How to Make Columns in Google Docs (2026)
Columns are great for newsletters, brochures, and flyers. Google Docs supports up to three built-in columns, with control over spacing and a divider line. Here’s how to set them up — and how to apply columns to just part of a page.
Create Two or Three Columns
- Go to Format > Columns.
- Choose the two-column or three-column preset (the one-column option is the default single layout).
Your text instantly reflows into the chosen number of columns.
Apply Columns to Only Part of the Document
To keep a title across the full width and put just one section into columns:
- Highlight the text you want in columns.
- Go to Format > Columns and pick your layout.
Only the selected text becomes columned; the rest of the document stays single-column. Google Docs adds section breaks around the selection automatically.
Control Spacing and Add a Divider Line
- Go to Format > Columns > More options.
- Set:
- Number of columns
- Spacing — the gap between columns, in inches
- Line between columns — check this to add a vertical divider
- Click Apply.
Move Text to the Next Column (Column Break)
A column break forces everything after it into the top of the next column — cleaner than pressing Enter repeatedly.
- Place your cursor where you want the break.
- Go to Insert > Break > Column break.
Text after the cursor jumps to the next column.
Switch Back to a Single Column
- Click inside the columned section.
- Go to Format > Columns and choose the single-column (first) preset.
Troubleshooting
The Columns option is greyed out
Columns don’t work inside tables, headers/footers, or some inserted objects. Click into the main body text and try again.
My columns are uneven
Text fills the first column before flowing to the next. Use a column break (Insert > Break > Column break) to balance content manually.
Only part of my page went into columns
That’s expected if you had text selected — columns apply only to the selection. To column the whole document, click into it without selecting anything, then apply.
Related Google Docs guides: How to insert a text box · How to add a table of contents · How to add page numbers · How to add a border · How to do a hanging indent
Using Microsoft Word instead? See How to add columns in Word.
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