Learn How to Vertically Align Text in Microsoft Word (2024)

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Change Word's default vertical alignment for special design effects

James Marshall

Writer

James Marshall is a pro journalist who covers technology and computer troubleshooting. He is also skilled with Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and other word processors.

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Updated on October 21, 2022

Reviewed by

Jessica Kormos

Reviewed byJessica Kormos

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others.

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MS Office

Word
Excel
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Outlook

What to Know

To center text in Word, use the Vertical alignment menu.
The Vertical Alignment menu also controls Top, Justified, and Bottom text alignment.
To center text in Word for only part of the document, highlight what you want to center before choosing Vertical Alignment.

This article explains how to center text in Word. Instructions apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010, Word 2007, and Word 2003.

How to Vertically Align Text in Word

When you want to position text in a section of a document relative to the top and bottom margins, use vertical alignment.

To reflect a change in the vertical alignment, the document page or pages must be only partially full of text.

For Microsoft Word 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007

Open the Word document in which you want to vertically align the text.
Go to the Layouttab (or Page Layout, depending on the version of Word).
In the Page Setup group, select the Page Setup dialog launcher (which is located in the lower-right corner of the group).
In the Page Setup dialog box, choose the Layout tab.
In the Page section, select the Vertical alignment drop-down arrow and choose either Top, Center, Justified, or Bottom.
If you choose Justified, the text is spread out evenly from top to bottom.
Select OK.
Your text will now be aligned the way you selected.

For Word 2003

To vertically align text in Microsoft Word 2003:

Select File.
Choose Page Setup.
In the Page Setup dialog box, select Layout.
Select the Vertical alignment drop-down arrow and choose either Top, Center, Justified, or Bottom.
Select OK.

Vertically Align Part of a Word Document

When you use the steps above, the default condition is to change the vertical alignment of the entire Microsoft Word document. If you want to change the alignment of only part of the document, select the text you want to vertically align.

Here's how to vertically align part of a document:

Select the text you wantto vertically align.
Go to the Layouttab (or Page Layout, depending on the version of Word).
In the Page Setup group, select the Page Setup dialog launcher (it's located in the lower-right corner of the group).
In the Page Setup dialog box, choose the Layout tab.
In the Page section, select the Vertical alignment drop-down arrow and choose an alignment.
In the Preview section, select the Apply to drop-down arrow and choose Selected text.
Select OK to apply the alignment to the selected text.
Any text before or after the selectionretains the existing alignment choices.

If you don't select text prior to performing the alignment selection, the Selected text preference can only be applied from the cursor's current location to the end of the document.

To make this work, position the cursor, then:

Go to the Layouttab (or Page Layout, depending on the version of Word).
In the Page Setup group, select the Page Setup dialog launcher (which is located in the lower-right corner of the group).
In the Page Setup dialog box, choose the Layout tab.
In the Page section, select the Vertical alignment drop-down arrow and choose an alignment.
In the Preview section, select the Apply to drop-down arrow and choose This point forward.
Select OK to apply the alignment to the text.

FAQ

What is the default text alignment in Microsoft Word?
The standard text alignment default in Word (and most other word processing programs) is left-justified.
How do I create vertical text in Microsoft Word?
Create a text box and type what you want into it, then right-click on the edge of the box and select Format Shape from the drop-down menu. Select Size/Layout & Properties > Text Box, then open the drop-down menu next to Text Direction. From there, choose the options that best suit your needs.

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