Align text left or right, center text, or justify text on a page

The term "alignment" generally specifies the appearance and orientation of the edges of a paragraph -- left-aligned text, right-aligned text, centered text, or "justified" text (aligned evenly from left to right margins). In left-aligned -- the most common alignment -- the left edge of the paragraph is flush with the left margin.

Additionally, "vertical alignment" determines the up/down position of text within a defined space in the document -- such as placement of a title on a section-break page.

1. Select the text that you want to align.
2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Align Left

or Align Right

1. Select the text that you want to center.
2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Center

1. Select the text that you want to center.
2. On the Layout or Page Layout tab, click the Dialog Box Launcher

When you "justify" text in a Word document, you give your text straight edges on both sides of the paragraph. Justifying extends each line of your text from the left margin to the right margin. Justifying text might make the last line of text in a paragraph considerably shorter than the other lines.

1. Select the text you want to justify.
2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Justify

In the Paragraph group, click the Dialog Box Launcher

, and select the Alignment drop-down menu to set your justified text.