Editing Column Settings

If you want to edit any of the column settings in your document, such as column number or column width, you can return to the Column dialog box to change any of the options.

1. Make sure that you click in the document section that contains the columns you want to modify.

2. Select Format, Columns . The Column dialog box appears.

3. Edit the various settings, described in the "Creating Columns" section, as needed. When you have completed your selections, click OK .

Inserting a Column Break

Because you are working with continuous, newspaper-type column settings, at times you might want to force a column break in a column. This enables you to balance the text between columns or end the text in a column at a particular point and force the rest of the text into the next column. To force a column break, follow these steps:

1. Place the insertion point in the column text where you want to force the break.

2. Select Insert, Break . The Break dialog box appears.

3. Select the Column Break option button.

4. Click OK to place the break in the column.

Use the Keyboard to Insert a Column Break You can also quickly place a column break in a column by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter .

The text at the break is moved into the next column in the document. Column breaks in the Print Layout view appear the way they will print, and you'll notice that all the column borders show in this view. In the Normal view, multiple columns are displayed as a single continuous column. The column break appears as a dotted horizontal line labeled Column Break.

Removing Column Breaks

Removing column breaks is very straightforward. Methods do vary, however, depending on the view that you are currently in.

In the Normal view, you can actually see the column break line; it appears as a dashed line and is designated as a Section Break. Select the break line with the mouse and then press Delete . Remember that in the Normal view you do not actually see the text in the multiple columns. To see the text as it will appear when you print the columns, use the Print Layout view.

In Print Layout mode, you can go from multiple columns back to a single column without actually removing the section break that specifies the beginning of the columns. Place the insertion point at the beginning of the text just after the break, click the Columns button on the Standard toolbar, and then drag to select one column. Again, this doesn't remove the section break that was inserted when you created the multiple column layout, but it does return the text to a single or default column setting.