Documents with two columns only have one column after update

[Nomis69]

I have a few documents with two columns. There are headings and tables in one column, but the text body is in two columns.



Since a few weeks back (don't know the exact date), those documents always open with one column. I change to two columns, work with them, save and close -- and yet they still open up with one column.

Since especially one document is quite long and complex with tables, illustrations and such, this is becoming a real headache, because the layout is a challenge as it is. Also, of course, it is overall very annoying.

I believe this appeared after an update -- could it be from Office 2013 to Office 2016? I don't remember. I have Office 365 but I work with the desktop version of it.

I do not experience any other problems with my Office 2016 application.

What I would like to achieve, is of course to have Word remember my column settings when I save and close my two columns documents.

Any help is much appreciated.

[Ulodesk]

I don't use 2016 (yet), but I can offer one or two general suggestions.
Anytime you experience a problem of this kind, think like a detective. Rather than proceeding to do all the work all over again, test the function to determine the cause of the problem before committing more effort that may be lost.
The first thing to do is to display hidden characters, to show you what may be at work "behind the scenes." Click on the backwards P on the Home tab; clicking it again toggles it off. What we're looking for is the needed section breaks required for multi-column work, unless the entire document is, for example, 2-column. In order to separate a one-page from a multi-column page, a page break will not work; you need a Next Page Section Break. Breaks of various types are listed on the Page Layout tab; use the down arrow beside breaks.
Note that a section (one page or more) of multi-column between two single-column or multi-column of a higher or lower number (e.g., going from 2-col to 3-col) requires a break both before and after, because columns are a section property, not a paragraph one.
A Continuous section break allows, for instance, setting two columns in the middle of a single-column page, but this can get tricky. In any case, I still advise displaying hidden characters to allow seeing if the breaks are there (a dotted line with "Section Break" and its type centered in it. If you save the document and then open it again and the section breaks have disappeared, that is another issue, probable corruption.
Also note, that another way to create multiple columns, without section breaks, is by using borderless tables. You can view the non-printing borders as dotted lines by selecting View Gridlines at the bottom of the drop down list by Table borders on the Home tab.

[Nomis69]

Thank you, Ulodesk, for your reply and sorry I haven't been able to get back to you until now. Thanks to your post it seems like I'm getting this to work. A little bit puzzled why this phenomena occurred, but it doesn't matter now - it's working now. Thank you again for taking time.

[Stefan Blom]

Are you sure that it isn't just a display issue? The document could be in Web Layout view, Read Mode, or Draft view. For a what-you-see-is-what-you-get view, click View tab | Print Layout.

[montemac]

To Stefan Blom:
I reached this Thread "Documents with two columns only have one column after update" by a Google search, and your suggestion for using Print Layout solved my problem with a 6-column landscape 8.5X14 document. I have Win 10 with Office 2016. Thanks

[Stefan Blom]

Originally Posted by montemac

To Stefan Blom:
I reached this Thread "Documents with two columns only have one column after update" by a Google search, and your suggestion for using Print Layout solved my problem with a 6-column landscape 8.5X14 document. I have Win 10 with Office 2016. Thanks

I'm glad I could help. Thanks for the feedback.