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I am trying to create a caption page for a legal brief filed in the court of appeal, which does not use pleading paper. In WordPerfect I would just type the introductory information on the page until I reached the side-by-side caption , then I'd just turn columns on to create the two-block caption, then turn columns off and continue the text. In Nisus, I cannot see how to turn columns on for a part of a page and then turn them off for the rest of the page.
Grateful for any help.
Mary Jo

Hi Mary Jo- this is indeed possible in Nisus Writer. The piece of information you're missing, and is perhaps a little tricky to discover, is that columns are controlled on a per-section basis. So, to have some part of your document use a different number of columns, you'll need to insert section breaks.

In your case you'll want to insert two "same page" section breaks (using the menu Insert > Section Break > Same Page. These breaks should bookend/encompass the content you want to appear in two columns. After you've done that, select any text in that area, and use the Columns palette to increase the number of section columns. I'll attach an example here (with show invisibles turned on) to help you see what this looks like.

Hopefully that's clear and helps. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you, Martin.
What I don't see is how you went from the last line of column 1 (section 2, same page) to the first line of column 2. I don't see the invisible codes that you used.
I'd love to figure these columns out.
I also am now trying to construct a 2-column document to store my research -- first column is tabs to subject and second column contains text -- but I have trouble navigating easily from column to column, which I need to be able to do as I add more research to a particular topic. I also need block protect, so the content of column 2 doesn't migrate into column 1. Is that doable in Nisus?
Really appreciate your help.

We're happy to help Mary Jo. Hopefully we can clear up the remaining confusion:

maryjostrnad wrote:What I don't see is how you went from the last line of column 1 (section 2, same page) to the first line of column 2. I don't see the invisible codes that you used.

There actually isn't any special code (or anything else) that triggers the text to flow from the end/bottom of column 1 to the start/top of column 2- it happens naturally because the content is in a 2-column section that fits on a single page. Nisus Writer simply balances the column content so the text on both sides is roughly equal in height (but still taking into account options like "keep paragraph together", etc).

However, you could explicitly choose where Nisus Writer flows text into the next column by inserting a column break via the menu Insert > Column Break.

I also am now trying to construct a 2-column document to store my research -- first column is tabs to subject and second column contains text -- but I have trouble navigating easily from column to column, which I need to be able to do as I add more research to a particular topic. I also need block protect, so the content of column 2 doesn't migrate into column 1. Is that doable in Nisus?

If I understand you correctly, what you're after is called parallel columns, where you essentially have two streams of content that are strictly distinct, ie: the content from the left/first column always runs parallel to the content in right/second column, and they never mix, even when spanning multiple pages. If so, that can't be done in Nisus Writer using section columns. Nisus Writer only supports "snaking" section columns, where the content from the left column will flow into the right column if needed.

Depending on your needs, you might store your research in a table. Table rows/columns are rigid and won't ever intermingle, even when spanning multiple pages.

I hope that helps.