MS Word line numbers with a split 1 page document?

Question

I have 2 large extracts of text from a story. I would like to fit those extracts side by side on the page with line numbering for each. What is the best way to do this? I am using Microsoft Word 2007

Answer 1

Method 1

This method will work if you don't need the two extracts to start at line 1.

• Insert a continuous section break in the text at the point where the extracts will be placed.
• Add a blank line
• Insert a second continuous section break in the text.
• Place the cursor on the blank line between the section breaks.
• Enable line numbering for this section (not for the whole document).
• Change to a two-column layout for this section.
• Paste the first extract into the document.
• Insert a column break after the first extract.
• Paste the second extract into the document.
• Put borders around the extracts to highlight them if you like.

The result will look something like this.

It may help to Show Formatting so you can see the location of the section breaks.

Method 2

This method is less flexible and requires more work, but will result in both extracts numbered starting with line 1.

• Paste each extract into a separate Word document.
• Turn on line numbering for the document.
• Set the page width so the text including the line numbers is a bit less than half the page width.
• Take a screen shot of the text.
• Paste the screen shot into the main document.
• Repeat for the second extract.
• Align the screen-shot graphic objects so they line up.