How to Paste Columns in TextEdit

Question

Level 2

180 points

How to Paste Columns in TextEdit

Does anyone know how to paste a second column into a TextEdit window?

I've got a list that's too long for one printed page and want to split it into two columns. I did find the Tables menu for TextEdit (Vers1.7.1), and set it up for 1 row and 2 columns. From there, I can paste half the list into either the left or the right column, but the cursor stays locked in that column and I can't add anything to the remaining blank column. In fact, once I make that paste, I can't get the cursor to leave that column at all.

As a last resort, I tried setting up 20 rows and two columns, but that took a really long time to do and wound up with weird spacing problems rendering the page unusable.

This seems like a simple formatting issue, but the TextEdit Help Menu was no help for me here. And there is no page for TextEdit Support Communities. Can I use TextEdit convert a long list into two shorter columns, or must I buy Pages or Numbers to do this?

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 2, 2014 12:22 PM

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Answer 1

Dr. Rock Author

Level 2

180 points

Mar 2, 2014 9:52 PM in response to C F McBlob

Reexamining the three lines written by CF, I realized I had changed a blank TextEdit window to table format as my first step, not the second step. On queue from CF, I first selected my list before reformatting to a table with one row and two columns. I now have two columns. My list is in the first one, the second column is empty. I then selected the lower half of the list in the first column, and clicked to copy it. The cursor at this point is still stuck in the first column. The tab key moves it to the middle of the second column. Paste there, and the second half of the list is in the middle of the second column. The arrow up alignment button on the table menu pushes the second half of the list to the top of the second column. Then delete the lower half of the list still in the first column. Selecting white for the border color gets rid of the column lines, ready to print. Wow. Still learning.

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Answer 2

Dr. Rock Author

Level 2

180 points

Mar 2, 2014 7:45 PM in response to C F McBlob

Well, yes. But if you read my post I'm way past that step. I can paste into either the left or right hand column. After pasting, the curser is stuck in that column preventing pasting the other half of the list in the other column.

Anybody know how to do that?

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Answer 3

C F McBlob

Level 4

2,885 points

Mar 2, 2014 5:21 PM in response to Dr. Rock

Select All (Cmd+A)

Format>Table

Set number of columns

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