Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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 Cell Alignment.

Changing Cell Alignment

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 8, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007 and 2010

If you desire, you can independently specify the alignment of every cell in a Word table. Originally, the cell alignment matches the alignment of the paragraphs from which the table was created. You can override this, however, by using the paragraph alignment tools in the Paragraph group of the Home tab of the ribbon. Simply position the insertion point in the cell whose alignment you want to adjust, and then click one of the tools.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6027) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing Cell Alignment.

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...

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What is 6 + 3?

2021-11-10 16:00:14

Tomek

@Kieren:
Just to be clear, when you have a table in the document and click inside it, two new tabs appear: Table Design and Layout. So you have two different tabs named the same, somewhat confusing. The one further right has the Table tools including alignment buttons.

This is for Word in MS365, but probably is the same for earlier versions.

2015-03-04 12:02:52

Rick.G.

Kieren, in Word 2010, in the Ribbon's Layout tab (for tables), in the Alignment group there are 9 buttons to align text in cells. I suspect it is the same for Word 2007. Or if you don't need to change the vertical alignment, you can use the 4 buttons that Peter refered to. They are in the paragraph group on the home tab.

2015-03-03 13:57:19

Peter Kirkpatrick

By "paragraph alignment tools" he means the various buttons and settings that control alignment. eg the 4 buttons for left/centre/right/full justification are all "alignment tools". As far as I know there isn't a button with that specific name.

2015-03-03 08:05:23

Kieren Beasley

http://wordribbon.tips.net/T006027_Changing_Cell_Alignment.html?awt_l=7nvfE&awt_m=JEvPg5T7frkF4X
If you desire, you can independently specify the alignment of every cell in a Word table. Originally, the cell alignment matches the alignment of the paragraphs from which the table was created. You can override this, however, by using the paragraph alignment tools in the Paragraph group of the Home tab of the ribbon. Simply position the insertion point in the cell whose alignment you want to adjust, and then click one of the tools.

Where are the Paragaph Alignment Tools in Word 2007? I have looked in the aragraph group.

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