Text Columns Don't Fill Up

  • Thread starter Thread starter G.G. Biggar, Jr.
  • Start date Start date
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G.G. Biggar, Jr.

I am using Windows 2000 and Office 2000. I am typing text into two columns,
but in the leftmost column the text only extends down 2/3 of the page before
jumping over to the next column. This condition is not true on previous or
subsequent pages, where there are also pictures embedded in frames. When
viewing the document in Normal View, the text appears fine (no gaps).

I tried converting the text from the top of this page forward into a single
column, and then converting it back to two columns -- to no avail. Does
anyone have any thoughts as to what might be causing the text to jump over
(prematurely) to the top of the next column?

Thanks in advance.

Gordon Biggar
Houston, Texas
 
The columns are balanced because you have a continuous break at the end of
the multi-column section. You can change this behavior by checking the box
for "Don't balance column for Continuous section starts" on the
Compatibility tab of Tools | Options.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Hello again, Madame Barnhill!

As you can see, bad pennies have a way of returning.
Your solution did the trick; can this be set as a default setting, or does
one have to set this option each time one opens a new document where columns
are intended to be used?

Thanks for saving me (once again).

Gordon Biggar
 
Compatibility Options are document-specific, but if you open Normal.dot (or
any other document template) and set them there, they will apply to new
documents based on that template.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
That was easy! Looking forward, though, is there a reason that I would not
want to set this option as so? For example, this fault only occurred on
this one page -- not on previous or subsequent pages. However, on previous
manuscripts I have also run into this problem. Sometimes, by hitting the
Enter key repeatedly, and by cutting and pasting the skipped text, I have
managed to get around the dilemma.

Merci, madame. You always have the answers.!

Regards,

Gordon Biggar

P.S. Your earlier suggestion (i.e., as of last spring) to use frames to
enclose pictures to facilitate their re-positioning on the page has worked
like a charm. Also, did I read somewhere that Microsoft is no longer going
to support the news groups?
 
Balanced columns are desirable (for my purposes), and I suppose that I could
achieve that on the final page by using the Column Break feature. My
problem stemmed from an (implicit) column break taking place 2/3 of the way
down the leftmost column, and my inability to flesh out that column. Still
am not sure why that occurred.

Merci!

Gordon Biggar
 
Ah, in that case I would check the paragraph formatting. If you've got too
many paragraphs formatted as "Keep with next" and "Keep lines together,"
that would cause the problem you see.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
I had investigated that possibility originally. But, since "Keep with next"
and "Keep lines together" are not checked, I am at a loss to explain the
condition. Nonetheless, your "fix" has solved the problem.

Merci!

Gordon Biggar
 
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