When you type into the main body of your document, the text appears in a column. Every page has at least one column.
A set of one or more columns side-by-side is a column layout. You can think of a column layout as a subsection, because a section contains one or more column layouts. If a document section starts out with one column, then switches to two columns, then switches back to one column, then the section contains three column layouts.
Text flows between columns in the same column layout. Text does not flow between column layouts; in the example just given, if you fill up the first column in the 2-column layout, text will flow to the second column. If you fill up the second column, text will not flow into the 3-column layout; rather, a new page will be added to the 2-column layout.
You can have multiple column layouts on the same page. Column layouts on the same page grow and shrink in height to accommodate the text they contain; you do not have to set their height.
You set the properties of columns and column layouts, including the number of columns in a column layout, by using the Columns Toolbar.
A column layout has four margins (top, bottom, left, and right) that define the rectangle within which the columns appear. Columns use all the width available to them; if a column layout layout contains only one column, that column will be the same width as the column layout.
To add a column layout: