Re: True parallel columns in Word

Suzanne:

Thanks for the additional information. I have a problem believing that I'm
the first person to have requested this - for those of us who live in
countries with more than one official language, this really has to be a
common problem. The solution of linked Text Boxes that is found in Help is
difficult (at best) to understand and implement.

Hopefully, Microsoft will come up with a better solution in a future edition
of Word - but in the meantime, if someone has a bright idea on how to better
solve the problem in the short term, I would be most grateful.

I appreciate your guidance regarding the use of a table, and will watch
closely to see if it becomes a problem in my case.

Many thanks,

Flavelle

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

Word becomes very uncomfortable with long single-row tables. It's best to
break to a new row at least once a page. It also helps to break to a new
table whenever possible (interspersing ordinary text paragraphs for
headings, for example).

You don't actually need the center column for spacing, as you can use either
paragraph indents or cell margins to control the amount of space between the
text in the two columns; a center column can be simpler, but it does mean an
extra Tab moving between columns.

The major drawback to using tables is that they make some types of
formatting unavailable (more trouble with wrapped graphics, for example) and
others more difficult (have to use Ctrl+Tab to tab or indent within cells).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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all may benefit.

"Flavelle Ballem" <fballem@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4A0951C7-D50E-4CB8-A572-5E95C277F23C@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Suzanne:

Thanks for the suggestion. Given the current capabilities of Word, this is
probably the best available suggestion. There are two ways to go -
separate
rows for each paragraph or a table with a single row spanning multiple
pages.
If vertical alignment of the same paragraph in each language is required,
then it's best done as one row per paragraph. If this is less of an issue,
then a single row table is probably better (not sure of the limitations of
how many pages can be spanned with a single row).

A three column table appears to be quite satisfactory. The middle column
is
small and used to control the separation of the other two columns.

I still stand by my enhancement suggestion that the column capability of a
future version of Word should be enhanced to support newspaper or parallel
columns.

Flavelle

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

For this purpose we mostly recommend a two-column (borderless) table,
breaking to a new row for each paragraph.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Flavelle Ballem" <fballem@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:18D8202E-FF38-40AD-85DF-D429D7492BBD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I finally have to produce a document that uses parallel columns in
Word -
one
side in English, the second side in French. In reading how to do this,
the
only option appears to be through the use of linked Text Boxes, which
is a
particularly ugly solution.

A far more elegant (and simple) solution would be allow the definition
of
two (or more columns) that don't snake like a newspaper, but instead
will
go
to the next page automatically. If I need to enter text in the second
column,
then I can move to the column (mouse click or keystroke) and start
typing
away.

This surely cannot be this hard.

Regards,

Flavelle

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