Making a document with columns in Google documents can be a bit roundabout. Just stay with the steps and you will get the results that you want.
Step One: Create a table. To do this click on "Table" then "Insert". Set up yor table with only one row. You can put in as many columns as you need for your project.
Step Two: Type or paste in your text. You will see it flow from column to column.
Step Three: Resize the table to meet your needs.
You may think that you will end up with table barriers, but once you print the document those lines will disappear automatically. You do not have to do anything in the settings to make that happen.