Align text

By default your text will be left-aligned. There are four possible alignments:

  1. Left-aligned (the default). Your text will line up on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side the text will have a ragged edge. This is the way text is usually presented, eg in reports, books, newspapers.
  2. Centered. Your text will appear in the centre of the page.
  3. Right-aligned. Your text will line up on the right-hand side. On the left-hand side the text will have a ragged edge. This is the way text is usually presented in some languages, eg Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu.
  4. Justified. Your text will line up on the left-hand side and the right-hand side. This means there are no ragged edges. But, to achieve this the spacing between letters and words has to be increased in certain places. This makes it harder to read. A general increase in awareness of the reading challenges caused by justified text means it’s no longer very common. On text that is shorter than one line, this will look just like left-aligned.

This is the area that controls the alignment of your text:

Text alignment buttons

Here’s a video of the text alignment buttons in action:

Practice point: Explore using the text alignment buttons on your text.