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Using Columns in Word 2007

You could columns them in a traditional news-type way, or use them to let you divide a page into parts. The thing that’s a little odd about columns is that most users don’t realize that every Word document is made up of one column, and that you have a choice of having more than that.

Where multiple columns start and end is defined by section breaks – they are automatically put in the document when you turn on multiple columns. To remove columns, you can set the page formatting back to one column or delete the section breaks at the beginning and end of the columns.

To Apply Columns to Existing Text

1. Select the text to be made into columns. (If it is the entire document, you don’t need to select anything.)
2. In the Page Layout tab, Page Setup group, click Columns and choose the number of columns to apply (One, Two or Three, or Left or Right, which is two-columns, one a narrow column and the other wide).

To Modify Columns

In the Page Layout tab, Page Setup group, click Columns and More Columns…

• The Presets section has the same choices as the Columns menu.
• Use the Number of columns: box to have up to 13 columns in a standard, 1″ margin, portrait page and up to 18 columns in a standard, 1″ margin, landscape page.
• The Line between checkbox will automatically add a vertical line between all columns.
• Width and spacing lets you customize the width of each column plus the amount of space between each column. The Equal column width checkbox sets all columns to the same width.
• Apply to: lets you apply the column settings to whatever text is selected or to the entire document.

To Remove Columns

With your cursor somewhere in the multi-column part of your document, go to the Page Layout tab, Page Setup group, click Columns and choose One. If that doesn’t work, troubleshoot by looking for and removing any leftover section breaks in the document.

Controlling Text Flow in Columns

You can insert a column break with Ctrl + Shift + Enter. This will force any text to the top of the next column. Use the Show Paragraph Marks to find and delete any column breaks you don’t want. You can also insert Column breaks with the Breaks button of the Page Setup group.

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