How To Create Columns of Text

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There are times when you may want your text to appear in columns. Perhaps it’s a page of poetry where the lines are relatively short, or a list of ingredients in a cookbook. There are correct and incorrect ways to do this.

The Incorrect Way

You should not be pressing the Space Bar or the Tab key to space apart your columns on the page. You may be able to get this to look right within the margins of your original manuscript. But as soon as those margins make the necessary change into your final book size, it will probably look very different from what you intended.

The Correct Way

The correct way to do this in Microsoft Word is to select the text you want to appear in the columns. Then, go to ‘Format’ and ‘Columns’. You’ll be able to select how many columns you want. In this example, we’re dealing with a list of pretty short words, so I’ll try setting it up in four columns. Normally, we recommend no more than two columns if you are publishing a 6 by 9 book. Any more than two may not fit on the final book pages. If we go back into ‘Show Formatting’ mode, you’ll see that there are no tabs or spaces separating out the columns. This is what your columns should look like.

You can change the shape of your table as well as the shape of individual rows and columns by placing your cursor over the line you wish to manipulate, then clicking and dragging. You shouldn’t worry too much about making your tables esthetically pleasing in your original manuscript. As long as the table is constructed properly and your text is typed into it, we’ll finalize its design during production of your book.

If your text columns have been created incorrectly, they will need to be reconstructed before your book can begin production. You can do this yourself using the process we just discussed or you can ask a representative for a Manuscript Preparation Estimate if you would like us to do the repairs. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 0800-644-6988 . We’ll be happy to talk about it with you.