Centre page in word

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July 28, 2010, 11:30 AM PDT

Use Word’s Vertical Alignment settings to center a page

Centering text vertically isn’t difficult; you just have to know where to look!

Aligning text is a simple enough task. You just select the text and click the appropriate option: Align Text Left, Center, Align Text Right, or Justify. You might not realize that Word can align text vertically as well. It’s not a feature most of us would use every day. Perhaps you’re creating a brochure or sign or you want to insert just a table on a page by itself. You might use blank lines to position the text or table because you don’t know any other way.

To center a page in Word 2003, do the following:

  1. From anywhere on the page, choose Page Setup from the File menu.
  2. Click the Layout tab.
  3. In the Page section, click the Vertical Alignment dropdown and choose Center.
  4. Click OK. No guesswork, just a centered page!

There are four vertical alignments: Top, Center, Justified, and Bottom. Justified is the only one that requires any explanation; it evenly distributes the content between the top and bottom margins.

To access this feature in Word 2007 and 2010, click the Page Layout tab, and then click the Page Setup launcher (the small arrow in the bottom right corner of the group panel) to launch the Page Setup dialog.

Word’s Vertical Alignment is super easy to use—it just isn’t an easy find and if you don’t know you can do it, you won’t even know to go look for it!

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Change your document’s layout to get it just the way you want.

Margins

  1. Select Layout > Margins.

  2. Choose the margins you want or select Custom Margins to define your own.

Page Orientation

  1. To change orientation, select Layout > Orientation.

  2. Select Portrait or Landscape.

Line Spacing

  1. Select Home > More Paragraph Options > Line Spacing.

  2. Choose the spacing you want.

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An easy-to-follow guide on aligning text in the center of Word documents


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Microsoft Word offers a huge array of options for customizing your documents — so huge, in fact, that it can be hard to figure out how to do simple things like center your text. Luckily, the method is easy to remember once you know it. Simply click the «Center» option under the «Paragraph» label at the top of the page (or hit Ctrl+E as a shortcut to switch between centered and left-aligned text).

  1. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 1

    1

    Highlight the text you want to center. If you already have text in the document, the first thing you must do is highlight it. Put the mouse cursor at the start of the text you want to center. Click and hold the left mouse button. Move the cursor to the end of the text you want to highlight. The text should now be bordered by a transparent blue box.

  2. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 2

    2

    Click the «Center» button in the upper toolbar. Follow these directions:[1]

    • Look at the toolbar at the top of the Word window (the space with all the options). The word «Home» in the top left should be selected (it will be by default). If it isn’t (or you’re not sure), click on «Home.»
    • Next, look under the «Paragraph» header, which is below «Home» and to the right. You should see three small buttons that look like pages with the text aligned to the left, center, and right.
    • Click the button with the text aligned in the center.

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  3. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 3

    3

    Deselect your text. The text you selected should now be aligned evenly between the left and right margins. Now, click where you would like to continue typing and proceed with the rest of your document.

    • If your text didn’t center, you may have accidentally deselected it before hitting the center button. You need to center your text while it’s selected without clicking anywhere else on the page.
  4. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 4

    4

    If you haven’t typed anything yet, just click the «Center» button. If your document is completely blank, click the «Center» button from the directions above and any text you type will be center-aligned.

    • If you want to add centered text at the end of your document, click at the end of your document, hit the enter/return key to start a new line, and click the «Center» button.
  5. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 5

    5

    Alternatively, hit Ctrl+E. This keyboard combination will switch you back and forth between left-aligned text and centered text.[2]
    If you use it while text is highlighted, the text will change to centered (and back if you hit the keys again). If you use it on a blank line, it will change the alignment of the cursor so that the next words you type are centered.

  6. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 6

    6

    Use the other buttons to change your alignment. The buttons next to the «Center» button in the toolbar allow you to get different text alignments. They all work the same way as the center button does. From left to right, the alignment buttons are:

    • Align left
    • Align center
    • Align right
    • Justify (similar to center except that words will automatically be stretched so that all the lines are the same width).
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  1. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 7

    1

    Highlight the text you want to center. This method will align the text midway between the top and bottom margins on the page. To start, highlight the text the same way as you would if you were aligning it horizontally (see method above).

    • If you haven’t typed anything yet, skip this step. When you’re done, the text that you type will be centered vertically.
  2. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 8

    2

    Open the Layout menu. Follow these directions:[3]

    • Click «Page Layout» in the upper toolbar (to the right of the «Home» tab that’s selected by default).
    • Click the «Page Setup» button.
    • In the window that pops up, click the «Layout» tab.
  3. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 9

    3

    Select a centered vertical alignment. In the tab you just selected, look for the «Vertical Alignment» box. Select «Center.»

  4. Image titled Center Text in Microsoft Word Step 10

    4

    Apply the changes. Clicking «OK» will change the alignment and return you to your document. If you like, you can use the options under «Apply to» to change which parts of your document are centered vertically.

    • For example, if you have highlighted text that you want to center vertically, be sure to choose the «Selected text» option from the «Apply to» menu.
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Add New Question

  • Question

    How do I vertically align text in a table with rows?

    Ankit Bhatt

    Ankit Bhatt

    Community Answer

    Select the text within the table, then go to Layout in the ribbon area. You’ll see an alignment tab there; select any option from the Center line (Align Center Left, Align Center or Align Center Right). All of these will align your text vertically, along with the horizontal alignment you specify.

  • Question

    How can I save a document in a folder on the desktop?

    Community Answer

    In the top left hand corner of the program, select ‘File’ and then select the ‘Save As…’ option. You can then save it to any directory you want. If the folder you want to put it into isn’t already on the desktop, you’ll need to move it there using windows explorer, or if you want to create a new folder on your desktop, right-click the desktop, and mouse over the ‘New’ option, and select ‘Folder’.

  • Question

    If I have 3 lines, should 2 be above the center or below?

    Community Answer

    If the text is centered, the second line should be directly in the center, not above or below it.

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  • If you want to emphasize important information, you may want to bold, italicize, or underline your information in addition to—or instead of—centering it. By default, these options are to the left of the alignment options under the «Font» header.

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Text in a Microsoft Word document occasionally needs to be put in the center of the page between the left and right margins.

You might also need to know how to center text in Word vertically in Word documents, which means that it needs to be in the middle of the top and bottom margins.

You can vertically center text in Microsoft Word by selecting the text, choosing the Layout tab, clicking the Page Setup button, choosing the Layout tab, clicking the Vertical Alignment tab, choosing Center, then clicking Apply.

How to Horizontally Center Text in Microsoft Word

  1. Open the document in Word that contains the text you want to center.
  2. Use your mouse to select the text.
  3. Click the Home tab at the top of the window.
  4. Click the Center button in the Paragraph section of the ribbon.

How to Vertically Center Text in Microsoft Word

  1. Open the document containing the text to center vertically.
  2. Use your mouse to select the text you wish to center.
  3. Click the Page Layout tab.
  4. Click the small Page Setup button at the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup section of the ribbon.
  5. Click the dropdown menu to the right of Vertical alignment and choose the Center option.
  6. Click the dropdown menu to the right of Apply to and choose the appropriate option, then click the OK button.

Our article continues below with additional information on how to center align text in Microsoft Word, including expanded sections with pictures for the steps above.

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Adding content to a document in Microsoft Word can include a variety of options. You can format that text using a number of different tools and dialog box menus in the application, and many of those changes can be applied by simply selecting the text you want to change.

But if you need to align text to the center of the page, whether it is vertical alignment or horizontal alignment, then you may be wondering where that setting is found.

When you start typing in a Word document that is using the Normal template, all of the text that you enter will be left aligned by default.

This means that the first letter on each line will be against the left margin of the page. This is the standard for most corporations and institutions and is the most common alignment format used in documents.

But sometimes, a part of your document will need to be centered on the page, either horizontally or vertically.

Our tutorial below will show you how to center text in Microsoft Word using either the horizontal or vertical alignment option so that you can achieve the desired display result for your document.

You may also want to know how to get rid of space after paragraphs in Google Docs if you use that application for document editing, too.

Expanded – How to Center Text in Microsoft Word Horizontally

The summary section above gives a brief overview of how to horizontally center text in Word, but this section provides pictures as well if you would like a little more information. Note that I am using Microsoft Word 2013 in the images below, but the process is the same in most other versions of Word as well.

Find out how to use all small caps in Word if you have been struggling to manually apply that formatting in your document.

Step 1: Open your document in Microsoft Word.

Step 2: Use your mouse to highlight the text that you want to center horizontally.

select the text to center horizontally

Step 3: Click the Home tab at the top of the window.

click the home tab

Step 4: Select the Center button in the Paragraph section of the ribbon.

how to horizontally center text in word

The next section includes information on how to center text vertically if the text you want to modify in your document needs to be in the middle of the page.

Expanded – How to Center Text in Microsoft Word Vertically

We outlined how to vertically center text in the summary section above, but this section will provide images as well. This section was performed using Microsoft Word 2013.

Step 1: Open your document in Microsoft Word.

Step 2: Use your mouse to select the text that you want to center vertically.

If you wish to center the entire document you can skip this step.

how to center text in word

Step 3: Click the Page Layout tab at the top of the window.

select the page layout tab

Step 4: Click the Page Setup button in the Page Setup section of the ribbon.

It’s the tiny button at the bottom-right corner of the section.

click the page setup button

Step 5: Click the dropdown menu to the right of Vertical alignment, then choose the Center option.

Note that the vertical alignment drop down menu also has options for Top, Justified, and Bottom.

how to vertically center text in word

Step 6: Select the dropdown menu to the right of Apply to, then choose the option that fits your needs.

If you selected text earlier, then the Selected sections option will only vertically center that selected text. The Whole document option will vertically center the entire document, and the This point forward will vertically center all of the document text after the point at which your mouse cursor is currently located. Some of the vertical alignment options may not appear depending on the selected text’s locations, whether or not any text is selected, or the composition of the document.

select what to apply the vertical centering to

Step 7: Click the OK button to apply the vertical centering.

click the ok button

How to Center Text in a Table in Microsoft Word

If you have a table in your document and need to center the text in one of the table cells, then you get to use some table-specific centering options. By default the data in your table will be horizontally centered at the top of the table cell, but there are options that let you customize the alignment within a cell.

Step 1: Open the document containing the table text that you want to center.

Step 2: Click inside the cell containing the data you wish to center.

click inside the table cell to center

Step 3: Click the Layout tab at the top of the window under Table Tools.

select the table tools layout tab

Step 4: Click the desired alignment option in the Alignment section of the ribbon.

how to center text in a table in word

Additional Notes on How to Center Text in Word

  • You can also center text horizontally by selecting it and then pressing Ctrl + E on your keyboard.
  • One of the most common reasons to align text either horizontally or vertically is to add a title. If you are adding a title, be sure to check your work or school’s guidelines on titles, as they often include additional requirements like font sizes. You can adjust font styles in the Font section of the ribbon on the Home tab.
  • If you center some text in your document, the center align text setting will typically persist. You will likely need to select the Left Align option after centering your text if you want to return to normal text alignment after centering some of your text.
  • If you vertically center text in Word, you will have several options concerning what parts of your document should be centered. These options include the selected text, the whole document, or “this point forward.”

If you have left aligned text on a page and you need it to be center aligned, then the keyboard shortcut option might be a little easier than using the option on the Home tab.

However, when you need to create vertical centered text on a cover page or title pages, then you will need to use the Page Setup button in the Page Setup group and make the adjustment from the Vertical alignment drop down menu on the Layout tab.

Does your document have a title page, but you need to number your pages and skip that title page? Find out how to start page numbering on the second page in Word so that a page number doesn’t display on the title page.

Additional Sources

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

Need to create a cover page for a report you’re writing? You can create a simple, but professional cover page by centering the text both horizontally and vertically. Centering text horizontally on a page is easy, but vertically? That’s also easy and we’ll show you how.

Before you center the text on your title page, you need to separate the cover page from the rest of your report, so only the text on the cover page gets centered vertically. To do this, put the cursor right before the text you want in the new section and insert a “Next Page” section break.

NOTE: If you have any headers or footers in your report you can omit them from your cover page, while preserving them in the rest of the report, by setting up multiple headers and footers.

RELATED: How to Use Breaks in Microsoft Word to Better Format Your Documents

Once your cover page is in a separate section from the rest of your report, put the cursor anywhere on the cover page.

Click the “Page Layout” tab.

Click the “Page Setup” button in the lower-right corner of the “Page Setup” section of the “Page Layout” tab.

On the “Page Setup” dialog box, click the “Layout” tab.

In the “Page” section, select “Center” from the “Vertical alignment” drop-down list.

Your cover page text is now centered vertically on the page.

Centering text vertically can also improve the appearance of short documents, such as a business letter or a cover letter, or any other type of short document where the contents do not fill up the entire page.

READ NEXT

  • › How to Center Text in a Microsoft Word Table
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Old

07-22-2018, 02:26 PM

lynn0712
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Why isn't the page centered on the screen in Word? Windows 7 64bit Why isn't the page centered on the screen in Word? Office 2010 64bit

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Why isn't the page centered on the screen in Word?

 

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Why isn’t the page centered on the screen in Word?


I’m using MS Office 2010 on Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

When I’m editing a page in Word, how can I get the page to be in the center of the computer screen. It is always shifted to the left.

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Old

07-22-2018, 03:54 PM

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You apparently have Word’s zoom set to display two pages — change it back to one page.

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[Fmr MS MVP — Word]

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07-23-2018, 01:43 AM

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Word 2016 and 2013 are a bit better at preserving the singe-page view regardless of zoom. However, if you want to make absolutely certain, you will have to run a macro that forces a particular view and zoom. See for example http://www.gmayor.com/ZoomandView.htm.

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07-26-2018, 09:34 AM

lynn0712
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Why isn't the page centered on the screen in Word? Windows 7 64bit Why isn't the page centered on the screen in Word? Office 2010 64bit

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Thank you!!

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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

  1. Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to apply alignment or justification. If you would like to select all paragraphs, press Ctrl + A.
  2. 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:

Align commands in Word including left, center, right and justify.

3. Align or justify using the Paragraph dialog box

To align or justify paragraphs using the Paragraph dialog box:

  1. Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to apply alignment or justification. If you would like to select all paragraphs, press Ctrl + A.
  2. Right-click and select Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
  3. From the Alignment drop-down menu, select Left, Center, Right or Justify.
  4. 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:

Paragraph dialog box in Word with commands to align or justify text.

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):

  1. Click in a paragraph using the heading style (typically applied through the Home tab in the Ribbon).
  2. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
  3. In the Styles group, right-click the heading style. A dialog box appears.
  4. Click Format. A drop-down menu appears.
  5. Click Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
  6. From the Alignment drop-down menu, select Center or your preferred alignment.
  7. Click OK twice.

Below is the Modify Style dialog box with align and justify commands:

Modify style dialog box in Word with commands to align or justify text.

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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