How to Create Columns in Microsoft Word

If you are designing a newsletter, a brochure, or an academic paper, reading long lines of text stretching across an entire page can be tiring for the eyes. Breaking your text into multiple vertical columns, similar to a newspaper, instantly makes the document look more professional and easier to read.

Microsoft Word has a built-in tool that allows you to instantly split your document into two, three, or more columns with a single click, completely eliminating the need for messy text boxes.

How to Split the Entire Document into Columns

1. Open your document in Microsoft Word.
2. Go to the Layout tab on the ribbon menu (in older versions, this is the Page Layout tab).
3. In the ‘Page Setup’ group on the left side, click the Columns button.
4. A drop-down menu will appear. Select how many columns you want (e.g., Two or Three).

As soon as you click, Word will automatically reformat your entire document, wrapping the text from the bottom of the first column back up to the top of the second column.

How to Apply Columns to a Specific Section Only

Often, you only want columns for a specific part of your document. For example, you might want a large, full-width headline at the top of the page, followed by two columns of text underneath.

1. Use your mouse to highlight exactly the text you want to split into columns.
2. Go back to the Layout tab and click Columns.
3. Select Two (or however many you need).

Word will automatically insert invisible ‘Section Breaks’ above and below your highlighted text. Only the text you selected will be split into columns, while the rest of the document remains full-width.

Advanced Formatting: Adding Lines and Adjusting Widths

If your columns feel a bit messy and you want to clearly separate them visually, you can add a vertical dividing line between them.

1. Click anywhere inside your columns.
2. Go to Layout > Columns and click More Columns… at the very bottom of the menu.
3. A dialog box will open. Check the small box labeled Line between.
4. In this same dialog box, you can adjust the exact width of each column and the spacing (the “gutter”) between them. Uncheck the “Equal column width” box if you want a wide left column and a narrow right column.
5. Click OK.

How to Force Text into the Next Column

If you want a specific paragraph to start at the absolute top of the next column, do not hit the Enter key 20 times. This will ruin your formatting if you edit the text later.

Instead, click in front of the paragraph, go to Layout > Breaks, and select Column. This will instantly push the text to the top of the next available column.