How to Place Text and Pictures Side by Side with Grids

A grid puts 2 to 4 cells side by side on one row, each holding its own text or pictures. For one passage that flows from column to column, use columns instead.

Add a grid from the editor toolbar, and style every grid in your book at once from its panel.

How to add a grid

Click in the paragraph that goes in the first cell, or select every paragraph it should hold.
In the editor toolbar, open Containers, point at Grid and choose how many cells. Or press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+G⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+GCtrl+Shift+G for two.

What you selected moves into the first cell, and the other cells start empty. A cell holds paragraphs, subheadings, lists and pictures.

Every grid has a toolbar at its foot:

Click	To
Preset	Choose the grid’s [preset](#how-to-use-presets-for-grids).
The pencil (Edit grid style)	Style the grid, and every grid on the same preset.
2, 3 or 4 cells	[Set how many cells](#how-to-add-or-remove-cells) it has.
Copy (Copy grid)	Copy the grid, to paste it somewhere else.
The trash (Remove grid (keeps content))	Take the grid away. What it holds stays, in order.

How to put two paragraphs side by side

Add a grid around the first paragraph.
Select the paragraph that goes beside it, and cut it with Ctrl/Cmd+X⌘ Cmd+XCtrl+X.
Click in the grid, press Tab to move to the empty cell, and paste with Ctrl/Cmd+V⌘ Cmd+VCtrl+V.

Tab moves to the next cell and Shift+Tab to the one before. In the last cell, Tab takes you below the grid.

For pictures side by side, click in a cell and add a picture there.

How to add or remove cells

Click	To
+ at the grid’s right edge (Add cell)	Add a cell at the end. A grid holds up to 4.
× at a cell’s top right (Remove cell)	Remove that cell. What it holds moves into the cell before it (the first cell’s, into the next). It shows when you point at a cell of a grid with 3 or 4 cells.
2, 3 or 4 at the grid’s foot	Set the number of cells. With fewer, what the cells taken away held moves into the last cell kept.

Cells always share the row equally: two cells take half the width each, four take a quarter. Nothing you put in a cell is lost when you remove it.

How to style a grid

Click the pencil at the grid’s foot (Edit grid style).
Set it up on the panel’s tabs and click Apply. Every grid on the same preset changes with it.

Text tab	Sets
Font	The font in the cells. Inherit from Body uses your text’s font.
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 lines the text up on both edges of each cell; Off keeps a ragged right edge.

Colors tab	Sets
Background	A color behind the whole grid. Transparent for none.
Text Color	The color of the text in the cells. Inherit from Body keeps your text’s color.

Border tab	Sets
Thickness	The border around the grid, 0 to 30 px (0, no border, to start). 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 cells.
Radius	Rounds the corners, 0 to 24 px.
Color	The color of the border and the line between cells. Default follows your book’s Border color in print, and black when none is set.
Between Columns › Thickness	The line between cells, 0 to 30 px. 0 for none.

Spacing tab	Sets
Around Grid	The room outside the grid, 0 to 100 px. Left and right make the grid narrower than your text.
Inside Cells	The room inside the cells, 0 to 100 px. Left and right set the room at the grid’s outer edges.
Between Cells › Gap	The space between cells, 0 to 100 px.
Trim Top Spacing at Page Start	In print, removes the space above the grid when it starts a new page.
Trim Top Spacing at Section Start	Removes the space above the grid when it is the first thing in a section, in print and in your e-book.
Keep Lines Together	[Keeps the whole grid on one page](#how-to-keep-a-grid-on-one-page). Off to start.

In the e-reader preview, point at a grid and click Edit to open the same panel.

How to draw a line between cells

Click the pencil at the grid’s foot and open Border.
Under Between Columns, set Thickness, and click Apply.

The line takes the Line Style and Color above it, the same as the border around the grid. Set Thickness to 0 to take it away. The dashed lines between cells in the editor only show where each cell begins: they never print.

How to keep a grid on one page

At first, a grid that doesn’t fit at the foot of a page continues on the next one. To keep a short grid whole:

Click the pencil at the grid’s foot and open Spacing.
Under Rules, turn on Keep Lines Together and click Apply.

It is part of the preset: every grid on the same preset keeps together. How a kept grid that doesn’t fit reads in each place:

Where	A kept grid that doesn’t fit
Your print-ready PDF, Apple Books, Nook	Moves to the next page, whole.
Kindle, Kobo, Google Play	May split across two pages.
Your DOCX	Its row stays on one page.

The warning beside Keep Lines Together lists the same readers. Switch the device preview to see each one.

How to use presets for grids

Every grid uses the Default preset until you choose another, so styling one grid styles them all. To give some grids a look of their own, such as a framed pair of photos, put them on another preset.

Make a preset for a grid

Click the grid’s Preset box and choose Create New Preset….
Give it a name and click Create Group and Preset. The grid now uses it.
Click the pencil to style it.

A new preset starts from Lacuna’s plain grid (no border, no line between cells), not from your Default. Watch it on a blockquote in make a preset for an element.

Choose a preset for a grid

Choose it in the grid’s Preset box. The grid takes that preset’s look at once.

How grids look in print and on e-readers

Where	Your reader sees
Your print-ready PDF	The cells side by side, each as wide as the others.
E-books, Kindle included	The cells side by side across the screen. On a phone, four cells get narrow: check them in the e-reader preview.
Your DOCX	A one-row Word table.

Text in a cell has no first-line indent and no drop cap.

Questions

Can I put several pictures on one page?

Yes. Put 2 to 4 pictures in a grid, one in each cell, and add another grid under it for the next row. Click in a cell to add a picture there.

Do grids work on Kindle and in e-books?

Yes. The cells stay side by side in your EPUB, Kindle included, in your print-ready PDF and in your DOCX.

Why can’t I remove a cell?

A grid always has at least two cells, so the × shows only on a grid of three or four. To take the whole grid away and keep what it holds, click the trash at its foot.

Why did my grid split across two pages?

Keep Lines Together is off to start, so a long grid continues on the next page. To keep it whole, turn it on in the grid’s panel, on the Spacing tab.