Microsoft Word Tip: Aligning Text

When you first start a new Word document, the program assumes you want to align your text to the left. This is the typical alignment for letters and other documents. But what if you want a title for your document? You would need to click on the Align Center icon at the top of your screen. This places the cursor in the middle of your page. If you type a title or other text from here it will automatically be centered.

Now let's say you're done typing your title, and you'd like to type the rest of your letter with the text aligned to the left. Before you hit the Align Left icon, you need to hit Enter on your keyboard to go down a line. (Otherwise your title will go to the left as well.) After you go down a line, you can click on the Align Left icon and start typing.

But let's say before you start typing your letter, you'd like to type something on the right side, such as the date. That's right, you can click on the Align Right icon and do just that. Remember to hit Enter on your keyboard to go down a line before moving back to Align Left.

There's a fourth align icon on the right, called Justify. You needn't worry about that one right now. It makes the text line up perfectly on both the left and right sides of your document, and it's usually used for newspaper articles and such. But feel free to experiment with it if you wish!