Horizontal centering in Word places text midway between the left and right margins. It is paragraph alignment, so you can center one line, several paragraphs, or an entire document without changing the page margins.
Center selected text
- Select the paragraph or text you want to center. If you only need to center the paragraph containing the cursor, you do not have to highlight it.
- Open the Home tab.
- In the Paragraph group, choose Center.
You can also use Ctrl + E in desktop Word to apply centered paragraph alignment.
Centering is different from adding spaces
Do not press the spacebar or Tab repeatedly to make a heading look centered. Those characters can shift when fonts, margins, page size, or document layout changes. Center alignment lets Word calculate the position correctly.
Center only part of a document
Paragraph alignment applies to the paragraphs you select. A centered title can therefore sit above left-aligned body text without changing the rest of the document.
Horizontal and vertical centering are different
The Center button controls left-to-right alignment. If you need text halfway between the top and bottom of a page, that is vertical alignment and is handled through page-layout settings instead.
If the text still looks off-center
Check paragraph indents, text boxes, table cells, columns, and page margins. Word centers a paragraph within its available text area, which may not be the full physical width of the page.
Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.
His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.