ID: Q184020
The information in this article applies to:
In a Microsoft Word document, when you insert a column break and then immediately apply paragraph formatting to the first paragraph of a new column, that format is also applied to the last paragraph of the previous column.
When you insert a column break into your document, it starts a new column, but it does not start a new paragraph. This means that if paragraph formatting is applied anywhere within the paragraph (before and after the column break), that formatting will apply to both parts of the paragraph (before and after the column break).
To work around this problem, enter a paragraph mark at the end of the column immediately before the column break. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Place the insertion point in the last line of the column immediately
before the column break.
3. Press ENTER to enter a paragraph mark.
You will now be able to apply paragraph formatting to the second column without affecting the first column.
This behavior was changed in Microsoft Word 97 for Windows and Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition. In Word 97 and Word 98, when you enter a column break and then apply paragraph formatting, that formatting will not apply to the paragraph immediately prior to the column break.
For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: Q89303
TITLE : WD: Paragraph Borders Overlap with Multiple Columns
Keywords : kbdta word6 winword2 word7 word95 kbformat
Version : WINDOWS: 2.0a, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c, 7.0, 7.0a
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowtoLast Reviewed: March 3, 1999