Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Centering Information in Table Cells.

Centering Information in Table Cells

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 13, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Tables are a powerful formatting tool used in many Word documents. Often it is necessary to center information within the cells of a table. There are two ways to center information: horizontally and vertically.

Horizontal centering is quite simple. All you need to do is position the insertion point somewhere within the text and then click on the Center button on the Home tab of the ribbon or press Ctrl+E. Centering text vertically is almost as easy:

Position the insertion point within the cell you want to vertically center.
Display the Layout tab of the ribbon. (This tab is visible only after doing step 1.)
In the Alignment group, click one of the three vertical centering tools. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The vertical centering tools.

You should note that vertical centering will not give the desired results if you have the paragraph formatting for the text set to anything except single spacing, with no space before or after the paragraph. This extra spacing before or after affects the centering in the same way that paragraph indents affect horizontal spacing.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13357) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Centering Information in Table Cells.

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

Keeping Table Rows Together

When you create a table that extends beyond a single page, you may want to make sure that the information in a table row ...

Discover More

Automatically Printing an Envelope

When you create a letter, you may want to have Word print a single envelope for that letter. You can do so by following ...

Discover More

Using an Older Font with Word

If you are using older custom fonts with newer versions of Word, you may notice a few quirks. This tip can help you ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Self-Adjusting Column Widths

It is important to understand how column widths relate to the margins you may have set in your document. The reason is ...

Discover More

Spacing Table Rows Vertically

Want to get just the right amount of spacing above and below text in a table cell? A very easy way to do this is to ...

Discover More

Keeping Tables on One Page

Need to make sure that your smaller tables stay on a single page? Here's a handy trick you can use to enforce this rule.

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 five minus 3?

2022-06-29 07:28:10

MG0109

Thank You soo much, it worked!

2021-03-13 11:44:13

Tomek Dluzniewski

You can also decimal-align numbers in the table column. For this to work, you must have the paragraph in all cells in this column set to left align, and set the decimal tab for all of them at the same position. You do not need to enter a tab before entering the number, word somehow knows what you want to do. Numbers will be decimal-aligned automatically, but also any text will be aligned to the first period. Numbers without decimal point (i.e., 777 as compared to 777.) will also be right-aligned to this tab. As a matter of curiosity, any text with digits within it will get the first number right-aligned to the decimal tab position, even if there is a period in the text afterwards.
If you set more than a single tab (decimal or other) within a cell, matters get a bit complicated, but you can play with it. Remember, to enter a tab character within a cell you have to press Ctrl+TAB, as just TAB moves to the next cell.

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.