The following VBA example links frames of paragraph text. It then creates three columns in the first frame, displaying the number of columns in the frame for each multicolumned frame.
Sub Test()
Dim d As Document
Dim s As Shape
Dim s1 As Shape
Dim s2 As Shape
Dim t As Text
Dim f As TextFrame
Set d = CreateDocument
Set s = d.ActiveLayer.CreateParagraphText(2, 2, 5, 5, String$(750, "Z"))
Set s1 = d.ActiveLayer.CreateParagraphText(5, 5, 8, 8)
Set s2 = d.ActiveLayer.CreateParagraphText(8, 8, 10, 10)
Set t = s.Text
' Link the frames together
t.Frame.LinkTo s1
s1.Text.Frame.LinkTo s2
' Get the first frame
Set f = t.Frames(1)
' Set the columns
f.SetColumns 3, False, Array(1, 0.3, 2, 0.3, 3)
For Each f In t.Frames
If f.Multicolumn Then
MsgBox "There are " & f.ColumnCount & _
" columns in frame " & f.Index
End If
Next f
End Sub