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When I insert a column break in Microsoft Word, the last paragraph before the column break gets the same styling as the first paragraph after the break. This means that if I set a background color of the paragraph after the break, the last paragraph before the break also gets a background color, even if the paragraph is empty! Is there any way to avoid this?

How to try it:

  1. Create a new Word document.
  2. Set it to have a two-column layout.
  3. Write something.
  4. Insert a column break.
  5. Set a background color for the paragraph.
  6. Observe that the last paragraph on the previous column also gets a background color.

With page breaks, I'm not experiencing this issue. I'm using Word version 1609 (build 7369.2130)

Update

Here is a screenshot showing what it looks like when I create a new paragraph before inserting the column break. I want only the paragraph in the second column to have a background color, not the column break ("Spalteskift") in the first column. Column break with background color

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  • The column break is not printed so it doesn't matter. If you turn off Formatting Marks it won't be displayed either.
    – DavidPostill
    Jun 6, 2017 at 17:40
  • @DavidPostill Can you please confirm this? When I turn off Formatting marks, the empty paragraph in the first column is still green. Jun 6, 2017 at 22:31

2 Answers 2

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This is an old post; however, I did have the same issue and resolved it today, albeit with a workaround.

Adding a carriage return with the smallest possible font, in conjunction with removing any line spacing before and after the new line, in the second column before your text will work. Just make sure to make that new line Normal style.

In my case, I had to add some line spacing before the wording in my first column to make both columns line up, but this was minor for me.

HTH.

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  • A horrible hack, but it works! Thanks :) Jun 8, 2018 at 6:35
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Column break symbol doesn't start new paragraph - it behaves like other symbols contained within the paragraph - so technically you have one paragraph consisting of two parts separated in the two columns.enter image description here.

You can explicitly add paragraph after the first part by pressing Enter after the it (just before the column break) - this will 'split' the paragraph to two separate paragraphs.

For debugging such issues, it's useful to turn the formatting symbols on by Home -> Paragraph -> Show/Hide Formatting Marks (Ctrl+*).

The behavior of page breaks is similar, but the UI for inserting them adds one additional paragraph by default - that's why the behavior seems different.

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  • Thanks for your answer. The problem is that even if you press Enter to create a new paragraph before the column break, that new paragraph gets the same formatting as the first paragraph in the next column - hence there will be a colored line before the column break. This does not happen with a page break. It actually seems like a bug to me. Jun 6, 2017 at 11:18
  • Hmm, if you add some text, then press Enter, then add column break, and then apply formatting (background) to the first paragraph, the second one is not affected. Jun 6, 2017 at 12:57
  • In addition, if you press 'Enter' in existing paragraph, the formatting of the 'old' paragraph is copied to the two newly created, and this is expected. Jun 6, 2017 at 12:58
  • Please see my updated question to see why it doesn't help (at least in my experience) to create a new paragraph before the column break. Jun 6, 2017 at 13:12

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