Chapter 19: Formatting Columns and Sections for Advanced Text Control

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Depending on the types of documents you create, you may rely heavily on Word's ability to create columns and sections. When you combine these two elements, you can control how the text flows in various parts of the same document. You can create single or multiple columns, even or uneven columns, columns with line dividers or with blank spaces, or gutters, in between. This chapter explores the use of both columns and sections in Word and helps you create interesting formats for your newsletters, reports, and more.

Planning Your Document

If the design of your document is up to you, it's a good idea to start out not at the computer keyboard but at the drawing board, literally sketching out how you want your pages to look. Will you use two columns or three? Do you want the columns to have equal widths or will one be narrow and the other two wide? Thinking carefully about your document's final appearance will go a long way toward helping you create it the way you want.

Word gives you the capability of creating up to 13 columns, but in all but the rarest circumstances (such as a simple word or number list) you won't use 13 columns-the width of each column would be a scant 0.5 inch! Most traditional documents use one, two, or three columns. In some instances, you might use four, but even those columns will provide little room for more than a few small words on a line.

As you prepare your document plan, consider these questions:

• How many columns do you want? Table 19-1 lists the column widths Word uses by default for a table with one to six columns on an 8.5by-11inch portrait page with the Equal Column Width option selected.

• Will you include graphics around which your columns need to flow?

• How much space do you want to leave between columns?

• Do you want your columns to be of equal width or varied widths?

• Will you include a table of contents column that might require more space than a traditional text column?

• Do you want the column settings to extend the full length of the page, or do you want to include a section at the top of the page that is only a single column?

Table 19-1: Word's Default Column Widths

Number of Columns	Width of Each Column
1	6 inches
2	2.75 inches with 0.5 inch spacing
3	1.67 inches with 0.5 inch spacing
4	1.13 inches with 0.5 inch spacing
5	.8 inches with 0.5 inch spacing
6	0.58 inches with 0.5 inch spacing

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