Minipage and multicols, vertical alignment
You have to set an anchor at the top for [t]
to take effect, because the top line inside the multicols
environment is not the top line in the enveloping minipage
: \vspace{0pt}
is sufficient. Also you need to countermand the insertion of a glob of glue (we need to back up by the difference between \topskip
and the height of a strut) and to set an initial \strut
to ensure good alignment between the baselines.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol,calc}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\begin{document}
\noindent % or the indent would apply
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\linewidth-0.5em} % some separation
\vspace{0pt} % anchor for [t]
\vspace{\dimexpr\ht\strutbox-\topskip}% remove excess glue
\begin{multicols}{2}
\strut\makebox[0pt][l]{\vrule width 10cm height 0pt depth 0.1pt}%
\blindtext
\end{multicols}
\end{minipage}\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\linewidth-0.5em} % some separation
\vspace{0pt} % anchor for [t]
\strut\blindtext
\end{minipage}
\end{document}
The rule shows the alignment. Thanks to Frank Mittelbach for spotting a mistake.
Wouldn't using paracol and multicol be an easier approach?
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{paracol}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{mwe}
\begin{document}
\begin{paracol}{2}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\blindtext
\end{multicols}
\switchcolumn
\blindtext
\end{paracol}
\end{document}