg}

    caption{label{figure2}}

end{figure}



end{document}

Then I would like to hide figure 1 from PDF output, but label figure1 should still work, and the second picture should still be numbered as 2. Is it possible?

I tried with the comment environment but it does not work.

It would be best to put these possibly-invisible figures inside their own environment. That way you can control how they are managed. Below I suggest something like conditionalfigure together with hidefigurestrue to hide them, or hidefiguresfalse (the default) to keep them in the document.

documentclass{article}



usepackage{graphicx,environ}



newsavebox{figsavebox}% Box to capture figure content



newififhidefigures % Conditional to hide figures or keep them in the document



NewEnviron{conditionalfigure}[1][ht]{%

  ifhidefigures

    % Hide this figure

    letoldlabellabel

    renewcommand{label}[1]{gdeflabelname{##1}}% Store label name

    renewcommand{caption}[1]{##1}% Make caption just print its argument

    begin{lrbox}{figsavebox}

      BODY % Capture enture figure body

    end{lrbox}

    refstepcounter{figure}oldlabel{labelname}% Step counter with reference and mark with label

  else

    % Traditional figure environment

    begin{figure}[#1]

      BODY

    end{figure}

  fi

}



begin{document}



hidefigurestrue % Remove conditional figures from document

%hidefiguresfalse % Keep conditional figures in document (default)



Figure ref{figure1} shows ldots



begin{conditionalfigure}[ht]

  centering

  includegraphics[width=5cm]{example-image-a}

  caption{label{figure1}}

end{conditionalfigure}



Figure ref{figure2} shows ldots



begin{figure}[ht]

    centering

    includegraphics[width=5cm]{example-image-b}

    caption{label{figure2}}

end{figure}



end{document}

Capturing the entire conditionalfigure contents ensures that it doesn't impede with the placement of floats within the document, otherwise the "invisible" float may still take up space above/below it.

Is this what you are looking for? Using resizebox and minipage you can make the includegraphics and caption have zero height.

documentclass{article}

usepackage{graphicx}



begin{document}



Figure ref{figure1} shows ldots



begin{figure}[ht]

    centering

    resizebox{!}{0cm}{begin{minipage}{textwidth}

    includegraphics[width=5cm]{example-image-a}

    caption{}

    label{figure1}

    end{minipage}}

end{figure}



Figure ref{figure2} shows ldots



begin{figure}[ht]

    centering

    includegraphics[width=5cm]{example-image-b}

    caption{}

    label{figure2}

end{figure}



end{document}

If the caption should still produce an entry in the LoF, one could use the following (with kind help of @DavidCarlisle on the immediatewrite part). The only problem is that if two floats happen to be on the same page and one of them is hidden, the order of the entries in the LoF might get swapped.

documentclass[]{article}



usepackage[]{graphicx}

newififhidefigures



makeatletter

newenvironment{conditionalfigure}[1][]

  {%

    ifhidefigures

      letzzwrite

      protecteddefwrite{immediatezz}%

      defconditionalfigure@start

        {%

          def@captype{figure}setbox0vboxbgroupcolor@setgroup

        }%

      defconditionalfigure@finish

        {%

          color@endgroupegroup

        }%

    else

      ifrelaxdetokenize{#1}relax

        defconditionalfigure@start

          {begin{figure}}%

      else

        defconditionalfigure@start

          {begin{figure}[#1]}%

      fi

      defconditionalfigure@finish

        {end{figure}}%

    fi

    conditionalfigure@start

  }

  {%

    conditionalfigure@finish

  }

makeatother



begin{document}

listoffigures

Figure ref{figure1} shows ldots



begin{conditionalfigure}

  centering

  includegraphics[width=5cm]{example-image-duck}

  caption{Figure 1label{figure1}}

end{conditionalfigure}



Figure ref{figure2} shows ldots



hidefigurestrue

begin{conditionalfigure}

    centering

    includegraphics[width=5cm]{example-image-b}

    caption{Figure 2label{figure2}}

end{conditionalfigure}

end{document}

Simple but works: Comment out the includegraphics command.