+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | LaTeX Note 004 jodys@helluin.org | | Columns 9/07/2010 | | v0.02 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ \usepackage{multicol} \begin{document} \begin{multicols}{2} blah blah blah blah \columnbreak More, blah blah blah blah \end{multicols} \end{document} Now figure and table enviroments just won't work at all. In fact, they won't even print. The answer? \makeatletter \newenvironment{tablehere} {\def\@captype{table}} {} \newenvironment{figurehere} {\def\@captype{figure}} {} \makeatother Use tablehere and figurehere to insert tables and figures (respectively) exactly where they are in the source. When using \includegraphics you can use the multicols defined variable \columnwidth to size your images correctly for the width of the column. \includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{picture.pdf}