XL2000: Two Methods for Justifying Text

In Microsoft Excel, you can use either of two methods to align (justify) text. This article explains the difference between the two methods.

Method 1: Justify Text Right and Left Within a Cell

This method applies a formatting property. It divides the cell contents into multiple lines of text in the cell, and adjusts the spacing between words so that all lines are as wide as the cell. The appearance of the cell changes, but the actual contents do not change. To use this method, follow these steps.

1. Select the cell or cells that you want to align.
2. On the Format menu, click Cells.
3. Click the Alignment tab.
4. Under Horizontal, click Justify, and then click OK.

NOTE: Clicking Justify automatically wraps the text. More than one line of text must be wrapped to see the justification.

Method 2: Justify Text to Fill a Selected Range

This method uses a command on the Edit menu that actually changes and redistributes the contents of the selected cells.

NOTE: This second method is not covered in Microsoft Excel Help.

To use this method, follow these steps:

1. Select the cells that contain the text that you want to distribute. Include the entire range in which you want the text to appear.
   
   Except for the left column, cells in the range should be blank.
2. On the Edit menu, click Fill, and then click Justify.

Text is entered into the cells in the left column, but flows over into the empty cells to the right.