Adjusting the height of the text box when working with columns would allow you to easily make the height of the text in each column equal. Currently, the Height setting in the Position and Size area of the Properties deck of the Sidebar is grayed out. In the Workspace, I can drag the center handle at the bottom of the text box to increase the height, but I cannot drag it to reduce the height. Therefore, the left column almost always has more text than the right column.
Thank you, Don. Reproduced in a recent master build: Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha1+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: fc4f7db59152f606b6aa88cf32197700959d0f8b CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded And since columns in shapes were implemented: Version: 7.2.0.0.beta1 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: c6974f7afec4cd5195617ae48c6ef9aacfe85ddd CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded I understand this has to do with the fact that text boxes have the setting "fit height to text" on by default, which behaves unexpectedly with multiple columns. Mike, what do you think? I can see how users would expect the text to be redistributed between columns when reducing the height even when "fit height to text" is on (until it eventually runs out of space and actually blocks the resizing). The current behaviour is a bit unexpected and erratic (e.g. it sometimes is possible to "push" a single line into the second column when trying to reduce the height).
Created attachment 187632 [details] multi-column text box and shape for comparison
I didn't realize that deselecting Fit Height to Text could solve the problem of adjusting the text box height both up and down. I can do this by right clicking on the text box and selecting Text Attributes... from the context menu and going to the Text tab of the dialog. I can also use the Text Columns tab of the dialog to change the number of columns and spacing between the columns. However, I must click OK before I can see the results of the spacing setting. I like changing the column settings in the Properties deck of the Sidebar so I can see the results of the changes immediately in the Workspace. Would it be much trouble to add a setting for Fit Height to Text to the Position and Size area in the Properties deck?