If the option Extended support for Arabic text is enabled in Options 
, you can change the text direction of a multi-column text area at any time.
To do so, proceed as follows:
| 1. | In the area, choose the ribbon command Layout | group Section | Columns (click directly on the icon itself). |
| 2. | In the dialog box, switch to the Columns tab. |
| 3. | Under Text direction, enable the option Right to left to change the direction to right-to-left. |
The direction of the multi-column area now changes accordingly.
Thus, if you change the text direction in a multi-column area to right-to-left, the column on the far right becomes the first column (instead of the column on the far left).
Note: The text direction of the text in each individual paragraph can still be set individually, of course (as described in Changing the text direction of paragraphs).
For general information on working with multi-column text, see Multi-column page layouts.