When you are finishing up the 2nd column of each page, have you tried to enter a "Section Break" rather than a column break? I looked at your example and formatted a heading for each column and the formatting stayed in place.

Hi JimP,

I thought about doing something similar, ie adding a page break rather than a column break. I haven't tried it yet, though my only concern is that, as it is a constantly evolving document, if I put page breaks in places, they're likely to move as soon as I stick anything else in, and ruin the pretty format.

Would a section break have a similar effect as a page break? Sorry, I'm new to all the idiosyncracies of Word... If not, I don't really understand the purpose of section breaks? Would having section breaks following each song prevent columns?

Thanks for the suggestion, and sorry it lead to more questions! I'll give it a go as soon as I've got some time!

Thank God for Ctrl + z

James

I tried your suggestion and as I suspected it does pose problems for later when I'm adding bits and pieces to the document. I did however find a slightly inelegant fix, in placing a paragraph break before each heading. It prevents the heading format showing up on the previous page, but does mean that there is an extra blank line on the top of each page. Are there any symbols or commands or whatever that have the same properties of a pilcrow, without adding a line space?

Cheers

oh and I've tried using line breaks, with the same initial problem being encountered.