Incorrect behavior when using columns

[PaulFryer]

I am using Word to make a simple insert for CD jewel cases. It
comprises a one-page two-column document which I will trim and fold to
put inside the front of the CD case.

The first column is simply a jpeg picture filling the whole column.
The second column is text describing the content. Both of these are
typically obtained from scanning the original 12" LP cover from which
the music was digitized; the text using OmniPage, a simple OCR program,
followed up by editing.

After formatting the page margins, etc., I convert the document into
the required 2 columns. My problem is this: as soon as I go to 2
columns all the text appears as one character per line without any
paragraph marks showing (i.e. it seems to read downwards), thus of
course taking up many pages instead of the expected one short column.
At the same time, the ruler (in Page Layout View) disappears, and I
can't seem to get it back. I have tried the Word Help for clues
without success, adjusted some document formats, and looked through the
Preferences. Nothing seems to work.

A brand new Word document with information just typed in works fine.

Has anybody seen this kind of behavior, or are there any suggestions as
to what I can try to resolve it?

Thanks.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I haven't a clue what's happening there--but personally, to make a CD
insert, I would probably use a two-cell table instead of two columns. And
set the table measurement to match the measurement of the CD.

If you apply columns to text that wasn't OCR-ed, does the same thing happen?

Hit ¶ on the standard toolbar to show nonprinting characters. Each space
should show up as a grey dot, and each paragraph break should be a grey ¶.
Do you see anything weird?

 

[PaulFryer]

Thanks for the alternative suggestion of using a table for the CD
insert - it worked well although positioning on the page wasn't quite
as precise requiring more care in cropping. Given my problem, I may go
this way in future.

Back to the original approach. If I enter text manually on the same
document as OCR-ed text, it seems to have the same problem, unless I
select a brand new style from the style palette (e.g. "normal") when
it's OK. It may be picking up some weird formatting from the paragraph
style inherited from the OCR, even though I did it as a simple copy &
paste. Is there any way of determining what is in the paragraph
format?

I do use the ¶ mark to see what's going on. Each letter was on a
separate line without any pargraph formatting - the only paragraph
marks visible were those originally there, and appeared on the same
line as the last character of the paragraph. As I said, I couldn't see
the ruler to see where the indents, tabs, etc., were set, but the
paragraph format box numbers looked OK.

Tried Copying my troublesome text to another part of the document using
"paste as unformatted text". It seems to work OK in columns. Regular
"paste" still bombs. If I go with the 2-column approach in future,
that is how I will try bringing in my OCR-ed stuff.

Thanks again.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Paste Unformatted sounds like the best solution. I'm definitely not
familiar enough with OCR to have a clue what it may have done, but I'm not
surprised it needs to be cleaned.

Someone else may have a diagnosis--but I think you've found the fix.