How to make columns in Word and remove them
Miscellaneous / / April 05, 2023
Learn how to change the layout and improve the readability of the text.
How to make standard columns in Word
Switch to the Layout tab and click on the Columns button.
Select one of the predefined options: "Two" and "Three" - for splitting into two or three columns of the same width.
Or click "Left" or "Right" to split the text into two columns, one of which will be narrow, and the second will take up the remaining space on one side or the other.
How to make custom columns in Word
If you want to make columns of different widths or create more than three columns, you need to proceed a little differently.
On the Layout tab, click on Columns and select More Columns...
Enter number columns, then uncheck Equal Width Columns and set the size of each. You can also enable the "Line between" setting here to add a separator between columns, and in paragraph "Apply to:" - change the layout from the designated place to the end of the document or throughout text.
After applying the selected options, the formatting will be changed to reflect them.
In addition, the width of the columns can be simply adjusted using the Ruler tool by moving the sliders. If it is disabled, then activate it on the "View" → "Ruler" tab.
How to break columns
In a layout with columns, the text will flow into the next column as the previous one fills up. However, if you need to leave one of them half-empty and immediately go to the other, then this is easily done using the break function.
To do this, place the cursor at the beginning of the line you want to wrap, and then on the Layout tab, click Breaks and select Column.
Whole text, starting from the specified row, will flow to the next column.
How to remove column breaks
To get rid of empty spaces, you have to remove the gaps. To do this, on the "Home" tab, enable the display of formatting marks by clicking on the appropriate button. Column break marks will appear in the text - just cut them out.
How to remove columns in Word
To return to plain text, on the Layout tab, click Columns and select the Single option.
This will return the standard formatting option, and the text will fill the entire page in width.
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