Flowing Text into Columns

You can flow text into multiple columns on a page, like the columns in a newspaper or magazine. You can even vary the number of columns on a page by dividing the page into separate sections.

Change the Number of Columns

Without worrying about the layout just yet, complete the content of your document. Make sure the page orientation and the margins are set correctly for the document.

On the Home tab, click the Show/Hide ¶ button if it isn’t already turned on.

Select the text that you want to flow into columns.

On the Page Layout tab, click the Columns button, and select the layout you want. Word makes the selected text into a separate section by inserting Continuous section breaks before and after the selected text.

If you want to adjust the columns, click anywhere in the section that has the columns.

Click the Columns button again, and click More Columns in the Columns gallery to display the Columns dialog box.

If you don’t want even-width columns, clear this check box, and then specify the width you want for each column.

Select this check box if you want a vertical line centered between adjacent columns.

Make sure the settings are applied only to the selected text, and then click OK.