Centering Information in Table Cells

Summary: One of the most common ways to format information in a table is to apply some sort of alignment to the contents of table cells. If you need to center your information, you can do it both horizontally and vertically using the information in this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

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 on the Formatting toolbar. Centering text vertically is almost as easy:

Right-click on the cell containing the information you want to vertically center. This displays a Context menu for the cell.
Choose the Alignment (Word 97) or Cell Alignment (Word 2000 or later) option from the Context menu. This displays a submenu.
Choose the Center Vertically option.

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.

Tip #1501 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Step Up and Take Control! Subscribers to WordTips know just how valuable a resource it is. WordTips Premium provides twice the number of exceptional, easy-to-understand tips every week in an ad-free newsletter, as well as substantial discounts on WordTips archives and e-books.

Check out WordTips Premium today!