Aligning Text in Cells
When you enter data into an Excel worksheet, that data is aligned automatically. Text is aligned on the left, and numbers are aligned on the right. Both text and numbers are initially set at the bottom of the cells. However, you can change both the vertical and the horizontal alignment of data in your cells.
Follow these steps to change the alignment:
Select the cell or range you want to align. If you want to center a title or other text over a range of cells, select the entire range of blank cells in which you want the text centered, including the cell that contains the text you want to center.
Click the Alignment tab. The alignment options appear in front (see Figure 18.4).
Figure 18.4. The Alignment options.
Choose from the following options and option groups to set the alignment:
Horizontal lets you specify a left/right alignment in the cell(s). (The Center Across selection centers a title or other text within a range of cells.)
Vertical lets you specify how you want the text aligned in relation to the top and bottom of the cell(s).
Orientation lets you flip the text sideways or print it from top to bottom (instead of left to right). This option is new to Excel 97.
Wrap Text tells Excel to wrap long lines of text within a cell without changing the width of cell. (Normally, Excel displays all text in a cell on one line.)
Shrink to Fit shrinks the text to fit within the cell's current width. If the cell's width is adjusted, the text increases or decreases in size accordingly.
Merge Cells combines several cells into a single cell. All data is overlaid, except for the cell in the upper-left corner of the selected cells.
Click OK or press Enter.
Note
A quick way to align text and numbers is to use the alignment buttons in the Formatting toolbar. The following buttons enable you to align the text:
 | Align Left |  | Align Right |
 | Center |  | Merge and Center |
New to Excel 97 is the capability to indent your text within a cell. If you're typing a paragraph worth of information into a single cell, you can indent that paragraph by selecting left alignment from the Horizontal list box in the Format Cells dialog box (as explained earlier). After selecting left alignment, set the amount of indent you want with the Indent spin box.
In addition, you can add an indent quickly by clicking the following buttons on the Formatting toolbar:
 | Decrease Indent | Removes an indent or creates a negative indent. |
 | Increase Indent | Adds an indent. |
In this lesson, you learned how to customize your text formatting to achieve the look you want. In the next lesson, you will learn how to add borders and shading to your worksheet.