How to Center Text on Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word offers a ton of document customization features, so much so that in fact, you'll have trouble figuring out how to do simple tasks like centering text. Luckily, once you know it, it's pretty easy to remember. Just click the 'Center' option below the 'Paragraph' label at the top of the page (or press Ctrl+E, which is the keyboard shortcut to toggle between center and left alignment).

Center the text horizontally

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Highlight the text that you want to center. With a document that already has content, you first need to highlight the text. Place the mouse pointer at the start of the text you want to center. Left click and drag to the end of the text you want to select. A transparent green frame will appear around the text.

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Click the "Center" button in the top toolbar. Follow these instructions:

Look at the toolbar at the top of the Word window (the space containing all the options). The word "Home" in the upper left will be selected by default. If it isn't (or you're not sure), click "Home."

Next, look at the "Paragraph" heading below to the right of the word "Home". You will see three small buttons that resemble a page with text aligned left, center, and right.

Click the button with the text centered.

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Deselect text. The text you select will be justified between the left and right margins. Now click where you want to type next and edit the rest of the document.

If the text isn't centered, you may have accidentally deselected it before clicking the center button. You need to click the center button while text is selected before you can click elsewhere on the page.

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If you haven't entered content yet, just click the "Center" button. If the document is completely blank, click the "Center" button in the instructions above, so any text you enter will be centered.

If you want to add centered text to the end of the document, click at the end of the document, press enter/return to start a new line, and then click "Center".

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Or you can press Ctrl+E. This key combination will switch back and forth between center and left alignment of text. If you use this key combination while text is highlighted, the content will be centered (and return to its original position when you press it again). If you use in a blank line, the cursor's alignment will change and the words you enter next will be centered.

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Use other buttons to change the alignment. The buttons next to the "Center" button in the toolbar allow you to align text differently. The way these buttons work is similar to the Center button. From left to right, these buttons include:

Align left (Align left)

Align center

Align right

Justify (Justify is similar to center, except that the words will automatically stretch so that all lines have the same width).

Center the text vertically

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Highlight the text that you want to center. This method will center the text according to the top and bottom margins of the page. To start, highlight the text the same way you would when centering it horizontally (method above).

If the document is blank, you can skip this step. Once completed, the text you type will be vertically centered.

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Open the Layout menu by:

Click "Page Layout" in the top toolbar (to the right of the "Home" tab selected by default).

Click the "Page Setup" button.

In the pop-up window, click the "Layout" tab.

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Choose vertical center alignment. In the tab you just selected, find the "Vertical Alignment" box and select "Center".

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Apply changes. Click "OK" to change the alignment layout and return to the document. If you want, you can use the options under "Apply to" to change the section to be vertically centered in the document.

For example, if the text you want to center vertically is highlighted, check to make sure the "Selected text" option in the "Apply to" menu is selected.