Add two columns in word

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Last updated Feb 17, 2023

A user-friendly guide to create two separate text columns on Microsoft Word

Do you want to split text into multiple columns in Microsoft Word? With the “Columns” feature, you can easily do so in a few simple steps. With the desktop version of Word, you’ll be able to create columns with selected text. On mobile, you’ll need to change the whole document layout. This wikiHow will show you how to make two or more columns in your Microsoft Word document using your Windows, Mac, iPhone, or Android device.

Things You Should Know

• On desktop, highlight the text you want to split. Click “Layout” → “Columns” → “Two.”
• On mobile, tap ••• → “Home” → “Layout” → “Columns” → “Two”.
• You can only split selected text on desktop. Creating columns on mobile will change the entire document layout.

Steps

Using a Computer

1. Open the Microsoft Word document you want to edit. Find the Word document you want to edit on your computer, and double-click on its icon to open it.^[1]
   • If you don’t have Microsoft Word on your Windows or Mac computer, you can download it or use the free web version at https://www.office.com.
   • You can also add images to your document if you’re planning to create a “news column” type document.
2. Select all the text you want to split into columns. Click the beginning of the text you want to edit, and drag your mouse until the end of it. Selected parts will be highlighted.

   

   • If you want to select the whole document, you can use a keyboard shortcut.
     • On Mac, press Command + A.
     • On Windows, press CTRL + A.
3. Click the tab at the top. This button is located above the toolbar at the top of your document.

   

   • Depending on your version of Word, this button may also be labeled Page Layout.
4. Click the button on the Layout toolbar. This looks like a rectangle with horizontal lines divided in two sets.

   

   • A drop-down menu will open.
5. Select on the drop-down menu. This will split the selected text into two columns.

   

   • Alternatively, you can select another option here, and create even more columns. You can select: One (default), Two, Three, Left, Right, or More Columns.
6. Change the size of your columns (optional). You can click and drag the edges of the ruler at the top of your document to change the size of your columns.

   

   • If you don’t see the ruler, click the View tab, then click the box next to Ruler in the Show section.
   • Make sure you still have your column text selected when you adjust the size.
   • This is an optional adjustment. If you prefer not to change the column sizes, your columns will be equal in size by default.
   • Be sure to save your Word document when you’re finished.

Using the Mobile App

1. Open a document in the Microsoft Word app. This looks like a blue notebook next to a W. Microsoft Word is available for iOS in the App Store and for Android in the Google Play Store.

   

   • Tap Blank document to open a new document or tap a file to open an existing document.
   • You can’t put specific text into two columns on the mobile app. This method will adjust the entire document’s layout without needing to select text.
2. Tap . This can be found above the keyboard, to the right.

   

   • If you don’t see your keyboard, tap the document to bring it up.
   • A new menu will open.
3. Tap . This will be to the left of the formatting window.

   

   • A drop-down menu will open.
4. Tap . You’ll see a list of options you can make to your page layout.

   

5. Tap . This will be next to the icon of horizontal lines divided in two sets.

   

6. Tap . This will split the selected text into two columns.

   

   • Alternatively, you can select another option here, and split your text into more columns. You can select: One (default), Two, Three, Left, or Right.
   • Your page layout will now have two columns. When you enter text, it will fill the left column first, then continue onto the right column.

Tips

• Use columns instead of wide paragraphs when layout out booklets, brochures, and newspapers.

References

1. ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/add-columns-to-a-word-document-319f3705-bc28-9da2-0ec5-eea2343274aa

Source: Wiki How

Home > Microsoft Word > How to Add Columns in Microsoft Word? All You Need to Know

(Note: This guide on how to add columns in Word is suitable for all MS Word versions including Office 365)

Columns are used in newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and newsletters. They improve the document’s organization and its readability. Word allows you to adjust columns by including page breaks to utilize all of the available space on the page. You can format the document in a newspaper-style column by adding columns. 

You’ll Learn:

• Add Columns in Word
• Adding Column Breaks
• Remove Columns
• Customize Columns
• Navigating Between Columns
  • Through the Menu
  • Through Keyboard Shortcut
• Show Text Boundaries
• Inserting Multiple Columns in a Document
• Insert a Line Between Two Columns

Select the Layout tab, then choose from the options available. You can make your text appear in two, three, left-aligned, or right-aligned.

Add Columns in Word

Select the text where you wish to apply the column formatting. Choose any of the formats from the drop-down menu and click it. The two-column format splits your column into two or more columns.

If you wish to have customized columns, select More Columns. Here, you can choose your width and spacing or use one of the preset methods.

There are four basic types of columns that can be applied to the text.

• Book – the text continues from one column to the next on reaching the bottom of a page.
• Newspaper – the text continues elsewhere in the article if it is not completed on a page.
• Table – the vertical field of cells within a table or a database.
• Tabbed – these columns are used in a menu to display an item on the left and its details on the right. The tabbed column can have more than just two columns. When it has more details, it appears as the third or fourth column spaced by tabbing to a specific measurement.

Adding Column Breaks

A column break inserts a hard break in the inserted location and forces the rest of the text to appear in the next column. It controls the flow of text from one column to the next.

Position your cursor at the place where you wish the column break to appear. Then click on Layout -> Breaks -> Column. In the example above, the cursor was placed before the subheading “Post Hashtags” and then the column page break was clicked.

After applying that option, you find that the subheading is pushed to the next column and the text follows it as shown below.

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• How to Find and Replace in Word? 7 Simple Methods
• How to Superscript in Word? 4 Easy Methods
• How to Double Space in Word? 4 Easy Ways

Remove Columns

To remove the columns in the text, select the entire text and click on One column and it removes the formatting that was applied to it.

Customize Column

To customize the columns, click on More Columns. By default, the Presets has automatically formatted columns with equal spacings between the columns. You can check the box Line between if you wish to have a line between two columns.

If you don’t wish to have equal spacings between two columns, uncheck the box Equal column width at the bottom of the dialog box.

Under the Width and spacing option, you can preset the column width and the spacing between them for the columns that you have in the document. This formatting can be applied to either the selected text, selected section, or the whole document.  

Navigating Between Columns

It is tricky to navigate from one column to another. Sometimes, you have to type in the first column and end it to start typing in the second column. To do that, insert column breaks before the text from where you want the text to appear in the second column. If you are using a table, it is easy to navigate between the cells just by making use of the Tab key.

Through Menu

Page breaks can be applied by clicking on the layout tab first, then clicking breaks and choosing columns.

Through Keyboard Shortcut

Place the cursor near the text that you want to display in the new column. Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter simultaneously and you can find the further text shifting to the second column.

Show Text Boundaries

Text boundaries are dotted lines that appear in the document to mark the limits of text elements. When you use text boundaries, dotted lines appear around the margins of your text, around the headers, footers, footnotes, etc.

Select File -> Options -> Advanced -> Show document content -> Show text boundaries to apply text boundaries.

After you apply these options, the text appears like this. This feature is useful if you work often with Print Layout View.

Suggested Reads:

• How to Make a Checklist in Word? 3 Simple Steps
• How to Track Changes in Word? A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Delete a Page in Word?

Inserting Multiple Columns in a Document

While typing in a new document, you can include two or more columns and later decide that you want to stick onto a single paragraph itself. Place the cursor at the place where there’s no further text and click on Layout -> Columns -> More Columns. At the bottom of the dialog box, you will notice a drop-down menu Apply to. Choose This point forward to make the text that follows the two-column paragraph appear in a single paragraph.

Insert a Line Between Two Columns

When you add columns in word, you can insert a line between the columns to show the division between the columns. A line can be drawn between two or three columns by clicking on the options Layout -> Columns -> More Columns -> Line between.

You can see a line between the two columns after you select the check box. You must remember that this checkbox gets enabled only if you have a text to appear as two or three columns. You can see that the option is not enabled if it is a single paragraph.

You have the text split into two columns and a line dividing them. Now, you wish to change the column width and the spacing between them. You can do that by unchecking the checkbox Equal column width at the bottom of the dialog box. After you click OK, you can see the column width of column 1  has increased.

More Reads:

• How to Add Page Numbers in Word? 3 Easy Examples
• How to Create Professional Documents in Microsoft Word – Recorded Webinar
• How to Convert PDF to Word

Closing Thoughts

Adding columns in Word improves the document’s readability and appearance. You can fit a little more text when you lay it out in the columns rather than laying it out in a single line. The shorter lines are easier to read as the reader’s eyes need not travel to the end of the page to read it.

In this article, we saw how to add column breaks, customize a column, and modify its width and spacings. You can explore every option in the Columns menu and try using it in your document.

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In this article, we will demonstrate you 3 effective ways to create a two-column Word document where the first column text is independent of the second one.

Naturally, when we create a document in columns, the text of the first column is always linked to that of the next one on the same page. Yet, in some cases, we may need to connect it to the first column text on next page. For example, to compile a translation work in bilateral languages will need to set the source contents and targeted translation in parallel columns on one page. Besides, some people could just prefer to make notes on the column next to the body text.

Luckily, the following 3 methods will enable you to achieve that goal.

Method 1: Insert a Table

1. First and foremost, click “Insert” tab.
2. Then click “Table”.
3. On the drop-down menu, choose a table in size of one row and two columns.
4. Next, click the plus sign on the upper-left corner to select the table.
5. Right click and choose “Table Properties”.
6. Now click “Row” tab first.
7. And ensure the “Specify height” box is cleared and the “Allow row to break across pages” box is checked.
8. Then click “OK”.
9. You can click and drag the line between 2 columns to adjust the column width.
10. Then select the table again.
11. Right click and choose “AutoFit”.
12. Then choose “Fixed Column Width” on the extend menu.
13. If you want no border for the table, just select it and click “Borders” under “Design” tab. Then choose “No Border”.

Method 2: Insert Linked Text Boxes

1. First off, open a new document.
2. Then click “Insert” and click “Blank Page” to insert a new page.
3. Now go back to the first page and click “Text Box” under “Insert” tab.
4. Choose “Draw Text Box”.
5. Next draw 2 text boxes on the first page, with one on the left and another on the right. Here we just name them A1 and B1.
6. Repeat step 2 to insert another new page that is page 3. This is to guarantee that you can always to insert a new page on a blank page without cut the link between text boxes.
7. On page 2, draw 2 text boxes. Here we name them A2 and B2.
8. Make sure all text boxes are empty. Now click on text box A1 and then click “Create Link” under “Format” tab.
9. You shall observe that the cursor changes to a shape like teapot. Go to click on the text box you want to link. In this case, it’s text box A2. And then use the same way to link text boxes on the other side, such as B1 and B2. When the first text box is full, contents will automatically flow to the linked one.
10. To remove box lines, you can right click on text box line and choose “Format Shape”. Then choose “No line” under “Line Color” and close the “Format Shape” dialog box.

Method 3: Use Text Box in a Two-column Document

For those documents which have the final contents settled, you can take method 3.

1. At first, click “Page Setup” tab and then click “Columns”.
2. Next choose “Two” to set the document in 2 columns.
3. Now put cursor at the end of the first column on the first page and click “Insert” tab.
4. Then click “Page Break”. You shall see the second column text on first page just jump to the left on the second page, leaving the right side of the first page in blank.
5. Apply the same way to move the second column on second page to the left side on the third page, and so on. The aim is to keep the right side of all pages in empty.
6. Then you can insert text box on the right side of each page and link them by taking steps in method 2.

Manage Long Word Documents

Due to all reasons, processing long documents is inevitable in office work. Since we know Word is susceptible to corruption, long files just increase its risk of being compromised. Thus, to back up files on a regular routine seems never more important. It allows you to turn to the latest version of data in case Word damage happens.

Author Introduction:

Vera Chen is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including corrupt Excel xls fix and pdf repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com