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Ran_techwriter
Ran_techwriter
Inspiring
February 5, 2019
Answered

In FM2019 64-bit, has anyone had difficulty controlling text flow (top-to-bottom) in a two-column page layout?

  • February 5, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 970 views

I'm running FrameMaker 2019 64-bit in Win 10. It's terrific in a single-column page layout, but I've had difficulty controlling text flow (top-to-bottom) in a two-column page layout - despite experimenting with various paragraph tag styles and anchored frame settings, the text flows (auto word-wraps) to the 2nd column before flowing top to bottom in the 1st column, and paragraphs of text can end up out of order depending on the paragraph tag styles applied and/or anchored frame placement on the page. Have other FM2019 users encountered this problem, and if so, how did you manage it? Thank You.

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Correct answer Barb Binder

Ran_techwriter:

Column balance may be impacting the flowing to the second column before filling the first column. And are you using straddled heads (Pagination > Across all Columns)? Are your anchored frames or tables set to Float?

All of these will impact the text flow. I lay out a long two-column document with no issues. If you aren't sure what is going on, screen shots with borders and text symbols showing will help narrow this down.

~Barb

1 reply

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
February 5, 2019

Ran_techwriter:

Column balance may be impacting the flowing to the second column before filling the first column. And are you using straddled heads (Pagination > Across all Columns)? Are your anchored frames or tables set to Float?

All of these will impact the text flow. I lay out a long two-column document with no issues. If you aren't sure what is going on, screen shots with borders and text symbols showing will help narrow this down.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    Ran_techwriter
    Ran_techwriterAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 5, 2019

    BarbBinder - Yes, I experimented with the Column Balance and Pagination settings throughout the document, which helped - but text flow was still surprisingly problematic to manage, partially due to project requirements (e.g., the presence of "excess white space" on the page is discouraged). I'm encouraged by your comment that you're able to create a long two-column document with no issues, so I'll continue to work with those features and refine paragraph tag styles and anchored frame settings going forward. Thank You.

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 5, 2019

    Hi Ran_techwriter :

    the presence of "excess white space" on the page is discouraged)

    In that case, have you explored the float attribute for anchored frames and tables? This allows the text after either one to backfill and fill up the whitespace.

    An alternative is to anchor both objects towards the bottom of the previous page, so that all images are at the top of the page. You can cut/paste or drag and drop anchors to play with the options.

    If you can't find an acceptable layout, share a screen shot of a problem page and I can be more specific.

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
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