Word - Equal heights of column

Hi,

I am writing a research paper in Word 2010. My problem is this: in the
two-column layout, text is at the same height on the top of the page but
not on the bottom. Depending on figures inserted in a column, one column
might end with about half a line-height's more space than the other
column. That looks very unprofessional and as I cannot think of any
solution, I am considering rewriting the whole thing in LaTeX which does
that automatically.

Do you have any idea how I can bring Word to give those two columns
equal heights, i.e. strech any spacings in a smart way?

Thanks in advance,
Franz




--
Franz21

Adding a continuous section break at the end of the last column will
force Word to balance the columns.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

'Stefan Blom[_3_ Wrote:

Any kind of break I tried to insert did not have the effect. Could you
elaborate how I insert a "continuous section break"?

The problem is not that the the columns are not roughly balanced in
height. The problem is that that they are not balanced to the millimeter!




--
Franz21

Unless the Ribbon is laid out differently in 2010 than in 2007, you
want the Page Layout tab on the ribbon, then under Break you will find
(under Secton Breaks) the Continuous one. Just put that in the
paragraph after the last one in your last column. (I always first try
to find Break under Insert, so if they were really clever, for 2010
they moved Breaks to Insert, or duplicated it there.)

n

FWIW, the commands are in the same location in Word 2010.

Also, at File tab | Options | Advanced, make sure that "Don't balance
columns at the start of Continuous sections" is *cleared* (to see the
option, click to expand the "Layout options").

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Tanks, I found it. Alas, it did not work. The bottoms of the columns
over the pages are still ragged and not flush with the bottom margin.

Any other ideas? Or is there no such functionality?

Peter T. Daniels;492799 Wrote:




--
Franz21

Did you verify that the compatibility option is cleared?

Also, and more importantly, are you in fact using newspaper columns? If
you are using a table, adding a continuous break is not going to work.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

They will not be balanced to the millimeter unless you have formatted the
section's vertical alignment as Justified, and I strongly suspect you will not
like the effects of that, either.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

'Stefan Blom[_3_ Wrote:

Yeah, that is indeed correct, though it does not solve the problem.
Columns are not precisely aligned to the bottom margin but rather still
ragged on all pages (see attached picture).


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--
Franz21

You'd have to experiment with fixed line spacing to have text line up
across columns. Also, spacing before/after must be integer multiples of
the line spacing. See if you find it worth the effort (you are really
working against Word's capabilities). :-(

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

In order to get half-line alignment like that, you must have either
space between paragraphs, or different-sized illustrations in the two
columns (how can we say anything if you only show the very bottom of
the page?).

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