How to align text with word

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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 .

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.

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.

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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Источник

Updated: 12/30/2021 by

Below are the steps on how to change or move the alignment of text in a word processor and most text editing programs. View the steps for the program you are using by clicking one of the links below.

Align text in Microsoft Word

Tip

The steps below are for changing the alignment of text in Microsoft Word. They can also be used to align text in a column or row for Microsoft Excel and most other text programs.

To change the horizontal alignment of text in Word, highlight the text you want to change and click the left, center, or right alignment icons, as shown in the image. In all new versions of Microsoft Word, the alignment options are found under the Home tab.

How to highlight or select text.

Press one of the shortcut keys to adjust the alignment of any highlighted text. For left alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+L to align text to the left margin. For center alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+E. For right alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+R to align text to the right.

Adjusting the vertical alignment

If you want to change the vertical alignment of text, follow the steps listed below.

Open Microsoft Word
Click File and then Page Setup
Click the Layout tab
Under Vertical alignment, click the down arrow and select center, bottom, or the alignment you want to use. If you do not want this setting to affect the whole document, change the «Apply to» to the selected text.

Align text in WordPad

To change the horizontal alignment of text in WordPad, highlight the text and click the left, center, or right alignment icons in the Paragraph section of the menu bar.

How to highlight or select text.

Note

If you’re working with a .txt file or save the file as a .txt file, all formatting is lost, including any alignment. If you want to align text in a .txt file, edit the file, and then use the Save As option to save it as a .rtf, .docx, or .odt.

Align text in Google Docs

In Google Docs, you can click one of the alignment options (left, center, right) in the top center of the toolbar.

Press one of the shortcut keys to adjust the alignment of any highlighted text.

For left alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Shift+L.
For center alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Shift+E.
For right alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Shift+R.

Open Google Docs
Highlight the text you want to align.
Click Format, Align, and then choose an alignment.

How to highlight or select text.

Align text in OpenOffice Writer

To change the horizontal alignment of the text in OpenOffice Writer, highlight the text you want to change and click the left, center, or right icons on the toolbar. These icons look similar to those shown in the above example picture of the Microsoft Word.

How to highlight or select text.

How to change the vertical alignment

OpenOffice Writer does not have a feature like Microsoft Word that lets you vertically align text. However, this can still be done using frames. To do this, follow the steps listed below.

Open OpenOffice Writer
Click Insert
Click Frame
In the Frame window under type, change the horizontal and vertical position to center and both to «Entire page.»
Because the frame has borders, unless you want to keep these borders, click the borders tab and click None under Style.
Once done, you have a frame in the center of your page to enter any text and have it centered.

Источник

Microsoft Word comes equipped with a tool that allows users to align text both vertically and horizontally, giving you complete freedom for determining the position of text in a Word document. Here’s how it all works.

Horizontal alignment, also known as centered alignment, positions the text evenly between the margins on either side of the page. This tool also allows you to be selective with the text you align horizontally, giving you more control over what you can do to your document.

RELATED: How to Change the Alignment of the Numbers in a Numbered List in Microsoft Word

To align text horizontally on a page, highlight the text you want to center. Next, click the “Center Alignment” icon in the “Paragraph” group of the “Home” tab. Alternatively, you can use the Ctrl+E keyboard shortcut.

Your text will now be horizontally aligned. If you don’t already have text typed, it’s also an option to select the center alignment option before entering the text. It’s all up to you.

Aligning Text Vertically in Word

As you’ve probably guessed, vertical alignment positions the text evenly between the upper and lower margins of the page. You won’t notice a difference in the text alignment if you use it on a page that’s already full of text.

To see any real difference, try enabling the horizontal text option before inputting the text in your document.

RELATED: How to Align Text After a Bullet in PowerPoint

To align text vertically on a page, head over to the “Layout” tab and select the small icon in the bottom-right corner of the “Page Setup” group.

This opens the “Page Setup” dialog box. Select the “Layout” tab and then click the arrow next to “Vertical Alignment” in the “Page” section. A selection of vertical alignment options will appear. Go ahead and click “Center” (or choose another option that better suits your requirements).

Your text will now reflect the selected vertical alignment option.

What if you only want to align specific text in the document vertically? There’s also an easy way to make this happen.

First, highlight the text you want to align vertically. Once selected, head back to the “Layout” tab of the “Page Setup” dialog box. Next, choose the desired vertical alignment type, open the drop-down menu next to “Apply To,” select “Selected text,” and then click the “OK” button.

The selected text will now reflect the selected vertical alignment option.

See also

Need more help?

Align text horizontally

Align text vertically

Adjust the text box margins