I am creating a document with two columns in Microsoft Word 2010. I want the first column to be centered vertically. I want the second column to be on the same page and the vertical placement to be from the top. I highlight my text in the first column that I want centered vertically, then go to Page Layout > Margins > Custom Margins > Layout, you can choose to center the vertical alignment. I have choosen the "Section Start" to be "Column" and also tried "Continuous." In all cases it always shifts all of my second column information to a new page. I don't want my second column text to be on a new page, I want it to be on the same page and vertically aligned from the top--not the center.

Am I understanding the functionality of the Section Start on the Layout tab correctly?

Maybe the page layout isn't the correct formatting to use. What I am really doing is formatting columns. I haven't found anywhere to format the columns for this. Am I missing some important column formatting features?

I know that I can use the paragraph formatting and add space above the first line of text to make it look like it is centered vertically. However, this is a template for a master document and will be changed frequently. I really would like the first column text to be automatically formatted to be centered vertically without having to go in and manually change the space above the paragraph every time.

Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.