How to align and justify text in Word

In this simple guide, you'll learn how to quickly align or justify text in Microsoft Word. You can align text right, left, or justify in Word to adjust the space between words in a paragraph so that the left or right edges are even.

First of all, let me tell you that there are five types of paragraph alignment: centered, left justified, right justified, fully justified, and distributed.

How to align a text/paragraph in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word offers five options for formatting/aligning the left and right edges of a paragraph:

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• left justified: This is the default alignment in Microsoft Word. It is also called "irregular right". The text on the left edge is straight and parallel to the left edge only, while the right edge is jagged. In turn, word spacing is natural, not forced, and left-justified text is generally easier to read than any other format.
• Centered: Text is centered horizontally. The left and right edges are uneven. The space between words is natural.
• just justified: Also called "left bumpy", this is a rarely used alignment. Text on the right is straight and parallel with only a right margin, and text on the left is jagged. The space between words is natural. The few times this alignment is usually used is when you are dealing with very small text, perhaps a single line, or you want a special effect.
• Justified or fully justified: Fully justified text in Word is text that is straight on both sides and parallel to both margins. It is an alignment/format that is widely used in official books or writings. A very common problem we encounter with justified text is word spacing, as Microsoft Word simply alters the space between words, not the space between letters in a word, which can cause unexpected spacing.
• distributed: It is also justified text but adds kerning (space between letters). It can be a difficult text to read.

As you will see, aligning text in Microsoft Word is very simple, you just have to select the paragraph and, in the "Home" tab, click on the desired alignment.

Distributed alignment in Word

A subsection. Distributed alignment does not appear by default in the Microsoft Word options menu. For it to appear, you'd have to add it manually by entering the "Customize the Ribbon" configuration by right-clicking a space on the ribbon. Then look for the distributed text option and add it. But a simpler and faster way to put a text in distributed format would be to select the paragraph and press the key combination «Control+Shift+J».

Recommended article: Vertical and horizontal alignment of texts in Word.