When you work in Excel, it’s important to keep text, data, and values aligned. This helps your spreadsheet be easy to read while having a professional, refined appearance. Fortunately, alignment is easy to apply on a cell level. Let’s learn how to format cell alignment in Microsoft Excel.
How to Format Cell Alignment in Excel
Alignment in Microsoft Excel spans two dimensions: horizontal and vertical. Within these constraints, you can apply additional effects such as indents, text wraps, and more. All of these options reside on the Format Cells > Alignment menu. You can apply them to selected cells to keep text and numbers looking their best.
To find this menu, begin by going to the Home tab on the ribbon. The ribbon is the series of menus and options across the top of your screen. Click and drag to select cells that you want to apply alignment rules to.
On the right side of the Home tab, you’ll see the Format dropdown menu. Click on it, and you’ll see a series of options. The one you need is at the bottom: Format Cells.
Click this, and you’ll find yourself looking at the Format Cells menu series. There are several tabs across the top, and the one you want is Alignment. Click on it.
Here, you can apply all of the alignment settings that you want. Horizontal and vertical alignment are controlled on the pair of dropdown menus at the top. Below, in the Text Control group, you can control how cells fit together, and how text fits within cells.
Remember, any changes you make here will be applied only to the cell or cells that you have selected. Make your customizations, then click OK. Excel will automatically apply your chosen settings to the cells.
As you can see, it’s easy to format cell alignment in Microsoft Excel.
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