WD: Unbalanced Columns Despite Continuous Section Break

ID: Q113906

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you insert a Continuous section break in a multi-column section, Word for Windows sometimes does not balance the columns.

There are two forms of this problem:

Case 1: The last column is considerably shorter than the previous

        column(s).

        text text text text     text text text text
        text text text text     text text text text
        text text text text     ===section break===
        text text text text
        text text text text
        text text text text
        text text text text
        text text text text
        text text

Case 2: The last column is shorter than the others by several lines at

        most.

        text text text text     text text text text
        text text text text     text text text text
        text text text text     text text text text
        text text text text     text text text text
        text text text text     ===section break===
        text text text text

CAUSE

Case 1 occurs when you open a file from another file format in Word.

Case 2 occurs because of Pagination paragraph formatting. (To view Pagination formatting, choose Paragraph from the Format menu and select the Text Flow tab.)

RESOLUTION

Case 1

To correctly format the columns in a converted document in which one column is much shorter than the others, use the following instructions to clear the Don't Balance Columns for Continuous Section Starts option:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.

2. Select the Compatibility tab.

3. Clear the "Don't Balance Columns for Continuous Section Starts" option

   and then choose OK.

NOTE: If the columns remain unbalanced, you may need to use the steps below for Case 2 as well to correct any paragraph formatting problems.

Case 2

Use the following instructions to correct the Pagination formatting and correctly break the columns in your document:

1. Select the paragraphs in the section that contains the unbalanced

   columns.

2. From the Format menu, choose Paragraph.

3. Select the Text Flow tab.

4. Clear all four options in the Pagination section (Widow/Orphan Control,

   Keep Lines Together, Keep With Next, Page Break Before).

5. Choose OK.

NOTE: Widow/Orphan Control is selected by default. It ensures that the last line of a paragraph isn't printed at the top of a column and that the first line of a paragraph is never printed by itself at the bottom of a column. This is done for ease of reading but has the effect of preventing Word from balancing columns.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word User's Guide," version 6.0, page 273

KBCategory: kbusage KBSubcategory: kblayout Additional query words: 6.0 6.0a winword 6.0c 7.0 word95 word6 word7 word97

Keywords          : kbualink97 kblayout 
Version           : 6.0 6.0a 6.0c 7.0 97
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: February 6, 1998