Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Aligning Paragraphs in a Macro.

Aligning Paragraphs in a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 16, 2023)

If you are writing a VBA macro, you may want to apply paragraph alignment formatting within your document. To do so, you use the Alignment property, as follows:

Selection.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = wdAlignParagraphCenter

Notice that the Alignment property is set to a preset Word value, in this case wdAlignParagraphCenter. There are a number of different values you can use in your alignment:

wdAlignParagraphLeft to align the paragraph to the left margin.
wdAlignParagraphCenter to align the paragraph to the center of the print area.
wdAlignParagraphRight to align the paragraph to the right margin.
wdAlignParagraphJustify to align full lines within the paragraph with both left and right margins.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (827) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Aligning Paragraphs in a Macro.

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...

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