How to set up a two column document that continues to next page.

[Sherman]

I am preparing a document with 2 columns comparing two handbooks. I set up a
two-column landscape page. I started out by completing one page at a time
instead of continuous pages because the text continued into the wrong
column. It was a pain when I emailed each page separately rather than the
entire document together. When I reach the end of the left column the text
automatically continues in the right. How can I continue to enter text into
the left column continuously to the next pages?

 

[Jezebel]

Word has no elegant way to do this. To cludgy methods --

1. Create a table with one row and two columns. Put book one in column 1 and
book 2 in column 2. However, Word tends to get miserable with tables whose
columns span a lot of pages, so you might have problems if the handbooks are
long.

2. Start with a blank document. Insert page breaks for however many pages
you need. Insert a pair of textboxes on each page, sized to represent the
respective columns you want. Select the first textbox on page 1 and link it
to the first textbox on page 2 (right-click the edge of the first textbox,
select 'Create textbox link', select the second textbox). Link all the
left-hand textboxes. Then link all the right-hand textboxes. Then copy the
text of handbook 1 and paste it into the left-hand textbox on page 1: the
text will flow to the linked textboxes. Ditto handbook 2.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

For Method 2, note that Word has a limit (32) on the number of linked text
boxes.