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Quickly balance uneven columns in Word

Posted by Sinlung
Balancing text across newspaper-style columns can be a frustrating chore unless you know about inserting the right type of breaks and how they'll affect your layout.

Microsoft Word
Quickly balance uneven columns in Word Creating newspaper-style columns in Word is about as simple as it gets: Just click the Columns tool on the Standard toolbar and select the appropriate number of columns. (In Word 2007, this tool is on the Page Layout tab in the Page Setup group.)
What's not so easy is balancing text across multiple columns.
There's just no way to predict how the columns will line up. Word fills the first column from the top to the bottom of the page (or section) and then fills the second column.
That means you could end up with one very long column with just a bit of text pushed into the second column, as shown below.

What you'll want, more often than not, is two (or more) columns of the same approximate length. There are two ways to accomplish this:
  • Force a new column by inserting a Column break.
  • Insert a Continuous Section break to force the text to fit into a smaller section.
A column break is a clean break. If you rearrange data, the break goes along. For that reason, a forced break can be problematic--much in the same way that a forced page break can wreck havoc when you move text. In addition, knowing just where to break is a guessing game in itself. You might move too much or not enough.
Sometimes, what seems like a reasonable place to break has unpredictable results, as shown below. In this case, the second column is longer than the first, which you'll usually want to avoid.

It's no big deal to pull a few lines from the top of the second column around to the bottom of the first column. Or simply undo the forced break and try again. Generally, it's just hit or miss until you get it right.
The real problem is this: If you return to a single column format, the Column Break is still there, which works the same as a page break, in the absence of columns. However, when a forced break is the right choice, use it, as follows:
  1. Position the cursor where you want the column to end and a new one to begin.
  2. Choose Break from the Insert menu.
  3. Select the Column Break option in the Break Types section.
  4. Click OK, and Word will move all of the text following the insert point to the top of the next column.
Your second option is to insert a continuous section break. By doing so, you create a new section and Word distributes the text across the columns using a smaller top and bottom margin. By reducing the size of the page to a smaller section, you force Word to split the text differently. Specifically, instead of filling page-length columns (at least the first one), Word fills columns to fit the smaller section.
To add a continuous section break, do the following:
  1. Position the cursor at the end of the last column.
  2. Choose Break from the Insert menu. In Word 2007, click Breaks on the Page Layout tab.
  3. Select Continuous in the Section Break Types section.
  4. Click OK.
As before, you can adjust the balance between the two columns if you like by pushing text into the next column or pulling text back into the previous column. Unlike the column break method, there's no column break to leave behind if you return to a single column format.
However, the section break remains and you'll probably want to delete it. To do so, click Show/Hide on the Standard toolbar to display formatting marks. In this case, the section break is a series of equal signs.

Simply highlight the section break and press Delete. Keep in mind that deleting the section break deletes the formatting that's specific to that section. Consequently, the text becomes part of the following section. It's best to delete the section break before you remove the column format unless you mean to retain the section.
In the final analysis, both methods have pros and cons. Knowing those can help you decide which method works best at the time. However, knowing how these unseen formats affect your document if you delete the columns is probably just as important.


Microsoft Excel
Shade Excel's worksheet rows, columns and sometimes both Shading every nth row in a worksheet is a common format. In fact, Mary Ann Richardson shared a helpful technique for doing so last year. You can expand this same technique to shade both rows and columns to create some interesting, albeit odd, shading patterns.
Before we take a look at columns, let's review Mary Ann's original technique, which includes the following  conditional expression:
=MOD(ROW(),interval)=0
where interval is the number of rows in the pattern. For example, if you want to shade every other row, interval is 2; to shade every third row, interval is 3, and so on.
By substituting the ROW() function with the COLUMN() function, you can shade columns in the same way, as follows:
  1. Select the range you want to format. If you want to format the entire worksheet, click the Select All button (the blank cell that intersects the row and column header rows) or press [Ctrl]+A.
  2. Choose Conditional Formatting from the Format menu.
  3. Click Condition 1's drop-down arrow and choose Formula Is.
  4. Enter the following expression in the formula control: =MOD(COLUMN(),2)=0
  5. Click the Format button, click the Patterns tab, choose a color, and click OK. You've entered the conditional expression and specified a format.

Click on the image to enlarge.
  1. Click OK to return to the shaded worksheet.

Click on the image to enlarge.
With a little experimentation, you can create a number of shading patterns, but let me get you started. First, to create a checkerboard pattern, use the above instructions, but enter the following expression in step 4: =MOD(COLUMN(),2) =MOD(ROW(),2). Frankly, I've never known a use for a checkerboard pattern, but don't let that stop you from experimenting. Remember, for more variety, interval doesn't have to be the same for both rows and columns.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Click on the image to enlarge.
By entering the formulas separately, you can shade alternating rows and columns. Follow the previous instructions, but in steps 3 and 4, create two conditions.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Click on the image to enlarge.
By changing intervals and colors, you can create any number of interesting patterns. Remember, neither the interval nor the color has to be the same for both columns and rows, but the first conditional expression takes precedent. Don't go nuts with this technique or you'll end up with a mess. The truth is, you'll not find a lot of use for alternating shade patterns, but knowing you can expand on the technique might come in handy some day.


Microsoft Access
Save room without sacrificing functionality in an Access form You often need to display large amounts of text in an Access form--well, it's common to need to store lots of text. Whether users need to view all that data all the time is unlikely.
The good news is that with a little planning, your form can provide quick access to large amounts of data in a memo or text field while remaining neat and trim. The key is to let users decide when they need to view all the content. In short, let the user double-click the memo control or a command button to display all the data only when they need it. That way, the user has access to the data and the control consumes a reasonable area on the form.
Using Northwind, let's work through a quick example:
  1. Open the Employees form in Design view.
  2. Click the Code button to launch the form's module.
  3. Enter the Notes_DblClick() subprocedure shown below.
  4. Return to Access and open the form in Form view.
  5. Double-click the Notes control.
Private Sub Notes_DblClick(Cancel As Integer)
'Display contents of Notes field in a Zoom box.
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdZoomBox
End Sub
A quick double-click of the Notes control displays the entire entry for the current record's Notes field. (The Notes control is on the form's Personal Info tab.)

Now, this method isn't intuitive to the user--you'll have to train them to double-click the control. If you'd like something more obvious, you can add the same code to a command button. With the right caption, most users will understand that clicking the button will display the full contents of the corresponding control.
Using the Employees form, let's work through an example that uses a special zooming command button:
  1. With the Employees form in Design view, click the Personal Info tab.
  2. Insert a command button to the right of the Notes control and resize the new command button so that it's fairly small.
  3. Double-click the command button to open its Properties window.
  4. Name the button cmdZoom.
  5. Enter a + (plus sign) for the control's Caption. (Or use something more descriptive, like the phrase "Zoom In".
  6. Click the Code button to launch the form's module.
  7. Enter the cmdZoom_Click subprocedure shown below.
  8. Return to Access and open the Employees form in Form view.
  9. Click the Personal Info tab.
  10. Click the + Command button to display the contents of the Notes control in a zoom box.
Private Sub cmdZoom_Click()
'Display contents of Notes field in a Zoom box.
Me.Notes.SetFocus
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdZoomBox
End Sub
Notice that the SetFocus method in the command button's Click event procedure references the Notes control on the Employees form (Me.Notes). When applying this technique to your forms, be sure to substitute the Notes reference with the name of the memo or text field you want to zoom. Both solutions are simple to implement, and it won't take long for users to get the hang of viewing voluminous data.