Why does format page columns include a column option which is erronious

I have a multi page 2 column single section document. i wish to convert several pages to 3 columns and another to 1 column. if i select a page and format page columns to a different number of columns, the whole section is converted, not just the selected page. i then tried to insert new sections in front of and after the document but the new sections are only 1 column (half page) wide. thus i cant format the new sections and cut and paste from the original document. bye the way what font is this with a strange & ampersand?

Keep whole document as single column. Select the portion which you want to have multi column. Keep the portion selected and do Insert > Section. Once that portion become separate section, go to Format > Section which will give option to multi-column THAT section.

Did you define and apply named page styles?
If so you can ‘Insert’ > ‘Manual Break’ > ‘Page break’ > SELECT STYLE FOR NEW PAGE > ‘OK’.

…, the whole section is converted, not just the selected page. …

That’s normal.

… i then tried to insert new sections in front of and after the document {other section?}

How did you achieve the insertion of these sections? Did you apply a named page style to every section? If so you can modify the styles with the help of the ‘Stylist’ (F11).

A ‘hard page break’ by Ctrl+Return creates a new page of the same style.

[begin Edit1]
@keng - OK, it seems to be, at least partially, a matter of terminology. First time answering I thought you used “section” in the sense of “a sequence of pages” created by filling in continuous text or, in some cases, by manual page breaks using Ctrl+Enter. What I wrote should be valid - except the wrongly used word - for this situation.

Then I asked “How did you achieve the insertion of these sections?”. And now I see you obviously went through the menu ‘Insert’>‘Section …’.

This way you create sections for a part of an already formatted sequence of pages. If the page style is already containing columns, the columns created for an inserted section will show as columns inside these predefined columns - and you might also create sections inside of other sections … Everything might easily be messed up. If you really want having SECTIONS with different numbers of columns inside a range of pages formatted in ONE page style (see above) use sections and BE CAUTIOUS. If you don’t urgently need this you should define page styles and apply them to sequences of pages (again: NOT possible for “viewed pages” appearing from filling in continuous text!) first by manual breaks via ‘Insert’>‘Manual Break …’ with changed style, later, if needed, using ‘Styles and Formatting’. (My English isn’t really sufficient for this.)[end Edit1]

thank you for your response. i am not answering my own question but venting my frustration.
i think the whole area of sections needs work. i subsequently created a new doc. with 3 2 & 1 column sections. when i moved the old header into the new doc it is double spaced & i can’t change it.
i then cut and pasted the old 2 column data into the new 3 column section which worked except the text horizontal spacing was changed & the opacity (if there is such a word) of a writer draw watermark was also changed. easily reworked.
then i attempted to cut & paste the old 2 column text into the new 2nd section of 2 columns . after much trial & error with dissimilar but unworkable results mostly affecting the 3 column section. a frame created for section 2 ended up in s 1. when i tried to delete a section the wrong section was deleted.
i am not using page styles & find the wg40 documentation very confusing for a newbie but will try…ken

i should think that if format page columns is normal to affect the whole section, the option shoule be removed from format page because you are formatting a section.

The structure of menu trees is a special topic. From times I had to use early versions of MS Word I remember that they had the menu item for editing page properties deferred to the ‘File’ item of the main menu. Things have a history. That may be disturbing not only in the course of politics. And ribbons might not be the final solution.

@keng, it depends how the column definitions were made. Columns defined via Format > Page… > Columns… tab are recorded against the page style, while columns defined via Insert > Section… are recorded as a section style. I would generally define columns using sections as they are easier to manage and keep track of separately from pages.