Setting Vertical Alignment

Excel provides several different ways you can align information from top to bottom (vertically) within a cell. You set the alignment by first selecting the cells you want to format and then displaying the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.) To display the dialog box in versions of Excel prior to Excel 2007, choose Cells from the Format menu. If you are using Excel 2007, display the Home tab of the ribbon and click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Alignment group.

On the Alignment tab, use the Vertical drop-down list to make your selection. There are four different alignment options available in Excel 97 and Excel 2000, and five in later versions of Excel:

• Top. The information in the cell is situated such that the top line of text appears at the top of the cell.
• Center. Information is centered half-way between the top and bottom borders of the cell.
• Bottom. This is the default vertical alignment. Information is aligned at the bottom of the cell.
• Justify. Text is spread evenly throughout the cell. The information within the cell is wrapped within the column (if necessary), and the row height is adjusted so that all lines fit within the cell and so all information reaches both the top and bottom borders of the cell. Column width is not affected at all.
• Distributed. This option is available in Excel 2002 or later versions. When selected, text is spread evenly between the top of the cell and the bottom. Effectively, blank space is placed between each line so that the complete cell is filled.