Unbalanced Columns inconsistency

[default19he824i58nv]

I'm working on a Mac. I'm using InDesign 2021 16.2.1.

I've noticed that the tool bar at the top shows unbalanced columns, but in the Paragraph window the balanced columns is showing. See my attached screenshot. Anyone know why?

Thanks,

Cralin

[jmlevy]

The icon in the paragraph panel is not relative to columns but it is relative to the baseline grid alignment. Balanced column is a text frame attribute, not a paragraph attribute.

[rob day]

The Align to baseline Grid and Balance Columns icons are similar, but not the same. Here’s an illustration of @jmlevy ’s post.

The Control panel is contextual to the current tool. If a selection tool is active and a text frame is selected:

If some text is selected and the Text tool is active: