# Google Docs assistance, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947 "2015-10-17T23:33:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/1 "2015-10-17T23:33:33Z")
I am preparing a playbill for my chorus’ upcoming show. Last time I did one, I used MS Word. But the version I had didn’t work on OS X Yosemite, so I dumped it. Now I have OS X El Capitan. I have been using Google docs for a while, and it suits my needs BUT I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do columns without making a table. Could any of you help me? Maybe point me to the appropriate add-on? Because I looked thru the add-ons list and didn’t see any that could make newsletter style columns. Thank you in advance ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/2 "2015-10-17T23:49:39Z")
Hey **anyrose**. 🙂 Google Docs doesn’t have the ability to do columns yet, as far as I know. Tables are necessary. Is there a reason you don’t want to use a table? [There are a bunch of newsletter/newspaper style templates here.](https://drive.google.com/templates?type=docs&q=newspaper&sort=user&view=public&urp=https://www.google.com/url?sa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26so&pli=1&ddrp=1#) ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/3 "2015-10-18T00:05:07Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Hey **anyrose**. 🙂 Google Docs doesn’t have the ability to do columns yet, as far as I know. Tables are necessary. Is there a reason you don’t want to use a table? > > [There are a bunch of newsletter/newspaper style templates here.](https://drive.google.com/templates?type=docs&q=newspaper&sort=user&view=public&urp=https://www.google.com/url?sa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26so&pli=1&ddrp=1#) Since the link brings me to _ **my** _ Google docs, there are no templates in the “public templates” tab ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/4 "2015-10-18T00:08:34Z")
Tables wouldn’t work because of the constant editing I will have to do over the next couple of weeks as ads and text come in ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/5 "2015-10-18T01:09:38Z")
OpenOffice. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/6 "2015-10-18T02:00:30Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > OpenOffice. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/7 "2015-10-18T02:49:38Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > OpenOffice. Even better, NeoOffice or LibreOffice. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/8 "2015-10-18T03:30:10Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > Since the link brings me to _ **my** _ Google docs, there are no templates in the “public templates” tab First: No, no, don’t overwhelm me with such effusive gratitude, it’s too embarrassing!\* Second: I wonder why it doesn’t show up for you. They’re not my templates, since I don’t have any either. They’re called “public” for a reason–they’re templates others have made available, and are the results of a search for “newsletters” or “newspapers” in Google’s public templates section. Third: I didn’t realize you were really looking for something _other_ than Google Docs. I’ll second OpenOffice. Or, if you want something professional (especially if it needs to be printed out), Adobe’s InDesign is a great choice, although the learning curve might be steep. Costs $20 a month (paid annually) or $30 paid monthly. - Dude, seriously, not even a “Thanks, but… (etc.)”? I think Collins might be having too much influence on you! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/9 "2015-10-18T13:19:37Z")
> [@choie](#): > > First: No, no, don’t overwhelm me with such effusive gratitude, it’s too embarrassing!\* > > Second: I wonder why it doesn’t show up for you. They’re not my templates, since I don’t have any either. They’re called “public” for a reason–they’re templates others have made available, and are the results of a search for “newsletters” or “newspapers” in Google’s public templates section. Of course thank you! Must have been my inner Collins 😉 😃 And, again thank you because on my desktop iMac, the link worked. It was on my iPad that nothing showed up. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/10 "2015-10-18T13:21:03Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Third: I didn’t realize you were really looking for something _other_ than Google Docs. I’ll second OpenOffice. Or, if you want something professional (especially if it needs to be printed out), Adobe’s InDesign is a great choice, although the learning curve might be steep. Costs $20 a month (paid annually) or $30 paid monthly. I wasn’t, initially. I’d prefer to keep everything in one place. But if none of the templates I can _now_ see do the trick, I’ll grab one of the open source clones ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-docs-assistance-please/734947/11 "2015-10-18T23:02:00Z")
Your Mac should also have Pages, which I think can do columns. You can then save it as a PDF and still host it on your Google Docs account if you wanted to. Or share it via iCloud.