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Hello. I have tried everything I can think of to prevent this from happening and my google searches have turned up nothing, so I am hoping someone can help me figure this out. I have a very simple Word document that I use for itineraries for when we travel, and it is formatted with 2 columns. For whatever reason, on the last page of the document, instead of filling up the entire left column from the top to the bottom with text, Word will put the lower half of what should be in the left column into the right column so that both columns are equal. It's hard to explain, but imagine there are 4 paragraphs--instead of placing all 4 of those paragraphs in the left column, word will leave 2 on the left column and place the other 2 on the right, and the ONLY way you can get the 2 paragraphs on the right to go under the 2 paragraphs on the left is to press enter several times at the top of the 2 paragraphs on the left so that those 2 paragraphs go all the way to the bottom of the page and then you can copy/paste those 2 paragraphs under the top 2 paragraphs that are still in the left column and then very carefully, you can delete the 2 paragraphs on the bottom right column--if you just start hitting delete at the beginning of those 2 paragraphs that are still at the bottom right column, you will end up back to where you started. I have no idea what formatting this is using so I don't know how to disable it. Again, this ONLY happens on the last page.
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It isn't obvious, but "the relevant section" consists of the words "Important Information" on the next page. Put the cursor in one of those words and then change the section start in the Page Setup dialog to Next Page. You may need to delete the Page Break from the end of the two-column text to prevent a blank page.
You can delete the continuous section break but you may have to recreate the column formatting afterwards, because the section break stores settings for the previous section (including columns, page setup, headers/footers).
Or you can change the type of section to something else, which is a safer choice. Use the Page Setup dialog box, with the insertion point in the relevant section.
The symptom of equal column lengths indicates that there is a continuous section break just before the end of the document. You should be able to see it if you turn on nonprinting characters (click the ¶ button on the Home ribbon).
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If the last line of text extends very close to the right margin, you may not see it, but switching to Draft view should make it visible.
Select and delete the section break to make the layout appear as you want it. Before you do that, if your document has headers/footers or non-default margins, read https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Formatting/WorkWithSections.htm for steps to preserve those things.
I believe you are describing balanced columns. Word balances newspaper columns above a continuous section break. Display nonprinting marks, for example by clicking the ¶ icon on the Home tab, and you should be able to see the section break.
Sometimes, you have to switch to Draft view; this will show the section break more clearly, but note that you won't see the columns in that view.
Thank you so much for replying. I was able to turn on the nonprinting characters as you suggested and here is a screenshot of what I am seeing. However, I am not for sure what I should be doing here. Many thanks for your assistance with this.