How to Center Text in Excel (Works Every Time)

As you store data in Excel (some of which might be text), the alignment of the data within the cells is a core aspect.

Centering (or aligning) text in Excel is a fundamental feature. It not only adds to the visual appeal of your Excel sheet but also increases the readability of your data.

For instance, if you’re preparing a report, a dashboard, or a simple fillable form in Excel, unless the alignment of each field is in place, your masterpiece will not make enough impact.

In this Excel tutorial, we are going to explore a variety of methods that you can use to center text in Excel. These methods apply to all old and new versions of Excel so, you can download our free sample workbook for this guide here and tag along with us 🚀

Table of Contents

Center text from the alignment buttons

Here, I have some data in Excel that’s pretty out of order. Some text is left-aligned, and some is right-aligned 🤔

I will introduce you to the most straightforward method (step-by-step) to center all this text in Excel at once 😎

And that is, to use the alignment buttons on the Ribbon > Home tab.

Step 1) Select the cell or range of cells you want to center.

Step 2) Go to the Excel ribbon > Home tab > Alignment group > click on the Center-alignment button icon (the four centered horizontal lines).

As soon as you press this button, swish! The text in the selected cells will be aligned in the center of the cell 👩‍🏫

Easy it is. Also, as you continue to add more text to these cells, the alignment won’t change. It will remain center-aligned.

This equally applies to the deletion of text from the cell.

Center text using keyboard shortcut keys

To use the same method as, above but not your cursor, read this section (especially for keyboard enthusiasts) ⌨

Working around your spreadsheet speedily and do not want to waste time reaching out for the cursor to center-align some cells? Do this.

Step 1) Press down the shift key and use the arrow buttons to select the cells where you want to center-align the text.

Down arrow key to select the next cells downwards and right arrow key to select the next cells rightwards ⏬

Step 2) Press the Alt key + H to activate the home tab.

Step 3) Then, press the A key and then the C key (sequentially and not simultaneously).

Pressing the sticky keys Alt > H > A > C in this sequence will center the text in the selected cells.

There you go, keyboard wizards 😊

Center text by indenting it

Unpopular way but you can also center text in Excel by manually indenting it towards the right.

To do so, follow these steps 🚴‍♀️

Step 1) Select the cell containing the text that you want to center.

Step 2) Go to the Home tab > Alignment group, and click on the Increase Indent button (represented by a right arrow passing through four centered lines).

Clicking it once will indent the text in the cell towards the right by one space.

Step 3) Keep clicking this button to indent the text right until you have reached the center of the cell.

Apparently, the text is center aligned 🚶‍♀️

You’d have to do this separately for each cell as the length of text in each cell is different. As the text increases, the text would be placed in the center of the cell with lesser indentation.

The only difference between the indenting and the auto center-alignment method is that with this method if you add more text to this cell, the text won’t center in automatically.

It will continue going to the right of the existing text as the cell is not center-aligned. It is only indented to the center of the cell. So, this method works to center the text visually but not actually 📝

Keeping this difference in mind, choose between the two methods (center alignment or indentation) to center text in Excel.

Center text across multiple cells

An Excel sheet contains 17 billion cells. So why should centering only be about a single cell?

If you want to center a text between multiple cells that looks like this:

There are two ways how you can achieve this 🙌

Center Text by Using Merge and Center

The Merge and Center feature of Excel is used to combine multiple cells into one and center the text within that merged cell 🥂

Let me show you that here.

Step 1) Select the range of cells you want to merge and center the text in.

Step 2) Go to the Home tab > Alignment group > click the Merge & Center button.

Step 3) The selected cells will merge into one large cell, and the text will be centered within it.

This method is simple until here. But if you have data in all cells that you’re merging, Excel will merge them all and retain the data in the upper left cell only 🛡

Center text across selection

Another method to achieve the centering of text across multiple selected cells (but without merging them) is to use the “Center text across selection” feature of Excel.

Step 1) Select the range of cells where you want to center the text across.

Step 2) Go to the Home tab > Alignment group > click on the small arrow at the bottom-right corner to launch the Format Cells dialog box 💪

Step 3) Go to the Alignment tab.

Step 4) Under Horizontal alignment section, select Center Across Selection from the dropdown menu.

Step 5) Click Okay.

This will effectively center the text in the selected cells 📚

However, what must be understood is that the text is only visually centered between Cell B2, C2, and D2.

It still sits in Cell B2 only (check the formula bar) 🧪

As you type any data in say, Cell D2, the text centering will shrink to Cell B2 and C2 only.

Centering data across multiple cells using this method saves you from losing data by merging cells.

Conclusion

This guide must have helped you master the different techniques to center text in single and multiple cells in Excel. Pat yourself on the back for learning the basic but very essential tips to create more organized and visually appealing spreadsheets 📅

Though simple knowing such tips and less commonly known methods help you stay on top. To learn similarly exciting Microsoft Excel tips and tricks, hop on to the following Excel blogs by Spreadsheeto.

• How to Combine Rows in Excel (Without Losing Data)
• How to Save a Copy of an Excel File (Original Intact)
• How to Highlight a Row in Excel (All Scenarios Shown)