Students come to my print layout classes (Adobe FrameMaker and Adobe InDesign) and often ask how they can easily line up baselines across columns, and easily force the last lines of every column to line up with the bottom margin. The word easily is often a clue to their pain: it always means they are adding and subtracting leading and paragraph spacing values to achieve their goals. That might be okay if there aren't going to be any further edits, but if there are, it becomes a total nightmare.
You have three techniques in Adobe FrameMaker to automatically align text in the columns of a multi-column layout so that text has an even appearance:
- Balancing text across columns. FrameMaker distributes text evenly across the columns of a text frame that isn't full of text.
- Feathering text to the bottom of text frames. Also known as vertical justification, which means that the last line of text in each column reaches the bottom of the column.
- Synchronizing baselines across columns. The first lines of body paragraphs line up whenever they appear side by side in columns.
Balancing text across columns. The first one is the easiest: just place your cursor in Flow A (or the main text flow) and choose Format > Page Layout > Column Layout. Select Balance Columns and click Update Entire Flow. The results are most evident on the final page of the flow: instead of having one long and one short (or empty) column, you will end up with columns that end at the same place.
- If a document window is active, place the insertion point in the main text flow
- Choose Format > Page Layout > Line Layout
- Select Feather, and enter the maximum amount of space FrameMaker can add between lines (Interline Padding) and between paragraphs (Inter-Padding). FrameMaker won't exceed the padding limits you set.
- Click Update Flow
Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and was recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide for 2007.
How do I change a no-column page that is in the middle of a long document that has all 2-column pages?
This page for some reason doesn’t have the 2-column format, and I don’t understand why.
I’ve checked Format> layout> column layout, but am perplexed b/c the settings are the SAME for the two-column pages and for this one random no-column page. I thought if I noticed different numbers I could change the numbers for this page to what the 2-col pages display. I also noticed that the ruler tabs for this weird page are set to the far left and far right so that the text reads all the way across the page instead of being broken up into 2 columns. I’ve played with the tabs as well and have been researching this for an hour. Oh, and also checked the master pages — there are 2 and both are 2-column formatted. How can I have a page that is all of a sudden like a non-formatted, regular page in the middle of a doc that is all 2-column formatted?
Please help…I’m NEW as new can be to FM!
Thank you SO much for having this website!
How do I change a no-column page that is in the middle of a long document that has all 2-column pages?
This page for some reason doesn’t have the 2-column format, and I don’t understand why.
I’ve checked Format> layout> column layout, but am perplexed b/c the settings are the SAME for the two-column pages and for this one random no-column page. I thought if I noticed different numbers I could change the numbers for this page to what the 2-col pages display. I also noticed that the ruler tabs for this weird page are set to the far left and far right so that the text reads all the way across the page instead of being broken up into 2 columns. I’ve played with the tabs as well and have been researching this for an hour. Oh, and also checked the master pages — there are 2 and both are 2-column formatted. How can I have a page that is all of a sudden like a non-formatted, regular page in the middle of a doc that is all 2-column formatted?
Please help…I’m NEW as new can be to FM!
Thank you SO much for having this website!
How do I change a no-column page that is in the middle of a long document that has all 2-column pages?
This page for some reason doesn’t have the 2-column format, and I don’t understand why.
I’ve checked Format> layout> column layout, but am perplexed b/c the settings are the SAME for the two-column pages and for this one random no-column page. I thought if I noticed different numbers I could change the numbers for this page to what the 2-col pages display. I also noticed that the ruler tabs for this weird page are set to the far left and far right so that the text reads all the way across the page instead of being broken up into 2 columns. I’ve played with the tabs as well and have been researching this for an hour. Oh, and also checked the master pages — there are 2 and both are 2-column formatted. How can I have a page that is all of a sudden like a non-formatted, regular page in the middle of a doc that is all 2-column formatted?
Please help…I’m NEW as new can be to FM!
Thank you SO much for having this website!