I am inserting the list of section names in the footer using:
```
\vskip2pt\insertnavigation{\paperwidth}\vskip-2pt
```
The complete code for the footer (using the metropolis theme) is
```
\makeatletter
\setbeamertemplate{footline}{%
\begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=\textwidth, sep=3ex]{footline}%
\usebeamerfont{page number in head/foot}%
\usebeamertemplate*{frame footer}
\hfill%
\usebeamertemplate*{frame numbering}
\end{beamercolorbox}%
\begin{beamercolorbox}[colsep=1.5pt]{upper separation line head}
\end{beamercolorbox}
\begin{beamercolorbox}{section in head/foot}
\vskip2pt\insertnavigation{\paperwidth}\vskip-2pt
\end{beamercolorbox}%
\begin{beamercolorbox}[colsep=1.5pt]{lower separation line head}
\end{beamercolorbox}
}
\makeatother
```
However I have too many sections and it escapes the end of the footer. See picture of slide:
[![enter image description here][1]][1]
To fix this I would like to move the navigation to the left as the current section increases. Something like:
```
\vskip-{\sectionnumber}pt\insertnavigation{\paperwidth}\vskip-2pt
```
where `\sectionnumber` is the number of the current section (made up the command).
[1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/yvKTR.png
Top Answer
samcarter
The problem with moving the content by a fixed amount of space for each section is that this does not take into acocunt different lenghts of section names.
However using a similar approach as in https://topanswers.xyz/tex?q=415#a418 you can show only a fixed number of sections in the navigation bar, e.g. the current section +-2 other sections.
```
\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{moloch}% modern fork of the metropolis theme
\setbeamercolor{section in head/foot}{bg=structure.fg,fg=white}
\makeatletter
\setbeamertemplate{footline}{%
\begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=\textwidth, sep=3ex]{footline}%
\usebeamerfont{page number in head/foot}%
\usebeamertemplate*{frame footer}
\hfill%
\usebeamertemplate*{frame numbering}
\end{beamercolorbox}%
\begin{beamercolorbox}[colsep=1.5pt]{upper separation line head}
\end{beamercolorbox}
\begin{beamercolorbox}{section in head/foot}
\vskip2pt\insertnavigation{\paperwidth}\vskip2pt
\end{beamercolorbox}%
\begin{beamercolorbox}[colsep=1.5pt]{lower separation line head}
\end{beamercolorbox}
}
% based on the original definitions in beamerbasenavigation.sty
\def\sectionentry#1#2#3#4#5{% section number, section title, page
%
\newcount\mymin%
\mymin=3
\ifnum\c@section=1%
\mymin=5
\fi%
\ifnum\c@section=2%
\mymin=4
\fi%
%
\newcount\mymax%
\mymax=3
\ifnum\c@section=\beamer@sectionmax%
\mymax=5
\fi%
\ifnum\c@section=\numexpr\beamer@sectionmax-1%
\mymax=4
\fi%
%
\ifnum\numexpr\c@section-#1<\mymax%
\ifnum\numexpr#1-\c@section<\mymin%
\ifnum#5=\c@part%
\beamer@section@set@min@width
\box\beamer@sectionbox\hskip1.875ex plus 1fill%
\beamer@xpos=0\relax%
\beamer@ypos=1\relax%
\setbox\beamer@sectionbox=
\hbox{
\def\insertsectionhead{#2}%
\def\insertsectionheadnumber{#1}%
\def\insertpartheadnumber{#5}%
{%
\usebeamerfont{section in head/foot}\usebeamercolor[fg]{section in head/foot}%
\ifnum\c@section=#1%
\hyperlink{Navigation#3}{{\usebeamertemplate{section in head/foot}}}%
\else%
\hyperlink{Navigation#3}{{\usebeamertemplate{section in head/foot shaded}}}%
\fi%
}%
}%
\ht\beamer@sectionbox=1.875ex%
\dp\beamer@sectionbox=0.75ex%
\fi%
\fi%
\fi%
\ignorespaces%
}
\def\slideentry#1#2#3#4#5#6{%
%section number, subsection number, slide number, first/last frame, page number, part number
%
\newcount\mymin%
\mymin=3
\ifnum\c@section=1%
\mymin=5
\fi%
\ifnum\c@section=2%
\mymin=4
\fi%
%
\newcount\mymax%
\mymax=3
\ifnum\c@section=\beamer@sectionmax%
\mymax=5
\fi%
\ifnum\c@section=\numexpr\beamer@sectionmax-1%
\mymax=4
\fi%
%
\ifnum\numexpr\c@section-#1<\mymax%
\ifnum\numexpr#1-\c@section<\mymin%
\ifnum#6=\c@part\ifnum#2>0\ifnum#3>0%
\ifbeamer@compress%
\advance\beamer@xpos by1\relax%
\else%
\beamer@xpos=#3\relax%
\beamer@ypos=#2\relax%
\fi%
\hbox to 0pt{%
\beamer@tempdim=-\beamer@vboxoffset%
\advance\beamer@tempdim by-\beamer@boxsize%
\multiply\beamer@tempdim by\beamer@ypos%
\advance\beamer@tempdim by -.05cm%
\raise\beamer@tempdim\hbox{%
\beamer@tempdim=\beamer@boxsize%
\multiply\beamer@tempdim by\beamer@xpos%
\advance\beamer@tempdim by -\beamer@boxsize%
\advance\beamer@tempdim by 1pt%
\kern\beamer@tempdim
\global\beamer@section@min@dim\beamer@tempdim
\hbox{\beamer@link(#4){%
\usebeamerfont{mini frame}%
\ifnum\c@section=#1%
\ifnum\c@subsection=#2%
\usebeamercolor[fg]{mini frame}%
\ifnum\c@subsectionslide=#3%
\usebeamertemplate{mini frame}%\beamer@minislidehilight%
\else%
\usebeamertemplate{mini frame in current subsection}%\beamer@minisliderowhilight%
\fi%
\else%
\usebeamercolor{mini frame}%
%\color{fg!50!bg}%
\usebeamertemplate{mini frame in other subsection}%\beamer@minislide%
\fi%
\else%
\usebeamercolor{mini frame}%
%\color{fg!50!bg}%
\usebeamertemplate{mini frame in other subsection}%\beamer@minislide%
\fi%
}}}\hskip-10cm plus 1fil%
}\fi\fi%
\else%
\fakeslideentry{#1}{#2}{#3}{#4}{#5}{#6}%
\fi%
\fi%
\fi%
\ignorespaces%
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\section{section 1}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 2}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 3}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 4}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 5}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 6}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 7}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 8}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\section{section 9}
\begin{frame}
abc
\end{frame}
\end{document}
```
![Screen Shot 2019-12-11 at 17.08.07.png](/image?hash=b37ac84da4b508661b67ee0cbbbc3d233d2a50a3fdede184b7b3ffcc8c42e4d6)
(I would prefer if this answer would **not** be copied to tex.se)