Line justification (a.k.a. paragraph alignment)

Super easy — here’s how you do left-justify, right-justify, center, and full-justify in Microsoft Word (either with your mouse or your keyboard).

Using the Formatting Toolbar

You can control justification/alignment of a paragraph by clicking on the following buttons on the Formatting Toolbar.

Left-Justify — leaves a ragged right edge to the paragraph (like a typewriter would).

Center — centers the text on each line.

Full-Justify — gives paragraphs an even left and right margin by proportionally spacing the text.

Right-Justify — aligns the text even with the right-hand margin.

Using the Format, Paragraph menu

If you need to do more extensive paragraph formatting (indentions, etc.), you can also adjust the justification/alignment within the Format, Paragraph menu while you’re there:

Using the keyboard

Assuming you have not re-assigned any of Word’s delivered hot-keys (a.k.a. shortcut keys), you can use the following key combinations to control justification/alignment:

• Left-justify – CNTRL-L
• Right-justify – CNTRL-R
• Center-justify – CNTRL-E
• Full-justify – CNTRL-J

Tagged as: center, full justify, justification, left justify, paragraph alignment, paragraph formatting, ragged margin, right justify