Not a fan of big blocks of text on the page? Then good news, friend! Microsoft Word offers a simple way to format text in a series of columns. How exactly does this work? Let us explain.
It is standard to use columns of text in some document types (e.g. newsletters or magazine articles). Studies have also shown that lines around 50-60 characters long are the easiest to read, so column formatting can help your reader (especially if printing something A4 sized or above).
This formatting style can therefore boost readability and help to ensure professional presentation.
But how do you apply this in practice? To format existing text, you simply:
The selected text will then be formatted as a series of columns. These default settings are fine in most situations. For more control over how text is presented on the page, however, you can:
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In the window that opens, you will be able to choose:
This final option is important. If you want to use column formatting throughout a document, you can select Whole Document. The other options (e.g. Selected Text or This Point Forward) will add a section break before and/or after the point where you’ve changed the formatting style.
Keep this in mind if you are using other formatting that depends on sections (e.g. chapter headers). Unless the sections are linked, any formatting you use may only be applied to the current section.
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