Columns are a great organizational tool. In a document, they can divide a page to present specific content in an orderly fashion. Microsoft Word accommodates 1 to 13 columns on one page. The following sections show you how to create, add, and delete columns in Word documents.

Creating columns

  • Open the Word document where you want to add columns.

  • In the Ribbon, click the Layout tab.

  • In the Page Setup section, click the down arrow under Columns, then select More Columns.

  • For Number of columns, you can type in a number or use the up and down arrows to select a number. If the Equal column width option is checked, Word automatically sets the columns to be evenly spaced.

  • Click OK to add the columns to the Word document.

  • Creating columns

  • Inserting column breaks

  • Removing columns

  • In Image 1 below, you can see how the text “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” looks with three columns. In Image 2 below, you can see what the same text looks like with the maximum 13 columns.

Image 1

Image 2

Inserting column breaks

After creating a document with multiple columns, it may be necessary to enter column breaks into the text to move text to the next available column.

To insert a column break, move your cursor to where you want to insert the break and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter shortcut key. Alternatively, you can go to the Layout tab on the Ribbon, click Breaks, and then select Column.

Removing columns

If you need to delete columns in a Word document, follow the steps below.

  • Open the Word document where you need to remove columns.
  • In the Ribbon, click the Layout tab.
  • In the Page Setup section, click the down arrow under Columns, then select More Columns.
  • For Number of columns, you can type in a number or use the up and down arrows to select a number. The number entered or selected must be less than the current number of columns, if you want to remove columns.
  • Click OK to remove the columns in the Word document.

If you don’t want the document to have any columns, click Layout, Columns, and select One.

  • How to add or remove a text box in Microsoft Word.
  • How to adjust the indents and tabs in Microsoft Word.
  • How to create a document.
  • Microsoft Word help and support.