See â€œChanging the number of columns for existing textâ€ on page 85. This check box is not always displayed in the Settings area. Clear this check box if you want to distribute text newspaper-style. To distribute text evenly, check the Evenly distribute contents to all columns check box in the Settings area. Newspaper-style â€”If you choose to distribute text newspaper-style, Writer will fill the columns one at a time, beginning with the first column. You can distribute text across the columns in one of two ways:Įvenly â€”If you choose to distribute text evenly, Writer will fill the first line of each column, followed by the second line of each column, and so on. Enter the desired number in the Columnsbox in the Settings area. If you prefer to create a customized column layout, you must specify the number of columns that you want. To use one of them, click the desired layout. The Settings area displays five predefined column layouts. In this case, the changes are being applied to the Default page style. Notice the Apply to box on the right-hand side of the dialog box. The preview box, located to the right of the Settings area, shows how the column layout will look. You can use one of Writer â€™s predefined column layouts, or you can create a customized column layout. On the Columns dialog box (Figure 87), choose the number of columns and specify any spacing between the columns and whether you want a vertical separator line to appear between the columns.

To define the number of columns on a page:Ĭhoose Format > Columns or go to the Columns page of the Page Style dialog box. You can then either define extra page styles for pages with different numbers of columns or use sections (described in â€œUsing sections for page layoutâ€ starting on page 95) for pages or parts of pages with different numbers of columns. It is a good idea to define your basic page style (such as Default) with the most common layout to be used in your document, either single-column or multiple-column.

Openoffice writer columns