Align text left or right, center text, or justify text on a page

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.

Align the text left or right

1. Select the text that you want to align.

2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Align Left or Align Right .

Center the text horizontally between the side margins

1. Select the text that you want to center.

2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Center .

Center the text vertically between the top and bottom margins

1. Select the text that you want to center.

2. On the Layout or Page Layout tab, click the Dialog Box Launcher in the Page Setup group, and then click the Layout tab.

3. In the Vertical alignment box, click Center.

4. In the Apply to box, click Selected text, and then click OK.

Justify text

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.

1. Select the text you want to justify.

2. 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.

Create a centered cover page

In Office Word 2007, you can choose from a selection of predesigned cover pages to create a professional-looking document quickly and easily.

1. On the Insert tab, in the Pages group, click Cover Page.

   

2. 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