Column text

[Vikki]

I have a document in 2 columns. When I want to add a graphic in the middle of
the page, I would like the text to wrap around it. It does, but on either
side of the graphic the text is very uneven, and some of the words look like
they are all justifying right instead of justifying. I have tried adjusting
character to correct this, but that doesn't solve the problem.

 

[Vikki]

Forgot to mention: Word 2002 on xp pro

 

[Jay Freedman]

Forgot to mention: Word 2002 on xp pro

If the text area on each side of the graphic is small -- say, 2 inches or less
-- then Word is going to have a very hard time justifying text there. The
problem is that Word doesn't change the spacing between letters, only the
spacing between words, and in a narrow area there aren't usually enough spaces
to allow adjustments that look good.

Three things may help:

- Make the graphic a little smaller, to see if the text spacing improves when
there are more words and spaces around it to work with.

- Use hyphenation, either automatic or manual. To turn on automatic hyphenation,
click Tools > Language > Hyphenation and check the option in the dialog. For
manual hyphenation, you can use the Manual button in that dialog, or you can
edit the document directly and use Ctrl+hyphen to insert conditional hyphen
characters where needed.

- Go to Tools > Options > Compatibility and check the option for "Do full
justification like WordPerfect 6.x for Windows". The difference is this: Without
the option, Word only adds more space between words to fill out a short line.
With the option, it will try slightly reducing the spaces between words to see
if it can pull back the first word (or at least the first syllable, if automatic
hyphenation is enabled); if that doesn't work, then it will add space.