Using Microsoft Word's column feature

Q I am working on a translation of some French poems into English. As the lines are fairly short, I would like to have the verses side by side on the same page. I thought Word’s column feature would be the ideal way to achieve this, but I find the two texts get mixed up when I reach the bottom of the column. Am I missing something, or is there a better way?

Gerard Delbos

A As you have found, columns are intended for continuous flowing text ­. For a side-by-side approach, you would be better off using a two-column table. You could either have each whole poem in a single cell (ie a two-column single-row table) or split it up to show each verse in a separate row.