Word for Microsoft 365 Word 2021 Word 2019 Word 2016 Word 2013 Word 2010 Word 2007 More…Less
Alignment determines the appearance and orientation of the edges of the paragraph: left-aligned text, right-aligned text, centered text, or justified text, which is aligned evenly along the left and right margins. For example, in a paragraph that is left-aligned (the most common alignment), the left edge of the paragraph is flush with the left margin.
Vertical alignment determines the position of the text within a section of a document relative to the top and bottom margins, and is often used to create a cover page.
-
Select the text that you want to align.
-
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Align Left
or Align Right .
or Align Right 
.-
Select the text that you want to center.
-
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Center
.
.-
Select the text that you want to center.
-
On the Layout or Page Layout tab, click the Dialog Box Launcher
in the Page Setup group, and then click the Layout tab. -
In the Vertical alignment box, click Center.
-
In the Apply to box, click Selected text, and then click OK.
in the Page Setup group, and then click the Layout tab.When you justify text in Word, you give your text straight edges on both sides of the paragraph. Justifying extends each line of your text to the left and right margins. Justifying text might make the last line of text in a paragraph considerably shorter than the other lines.
-
Select the text you want to justify.
-
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Justify
.
.Tips:
-
In the Paragraph group, click the Dialog Box Launcher
, and select the Alignment drop-down menu to set your justified text. -
You can also use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + J to justify your text.
In Office Word 2007, you can choose from a selection of predesigned cover pages to create a professional-looking document quickly and easily.
-
On the Insert tab, in the Pages group, click Cover Page.
-
Click the cover page that you want.
A cover page is always added to the beginning of the open document.
See also
Adjust indents and spacing
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Apply Left, Center, Right or Justify Alignment to Text in Microsoft Word
by Avantix Learning Team | Updated April 13, 2022
Applies to: Microsoft® Word® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)
You can align or justify text or other content in Word in several ways including using keyboard shortcuts, selecting commands in the Ribbon, using the Paragraph dialog box or modifying a style. It’s important to note that alignment or justification is paragraph formatting so applies to entire paragraphs. You can align text or inline graphics in paragraphs that are followed by a hard return (you pressed Enter or Return).
To see where paragraphs have been created in a Word document, it’s helpful to turn on Show/Hide ¶ on the Home tab in the Ribbon.
In this article, we’ll review 4 different ways to change horizontal alignment or justification in Word documents.
Recommended article: How to Insert a Line in Word (3+ Ways)
Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Word? Check out our virtual classroom or in-person Word courses >
There are 4 types of alignment that can be applied to paragraphs:
- Align left – aligns text or inline graphics with the left margin or indent
- Center – centers text or inline graphics between the left and right margins or indents
- Align right – aligns text or inline graphics with the right margin or indent
- Justify – distributes text evenly between the left and right margins or indents
A paragraph aligns within the indents (indent markers appear on the Ruler). The indents may be different from the margins. Paragraphs are also entered in cells in tables and each paragraph in a cell may have different indents and alignment settings.
1. Align or justify using keyboard shortcuts
To align or justify paragraphs using keyboard shortcuts:
- Align left – select the paragraph(s) and press Ctrl + L to align to the left.
- Align right – select the paragraph(s) and press Ctrl + R to align to the right.
- Align center – select the paragraph(s) and press Ctrl + E to align center.
- Justify – select the paragraph(s) and press Ctrl + J to justify.
2. Align or justify using the Ribbon
To align or justify paragraphs using the Word Ribbon
- Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to apply alignment or justification. If you would like to select all paragraphs, press Ctrl + A.
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon and then click Align Left, Center, Align Right or Justify in the Paragraph group.
Align and Justify commands appear on the Home tab in the Ribbon in the Paragraph group:
3. Align or justify using the Paragraph dialog box
To align or justify paragraphs using the Paragraph dialog box:
- Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to apply alignment or justification. If you would like to select all paragraphs, press Ctrl + A.
- Right-click and select Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
- From the Alignment drop-down menu, select Left, Center, Right or Justify.
- Click OK.
You can also display the Paragraph dialog box by clicking the Home tab in the Ribbon and then clicking the dialog box launcher on the bottom right of the Paragraph group.
The Paragraph dialog box includes a drop-down menu to select Alignment:
4. Align or justify by modifying a style
When you create a new blank document, it starts out using the Normal style which contains default paragraph and character formatting.
If you want to apply alignment or justification to multiple paragraphs throughout a document (such as a heading), you can modify a style (such as Heading 1).
To change the alignment for a heading style (such as Heading 1):
- Click in a paragraph using the heading style (typically applied through the Home tab in the Ribbon).
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- In the Styles group, right-click the heading style. A dialog box appears.
- Click Format. A drop-down menu appears.
- Click Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
- From the Alignment drop-down menu, select Center or your preferred alignment.
- Click OK twice.
Below is the Modify Style dialog box with align and justify commands:
There may be issues if you modify alignment or justification in the Normal style since other styles are based on this style by default. Cells in tables would likely be affected and so would other styles that are based on the Normal style (such as Header, Footer and Heading styles). Paragraphs using these styles would then inherit the alignment or justification (unless alignment or justification has been specifically modified in these styles). If you are comfortable using styles, you could create your own style or modify a different Word style to avoid this issue.
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To align right, press Ctrl + R. To align center, press Ctrl + C.
Contents
- 1 How do you right align in Word 2019?
- 2 What is the shortcut for right align in Word?
- 3 How do I right click Align Right in Word?
- 4 How do you right align a paragraph?
- 5 What is right alignment?
- 6 What is L Ctrl?
- 7 How do I align text left and right on the same line?
- 8 What is the keyboard shortcut for alignment?
- 9 How do I right align text?
- 10 Which alignment is used to move the text to the right?
- 11 How do I right align margins in Word?
- 12 How do I right align one part of a line in Word?
- 13 How do I center align in Word?
- 14 What does Ctrl Shift E?
- 15 How do you Ctrl on a PC?
- 16 What does the ALT key do?
- 17 What is Ctrl N?
- 18 How do you justify text in Word without spaces?
How do you right align in Word 2019?
Alternatively, set the paragraph alignment before you start typing into your document. Then click the “Home” tab in the Ribbon. Then click either the “Align Left,” “Center,” “Align Right,” or “Justify” button in the “Paragraph” button group to set the desired paragraph alignment.
What is the shortcut for right align in Word?
Right-aligned text is text that is aligned with a right edge. You can also right-align your text with the shortcut Ctrl+R (Cmnd+R).
How do I right click Align Right in Word?
To flush text along the right side of the page, press Ctrl+R or click the Align Right command button. This type of alignment is also known as ragged left or flush right. You can right-justify text on a single line by using a right-align tab.
How do you right align a paragraph?
Align a Paragraph
- Click anywhere in a paragraph you want to align, or select multiple paragraphs.
- Click an alignment option in the Paragraph group. Shortcuts: To align left, press Ctrl + L. To align right, press Ctrl + R. To align center, press Ctrl + C. To justify, Ctrl + J.
What is right alignment?
Right align, right alignment, or right justify is text or page formatting that aligns text along the right side of a page or containing element. This text has a ragged right edge because it is left-aligned instead of being right aligned. Below is an example of right aligned text.
What is L Ctrl?
Alternatively referred to as Control+L and C-l, Ctrl+L is a keyboard shortcut whose function differs depending on the program being. For example, in Microsoft Word, Ctrl+L is used to align text with the left edge of a document (margin).Ctrl+L in Excel and other spreadsheet programs.
How do I align text left and right on the same line?
Flush Left and Flush Right On the Same Line
- Make sure the paragraph is formatted as left-aligned.
- Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
- Click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Paragraph group.
- Click the Tabs button.
- What you want to do is to insert a right-aligned tab near the right edge of the line.
What is the keyboard shortcut for alignment?
Align and format paragraphs
| To do this | Press |
|---|---|
| Center the paragraph. | Ctrl+E |
| Justify the paragraph. | Ctrl+J |
| Align the paragraph to the left. | Ctrl+L |
| Align the paragraph to the right. | Ctrl+R |
How do I right align text?
For example, in a paragraph that is left-aligned (the most common alignment), text is aligned with the left margin. In a paragraph that is justified, text is aligned with both margins.
Align text left, center, or right.
| To | Click |
|---|---|
| Align text right | Align Text Right |
Which alignment is used to move the text to the right?
To make text right aligned, select and highlight the text first, then hold down Ctrl (the control key) on the keyboard and then press R. To make text justified, select and highlight the text first, then hold down Ctrl (the control key) on the keyboard and then press J.
How do I right align margins in Word?
Align the text left or right
- Select the text that you want to align.
- On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Align Left or Align Right .
How do I right align one part of a line in Word?
Figure B
- On the Home tab, click the Paragraph group’s dialog launcher and then click Tabs in the bottom-left corner.
- Enter 6.5 in the Tab stop position.
- Click Right in the Alignment section (Figure C).
- Click Set.
- Click OK.
How do I center align in Word?
Open the document in Word that contains the text you want to center. Use your mouse to select the text. Click the Home tab at the top of the window. Click the Center button in the Paragraph section of the ribbon.
What does Ctrl Shift E?
Ctrl-Shift-E. Turn revision tracking on or off. Ctrl-A. Select everything in the document.
How do you Ctrl on a PC?
Ctrl is used in keyboard shortcut key such as the three finger salute or Ctrl + Alt + Del. This key combination suggests pressing and holding down the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keyboard keys to open the Task Manager or reboot the computer. Ctrl+A These two keys will select all text or other objects.
What does the ALT key do?
The Alt key Alt (pronounced /ˈɔːlt/ or /ˈʌlt/) on a computer keyboard is used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. Thus, the Alt key is a modifier key, used in a similar fashion to the Shift key.The international standard ISO/IEC 9995-2 calls it Alternate key.
What is Ctrl N?
Alternatively referred to as Control+N and C-n, Ctrl+N is a keyboard shortcut most often used to create a new document, window, workbook, or other type of file.Ctrl+N in Word and other word processors.
How do you justify text in Word without spaces?
Method 1: Change Layout Options
- First, click “File” then click “Options” to open “Word Options” dialog box.
- Next click “Advanced” and scroll down to the bottom of the box.
- Click “Layout Options” to bring out more choices.
- Check the “Don’t expand character spaces on a line that ends with SHIFT-RETURN” box and click “OK”.
In this course, we will talk about how to align text in Microsoft Word. Meanwhile, this is the continuation of the previous tutorial on how to change font style, size and font case in Microsoft Word which still part of formatting text in your documents.
Furthermore, we’ll learn how to change text so that it looks like what we want it to look like.
Table of contents
- Text Alignment
- What is text alignment in MS Word?
- Default text alignment in MS Word
- How Many Alignment in MS Word
- Left Aligned Text
- Right Align Text
- Center Aligned Text
- Justified Text
- How to Align Text in Microsoft Word
- Which shortcut key to align the text?
- Summary
What is text alignment in MS Word?
Text alignment is a way to change the look of all the text in a paragraph. It is an attribute of paragraph formatting. For instance, when a paragraph is align to the left, which is the most common way to align it. The text lines up with the left margin. On the other hand, when a paragraph is justified, the text lines up with both sides of the page.
Default text alignment in MS Word
The default alignment for text or paragraphs is left-align with straight margins on the left and uneven ones on the right. However, there are many other ways to format a document’s alignment.
Also, the alignment buttons in the Paragraph group on the Home tab let us justify or align not just text but also other objects.
How Many Alignment in MS Word
There are four types of text alignment available in Microsoft Word — left-align, center-align, right-align, and justify.
Left Aligned Text
A paragraph or a text is left-align when that paragraph or text is aligned evenly along the left margin of the page in MS-Word. It is also known as “left-justified,”.
Right Align Text
Right-alignment means that the text of a paragraph is line up evenly along the right edge of the page in MS-Word. Moreover, right alignment works well for columns with numbers, tables, and other types of ordered lists.
Center Aligned Text
Center aligned means that the text of a paragraph is in the middle of the left and right margins.
Justified Text
Justified Text in MS-Word is a paragraph’s text when it lines up evenly along both the left and right edges of the page.
How to Align Text in Microsoft Word
Here are the ways How to Align Text in Microsoft Word.
- Align text left or right in Microsoft Word
First select text in Word you want to align. Then, at the top of the window, click or tap on the Home tab.
Click or tap Align Left or Align Right in the Paragraph section, depending on what you want to do.
Here’s what right-aligned text looks like:
TIP: You can also align text to the left or right quickly by selecting the text and then pressing the CTRL + L or CTRL + R keys on your keyboard.
- Center text horizontally in Microsoft Word
First, choose the text you want to center horizontally. Then, at the top of the window, click or tap on the same Home tab.
When you click or tap on Center in the Paragraph section, the text you chose is moved right away to the middle of the page’s side margins.
TIP: You can also center text by selecting it and then pressing the CTRL + E keys on your keyboard. - Justify text in Microsoft Word
When text is justified, the edges on both sides of the page are straight. Word can add more or less space between words so that each line is filled from beginning to end. But if the last line of text has too few words, it can be cut down.
To justify text in Word, you must first select the text and then click or tap on the Home tab at the top of the window.
Justify is a button you can click or tap in the Paragraph section. This is how your text should look:
TIP: If you select the text and then press the CTRL and J keys on your keyboard, you can quickly align text. - Align text vertically (top, center, justify, bottom) on the pages of a Microsoft Word document
First, select the text, just like you would for any other text-alignment task. Then, at the top of the window, click or tap on the Layout tab.
Then, in the Page Setup area, click or tap on the Dialog Box Launcher button. It is a small button in the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup section that looks like an arrow.
Now, the window for setting up pages opens. Choose the Layout tab at the top of the window.
In the Page section, look for a setting called Vertical alignment. It should be set to “top” by default, which means that the text is aligned vertically to the top of the page. But you can set the text to be aligned in the middle, at the bottom, or even to justify. Click or tap on Vertical alignment, and then choose the option you like best.
Then, make sure that Selected text is chosen in the box that says “Apply to” at the bottom of the window. This only changes the alignment of the text you chose. But if you’d rather, you can apply the vertical alignment to all the text in the whole document by leaving the Apply to setting on Whole document.
Here’s what a vertically centered piece of text looks like:
Simple, right? Now, all you have to do is try out the different alignment options until your text looks exactly how you want it to. You may also want to change the color of the font or just some of the cases in your Word document. Just visit our previous tutorial.
Which shortcut key to align the text?
Here are frequently used shortcuts to align the text in MS Word.
| Text alignment | Short Cuts |
|---|---|
| Increase the font size by 1 point. | Ctrl+Right bracket (]) |
| Center the text. | Ctrl+E |
| Align the text to the left. | Ctrl+L |
| Align the text to the right. | Ctrl+R |
Summary
In summary, we’ve talked about how to change text alignment in Microsoft Word, as well as how to apply those alignments in a document and what those terms mean. In addition, we know the available alignment in Microsoft Word. We also know how to use shortcuts that will make our formatting documents easy.
We hope this tutorial helps you as you format your documents in MS Word.
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You’ve probably seen a document or two with a header or footer that has left and right-aligned text. It might also have centered text. These alignment configurations are easy to accomplish in the header because those sections have special attributes, and you can learn more about those particular attributes by reading How to align header or footer content to the left and right margins in Microsoft Word.
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Unfortunately, if you’ve tried to apply separate right and left alignments to the same line of text in the body of a document, you’ll quickly learn the task is impossible.
Somewhere along the line, you might have learned how to force the issue by inserting a table, but that’s not the only way to align text in the same line to both the left and right margins. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to do so by using alignment tabs.
For this tutorial, I’ll be using Microsoft 365 on a Windows 10 64-bit system, but you can also use earlier versions of Word. It’s important to note this technique isn’t appropriate for the browser edition: It won’t let you set a tab, and it won’t display pre-existing tabs correctly within the context of this technique.
For an additional visual to follow along with, you can download our demonstration file here.
Jump to:
- About Word alignment options
- About aligned tabs
- How to set a right-aligned tab
- How to use a right-aligned tab
- Additional Word formatting tools
About Word alignment options
Learning how to use more than one kind of alignment in the body of a document isn’t all too difficult, but first, you’ll need to understand Word’s different alignment options:
- Left.
- Center.
- Right.
- Justified.
You’ll find them in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Figure A shows an example of all four.
Figure A
The red lines on either side indicate the left and right margins.
About aligned tabs
An aligned tab is exactly what it sounds like — it lets you determine the alignment of content with a tab. With tabs, you have five alignment options:
- Left: Aligns text with the tab.
- Center: Aligns text within the tab’s left and right positions.
- Right: Aligns text to the right side, or the tab position’s border.
- Decimal: Aligns decimal with the tab position.
- Bar: Draws a vertical line.
Now that you know what types of alignment tabs Word supports, let’s create one. Specifically, we’ll create a right-align tab at the right margin. That way, we can enter content at the left margin and then use the tab to align content to the right margin.
How to set a right-aligned tab
Before setting the tab, check the document’s margins. If you’re using the out-of-the-box Normal template, right and left margins are both one inch, as shown earlier in Figure A. However, if you look at the right margin on the ruler, you’ll find that it’s set at 6.5 rather than 7.5. This is because your printer determines the right position. You’ll need to set the right-aligned tab to the same position as the document’s right margin, whatever that might be.
Now, let’s create the right-aligned tab as follows:
- Click the Home tab.
- Click the Paragraph group’s dialog launcher to open the dialog.
- Click Tabs in the bottom-left corner.
- Enter 6.5 in the Tab stop position.
- Click Right in the Alignment section (Figure B).
Figure B
- Click Set.
- Click OK.
How to use a right-aligned tab
It’s impossible to apply more than one alignment property to the same line of content in Word. For instance, if you enter text and apply center alignment, and then you enter more text and apply right alignment, Excel will right-align the entire line. In this case, you would lose the center alignment.
SEE: Premium Microsoft Office Training Certification Bundle (TechRepublic Academy)
Usually when you need that kind of arrangement, you would insert a table with two or more cells and apply alignments to the cells. It works and it’s easy, but you have to insert a table every time you encounter one of these lines. There’s another way that doesn’t require a table at all: Alignment tabs.
How to split a sentence with the right-alignment tab
In the last section, you added a right-aligned tab. In this section, we’ll enter a sentence and then split it using the right-alignment tab as follows:
- Enter some text, such as: “This line is both left and right aligned.” By default, Word aligns this text with the left margin.
- Click to the left of “and” in your sentence and press Tab.
As you can see in Figure C, everything after the word “and” is now aligned to the right margin. When you pressed Tab, Word used the right-aligned tab you created in the last section. As a result, the text to the right of the cursor was pushed to the right margin.
Figure C
If you don’t get similar results, check your right margin again and make sure you entered the current measurement when creating the right-aligned tab.
All in all, an alignment tab is a better choice than a table if you have several instances of text throughout the document that need two different alignments.
Additional Word formatting tools
Changing text alignment in Word documents is a common way Microsoft Office users format their documents, but Word comes with a variety of other formatting tools and options that are readily available in the Home ribbon menu. Keep in mind that many formatting options are also accessible when you select text in the body of a document or right-click anywhere in the document.
If you’re looking to change formatting in your document, here are some other stylistic changes you can make beyond text alignment:
- Font: Font formatting options are available to adjust font size, font style, text highlight, text effects and typography, case changes, subscript and superscript, and strikethrough.
- Paragraph: Paragraph formatting options include bullets, numbering, multilevel lists, indent increases and decreases, sort, and line and paragraph spacing.
- Style: If you’re interested in updating the overall design of your document, Word has several preset headers and list formats you can choose from. You can also set up your own style in this section of the Home ribbon.
- Other formatting options: The format painter and the option to clear all formatting are great ways to make mass formatting changes to a Word document.
Whether you’re new to Word or you’ve been using it for years, these formatting tools are great to have ready in your back pocket. More advanced users have the option to granularly customize the settings for many of these formatting tools.
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