Creating Multiple Columns

Creating Multiple Columns

When you want to create newspaper-style columnssuch as those that appear in newsletters and brochures configure Word to format your text with multiple columns. You can assign multiple columns to the entire document or to only a selected part of your document. Figure 5.7 shows a document with three columns and a single column at the top for the title area. Generally , you should type your document's text before breaking the document into multiple columns.

Figure 5.7. You can use multiple columns for newsletters, brochures, and other pamphlets.

When you want to set multiple columns, follow these steps:

1. Select the text you want to convert to multiple columns. If you want to select your entire document, press Ctrl+A.

2. Select Format, Columns to display the Columns dialog box shown in Figure 5.8.

   Figure 5.8. Set up multiple columns with the Columns dialog box.

   

3. In the Presets area, click the column format you want and then enter the number of columns you want to produce.

4. In the Width and Spacing area, adjust the column width and spacing between columns or accept Word's default. Generally, the default measurements work well. As you adjust the columns, Word updates the Preview area to give you an idea of the final result.

5. If you want a line between the columns, click the option labeled Line Between.

6. When you click OK, Word formats your selected text into multiple columns.

To add multiple columns quickly and let Word handle the spacing (which Word generally does well), select the text that you want to format into multiple columns and then click the toolbar button's Columns button. Drag your mouse to the right to select the number of columns (from one to four). When you release the mouse, Word formats the multiple columns.

If you format your document into multiple columns that are fully justified, you will probably need to hyphenate the document. Thin, justified columns often contain a lot of extra spaces that Word inserts to maintain the right-justification. You might want to select File, Print Preview to see how your overall document looks with the narrow columns before printing.