How to align text in Microsoft Word, Writer and Google Docs

Updated 4/30/2020 from

Below are the steps to change the text alignment in a word processor and in most word editors. Check out the steps for the program you are using by clicking on one of the links below.

Align text in Microsoft Word

advice

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

To change the horizontal alignment of text in Word, select the text you want to change and click the left, middle, or right alignment icons as shown in the image. All recent versions of Microsoft Word have alignment options on the Home tab.

or

Press one of the keyboard shortcuts to adjust the alignment of highlighted text. To align left, highlight the text and press Ctrl+L. For center alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+E. For correct alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+R.

Vertical Alignment Adjustment

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

Open Microsoft Word

Click on dossier and then layout

Click the button layout tab

Under Vertical Alignment, click the down arrow and select the Center, Bottom, or Alignment you want. If you don’t want this setting to affect the entire document, change the “Apply to” checkbox of the selected text.

Align text in WordPad

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

note

If you work with a .txt file or save the file as a .txt file, all formatting including alignment will be lost. If you want to align text in a .txt file, edit the file and then use the Save As option to save it in .rtf, .docx, or .odt format.

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.

or

Press one of the keyboard shortcuts to adjust the alignment of highlighted text. To align left, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Maj+L. For center alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Shift+E. For correct alignment, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Maj+R.

or

Open Google Docs

Highlight the text you want to align.

Click on format, organizerand then select a alignment.

Align text in OpenOffice Writer

To change the horizontal alignment of text in OpenOffice Writer, select the text you want to change and click the left, middle, or right toolbar icon. These icons are similar to the Microsoft Word sample image above.

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

OpenOffice Writer

Click on insertion

Click on squad

In the Frame, under Window Type, change the Horizontal and Vertical Position to Center and both to Full Page.

Since the frame has frames, click the Frames tab, then click unless you want to keep those frames none under style.

Once done you will have a frame in the middle of your page to type any text and center it.