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Every resume has a layout: a list of pages, and on each page a main column and a sidebar. This guide shows how to change the sidebar, move sections between columns and pages, show a section’s entries in several columns, and decide where pages break.

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How the layout works

  • Pages. You decide which sections start on which page. If a page’s sections don’t fit, the rest runs onto an extra page; see Fitting content on a page.
  • Main and sidebar. On a two-column template, the sidebar prints as its own narrow column. On a one-column template, sidebar sections print after the main sections.
  • Print order. In Write, the list of sections shows them in the order they print: page by page, the main column first and then the sidebar. Dividers mark where each page and each sidebar starts.
The Write panel's section list headed Sections, print order, with a Page 1 divider over Summary, Education and Experience, a Sidebar divider over Profiles and Skills, and a Page 2 divider over Experience and Awards

Write lists sections in print order, with dividers for pages and sidebars

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Move the sidebar and change its width

On a two-column template, a Sidebar panel appears under the template gallery in Design → Template.
The Sidebar panel with a Left and Right switch, Left selected, and a Width slider set to 30%

The Sidebar panel under the template gallery

  • Left / Right puts the sidebar on that side, whatever the template’s usual side is.
  • Width sets the sidebar’s share of the page, from 10% to 50%.
Sidebar Width in Advanced → Layout uses the same 10% to 50% range.

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Reorder sections and move them between columns

In Write:
  • Drag a section by its handle (the dotted grip on the left) to a new place in the list. Dragging it below a Sidebar divider moves it into the sidebar; dragging it past a Page divider moves it to that page.
  • Or focus a section’s title and press ⌥ ↑ or ⌥ ↓ (Alt ↑ or Alt ↓ on Windows and Linux).
  • Or open the section’s ⋯ menu and select Move up or Move down.
For more on the section menu, see Managing sections.

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Manage pages in Advanced → Layout

Advanced → Layout shows every page as a box with its Main and Sidebar columns. Open Advanced at the bottom of the Design panel to find it.
The Layout editor showing Page 1 with a Full Width switch and a Delete Page button, a Sidebar column containing Profiles and Skills, and a Main column containing Summary, Education and Experience

A page in Advanced → Layout

Here you can:
  • Drag sections between columns and between pages.
  • Select Add Page (below the last page) to add an empty page.
  • Select Delete Page to remove a page. Its sections move to the first page (or to the second page, if you delete the first). You can’t delete the only page.
  • Turn on Full Width to print that page in a single column. Its sidebar sections move into the main column.
Each section also has a ⋮ menu:
The menu for the Summary section with Move to open, listing Page 1, Page 2, Page 3 and New Page, and below it Keep together with the note Only applies when the section fits on a single page, and Start on new page

A section's menu in Advanced → Layout

  • Move to → a page → Main or Sidebar moves the section there. New Page moves it onto a page of its own at the end. Sidebar isn’t offered on full-width pages or with one-column templates.
  • Keep together and Start on new page control page breaks, described below.

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Show a section’s entries in columns

Short entries, such as skills, languages or interests, can sit side by side. In Write, open the section’s ⋯ menu, point to Columns and choose 1 column to 6 columns.
The Skills section's menu in Write with Columns open, listing 1 column (checked) through 6 columns and 1 column, inline, and further items Keyword layout, Keep on one page, Start on a new page and Clear section

The Columns submenu in a section's ⋯ menu

The Skills section has two extra choices:
  • 1 column, inline runs skills together on one line instead of stacking them.
  • Keyword layout shows each skill’s keywords Inline (on one line) or as a Bulleted list.

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Control page breaks

Two switches decide how a section behaves at the end of a page. You find them in the section’s ⋯ menu in Write and in its ⋮ menu in Advanced → Layout; both places change the same setting.
Keeping a section together can leave a large gap at the bottom of the previous page. If that happens, move a shorter section into the gap or turn the switch off.