In this Excel tutorial, we will discuss how to apply different types of alignment in Excel. We will use different techniques like using control text options and the Format Cells dialog box to apply different types of alignment. We will also explain how to change alignment in Excel, and how to align numbers based on a custom number format as well as by using functions. In the following image, we display how to change the alignment from the ribbon. There are vertical and horizontal alignment options, along with Orientation, Indentation, Wrap Text, and Merge & Center options. All the other options are available if you click on the marked arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Alignment group . Download Practice Workbook
Alignment in Excel.xlsx
Generally, alignment refers to the arrangement and positioning of elements within a document. In Excel, it refers to the positioning of cell contents within a cell. To customize the appearance and layout of data in cells, there are various types of alignments available in Excel, like Horizontal alignment, Vertical alignment, Text Orientation, and so on. Combining these alignment options, we can make data easily understandable and more visually organized in Excel. The default alignment for numbers and text is different in Excel. For example, the default alignment of number, date, time, and currencies is the right bottom alignment, while the text has the left bottom alignment. The following image shows the different default alignments for different data types.
The two main alignment options in Excel are the horizontal and vertical alignments of text. Each has three different alignment options.
I – Left Alignment To apply the Left alignment to cells, select them first. Then choose the left align option as shown in the following image. 
The selected cells will look like the image below. 
II – Center Alignment To apply the Center horizontal alignment, select the cell or your desired area and click on the ribbon like in the following image. 
The selected cells will look like the image below. 
III – Right Alignment The third type of horizontal alignment is Align Right. Like in the methods described above, select the text to which you want to apply this alignment, then follow the steps shown in the following image. 
The selected data will look like the following image. 
I – Top Alignment To position the text or content in the upper part of a cell, choose Top Align. Choose the Top option in the Vertical: drop-down menu of the Format Cells dialog box. 
The output of this alignment looks like the following image. 
II – Middle Alignment To apply Middle Align to your cell contents, select the cell first, then follow the steps in the image below. 
The selected area will look like the image below. 
III – Bottom Alignment The last type of vertical alignment is Bottom Align. The image below shows how to apply bottom alignment in cells. 
The output looks like the following image. 
Click to see the full view of image
For example, by placing 82 in the Degrees box, the output is as in the image below.
Indentation in Excel is the increase or decrease of space between the left and right margin of a paragraph. There are 2 options available in Excel by which you can increase or decrease the indentation of text.
3.1 – Increase Indentation of Texts
The first output will be like the following image.
Note: You may decrease the indentation in the same way by selecting the Decrease Indent option on the ribbon.
When the text in a cell is very long, Excel has some problems accommodating it. The text may expand to the next cell, or it may be difficult to read the contents. We can use Wrap Text to solve the issue.
The output will be like the following image.
To combine multiple cells into one, choose the Merge & Center option in the Home tab.
Justification gives text a cleaner and more formal look by adding white space between the words in each line so that all the lines are the same length.
To apply the Justify tool to your text:
In the following image is the output before and after applying Justify alignment to a certain text.
Note: We have applied Justify only to the horizontal alignment. You can also apply it to vertical alignment. You can also apply Fill and then Justify consecutively to merge text from multiple rows into one cell.
Suppose you need to write the same letter in a cell multiple times. To automate this tiresome job, use the Fill feature.
The cell will be filled with the same letter
Another way to represent large text in a single cell is using Shrink to Fit.
The output will be like the following image.
The Center Across Selection command aligns the content of any cell centrally. Suppose we have a dataset where all the cells contain different values that have default alignment. We will change the alignment into Center Across Selection.
The following image illustrates Center Across Selection alignment.
The last Horizontal alignment that we will cover is Distributed (Indent). The process is exactly the same as using the Center Across Selection command. Just select the Distributed (Indent) command in the Horizontal: drop-down option instead of the Center Across Selection command.
The output will be similar to the following image.
To distribute text vertically:
The output will look like the image below.
This option is dedicated to those languages that have default right-to-left reading directions like Arabic. Applying this feature to other languages is not possible. However, in the following image is the method to change the default orientation using the Format Cells dialog box.
There are keyboard shortcuts for most of the methods described above:
| Name of Alignment | Shortcut Keys |
|---|---|
| Align Left | ALT + H + A + L |
| Center | ALT + H + A + C |
| Align Right | ALT + H + A + R |
| Top Align | ALT + H + A + T |
| Middle Align | ALT + H + A + M |
| Bottom Align | ALT + H + A + B |
Reverting to default alignments of cells is a simple task.
Steps:
To illustrate, suppose we have a dataset where the data is in a different alignment to the default alignment. Here’s how it looks before and after being reset into default alignment.
First step is to open the Custom Number Format option:
In the image below, we have a dataset that contains different numbers. We will format and align the numbers using the custom number format.
The result of applying these two formats will be similar to the following image.
Answer: Alignment for merged cells is identical to normal cells. Apply horizontal and vertical alignment and ensure consistency of the content in the merged cell.
Answer: No, you cannot directly apply conditional formatting based on the alignment of cells. Conditional formatting does not have the built-in functionality to consider the alignment of cells.
Answer: Merge Cells combines selected cells into one cell, discarding content from other cells, whereas Center Across Selection horizontally centers content across selected cells without merging them, maintaining separate cells.
