How to Format Text in Columns in Your Book
Columns pour one passage into two or three columns, newspaper style: the text fills the first column, then carries on in the next. They suit glossaries, word lists and other dense reference text in your print book.
To set separate things side by side, each in its own box, use a grid instead.
How to put text in columns
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Select the paragraphs the columns should hold.
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In the editor toolbar, open Containers, point at Columns and choose two or three columns. Or press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+O⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+OCtrl+Shift+O for two.
The editor keeps your text in one column inside a gray box; the print preview shows the columns. A columns block holds paragraphs, lists and subheadings. Every block has a toolbar at its foot:
| Click | To |
|---|---|
| Preset | Choose the [preset](#how-to-use-presets-for-columns) these columns use. |
| The pencil (Edit columns style) | Style these columns, and every columns block on the same preset. |
| 2 / 3 | [Change the number of columns](#how-to-change-the-number-of-columns). |
| Copy (Copy columns) | Copy the block, to paste it somewhere else. |
| The trash (Remove columns (keeps content)) | Take the columns away. Your text stays. |
How to change the number of columns
- Click 2 or 3 at the foot of the block.
How columns look in print and on e-readers
Columns are made for print. E-readers that can’t show columns show the passage as one ordinary column, in the same order, so nothing is lost.
| Where | Your columns |
|---|---|
| Your print-ready PDF | Two or three columns, as you set them. |
| Apple Books, Nook | The columns. |
| Kindle, Kobo, Google Play | One column. |
| Your DOCX file | Word’s own columns. |
Switch the device preview to see each one.
How to style columns
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Click the pencil at the block’s foot (Edit columns style).
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Set it up on the panel’s tabs and click Apply. Every columns block on the same preset changes with it.
| Text tab | Sets |
|---|---|
| Font | The font of the text in the columns. Inherit from Body keeps your body text’s font. |
| Size | Its size, 5 to 72 pt. |
| Line Spacing | The space between lines, 1× to 3×. Kobo uses its own. |
| Justify Text | Project Setting follows your book’s justification. On or Off sets it for these columns. |
| Even Column Heights | In print, ends the columns at about the same height. Off fills each column to the foot of the page before the next one starts. |
| Colors tab | Sets |
|---|---|
| Background | A color behind the block. Transparent for none. |
| Text Color | The color of the words. Inherit from Body keeps your text’s color. |
| Border tab | Sets |
|---|---|
| Thickness | The border around the block, 0 to 30 px. One number sets all four sides; click Expand to set them in pairs or one by one. |
| Line Style | Solid, Dashed or Dotted, for the border and the line between columns. |
| Radius | Rounds the corners, 0 to 24 px. |
| Color | The color of the border and the line between columns. Default follows your book’s Border color in print, and black when none is set. |
| Between Columns: Thickness | The line between the columns, 0 to 30 px. 0 draws no line. |
| Spacing tab | Sets |
|---|---|
| Around Columns | The room outside the block, 0 to 100 px: all four sides, in pairs, or one by one. |
| Inside Columns | The room between the border and the text, 0 to 100 px. |
| Between Columns: Gap | The space between the columns, 0 to 100 px. |
| Trim Top Spacing at Page Start | In print, removes the space above the block when it starts a new page. |
| Trim Top Spacing at Section Start | Removes the space above the block when it is the first thing in a section, in print and in your e-book. |
| Keep Lines Together | [Keeps the whole block on one page](#how-to-keep-columns-on-one-page). |
In the e-reader preview, point at a columns block and click Edit to open the same panel.
How to add a line between columns
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Click the pencil at the block’s foot.
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Open Border and, under Between Columns, set Thickness above 0.
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Click Apply.
The line takes the Line Style and Color set above it, the same as the border.
How to keep columns on one page
Columns flow across pages: a long passage carries on onto the next page. To keep a whole block on one page:
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Click the pencil at the block’s foot and open Spacing.
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Turn on Keep Lines Together and click Apply.
A block that doesn’t fit then moves to the next page whole, in print, Apple Books and Nook. Kindle, Kobo and Google Play may still split it. The setting is part of the preset, so it applies to every columns block on the same preset.
How to use presets for columns
Every columns block uses the Default preset until you choose another, so styling one block styles them all. To give some passages a look of their own, make a preset for them.
Make a preset for columns
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Click the block’s Preset box and choose Create New Preset….
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Give it a name and click Create Group and Preset. The block now uses it.
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Click the pencil to style it.
A new preset starts from Lacuna’s plain columns (no border, no line between columns), not from your Default.
Choose a preset for columns
Choose it in the block’s Preset box. The block takes that preset’s look at once.
Questions
Why doesn’t the editor show my columns?
The editor keeps your text in one column on purpose: columns are laid out again on every printed page, so the editor can’t know where each line will break. Switch the preview to print to see them.
Why does nothing happen when I add columns inside a callout box?
Columns can’t go inside a callout box, a grid or other columns, so Lacuna leaves your text as it is. Put the columns outside the box.