Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Changing Table Cell Text Direction.

Changing Table Cell Text Direction

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 16, 2020)

Word allows you to quickly change the direction in which the text in a cell faces. For instance, you may want the text to be vertical instead of horizontal. You can change text direction by following these steps:

Right-click your mouse on the cell whose text direction you want to change. A Context menu appears.
Choose Text Direction from the Context menu. The Text Direction dialog box appears. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Text Direction dialog box.

Select the Orientation you want used for your text.
When satisfied, click on OK.

You can also do the same task using the Layout tab of the ribbon. Follow these steps:

Position the insertion point in the cell whose orientation you want to change.
Make sure that the Layout tab of the ribbon is displayed. (This tab is only visible if you perform step 1.)
Click the Text Direction tool in the Alignment group on the ribbon. Word changes the orientation of the text in the cell.
Continue clicking on the Text Direction tool until the orientation is exactly as you want it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5978) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing Table Cell Text Direction.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Saving Everything

Need to force users to save their work? It may be as simple as implementing a couple of macros that get a bit more ...

Discover More

Changing the Document Window Background Color

Word's default black text and a white background may not appeal to everyone. There are a couple of ways to change the ...

Discover More

Viewing Your Entire Document Width

The Zoom tool is very useful to help you see all of your document information. Here's how to make sure you can see all ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Tabbing from One Table to the Next

Press the Tab key in a table, and Word dutifully moves to the next cell in that table. Press it in the last cell of a ...

Discover More

Quickly Accessing the Column Tab

If you need to quickly display the Column tab of the Table Properties dialog box, here are some handy tricks you can use. ...

Discover More

Blank Lines Before Tables

Adding a blank line before your table is easy, but Word's behavior as you attempt to make the insert can depend on where ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is one more than 7?

2018-03-28 02:29:01

A J BARRY

Item 2 is not quite true. A Layout tab is displayed even without clicking on the table. It even contains an Align option but not Text Direction option under it.
But when clicking in the cell a SECOND layout menu appears (in orange on my Mac, and THAT is where a Text Direction option is found (there is no Alignment group).
Thanks for the help though as it got me started, just knowing it was possible.

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.