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Text Alignment within Table Cells in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

Learn about text alignment within table cells in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac. You can align content within a table cell horizontally and vertically.


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Product/Version: PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

OS: Mac OS X



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An individual cell within a Table acts just like any other text box as far as its content or even appearance is concerned. Therefore, all text alignment options used for text containers work with Table cells too with a few exceptions. Text alignment options for Table cell content can be found within the Table Layout tab of the Ribbon (highlighted in blue within Figure 1). Look for them in the Alignment group.

Alignment options for Table cell content
Figure 1: Alignment options for Table cell content

Let us explore these options within the Alignment group in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac, as marked in Figure 1 above:

A. Alignment

There are six alignment buttons (highlighted in red within Figure 2) which are responsible for the horizontal and vertical alignment of table cell content.

Text alignment buttons
Figure 2: Text alignment buttons

The top 3 buttons align text horizontally to the left, center, and right of the table cell respectively. The bottom 3 buttons align text vertically to the top, middle, and bottom of the table cell respectively. You can see all these 6 options in Figure 3, below.

Text alignment within table cells when text direction is horizontal
Figure 3: Text alignment within table cells when text direction is horizontal

Do note that the way these buttons affect the text alignment (horizontal or vertical) depends upon the Direction attribute applied to the text, and that's something we discuss next.

B. Direction

Enables you to rotate the text within the table cell. Click the Direction button (highlighted in red within Figure 4) to bring up the Direction drop-down list, as shown in Figure 4.

Text direction drop-down list
Figure 4: Text direction drop-down list

Let us explore the text direction options one by one. Look at the button placed in front of each option to understand how the text will be positioned if you choose that option:

  1. Horizontal: As the name suggests, the text is placed horizontally.
  2. Rotate Clockwise: Text within the table cell will be rotated clockwise (270o).
  3. Rotate Counterclockwise: Text within the table cell will be rotated counterclockwise (90o).
  4. Stacked: Stacks the text in vertical lines.
  5. Text Direction Options: Opens the Format Text dialog box as shown in Figure 5.
  6. Format Text dialog box
    Figure 5: Format Text dialog box

Various Text Layout options (highlighted in red within Figure 5, above) within the Format Text dialog box are the same Alignment and Direction options that you explored earlier on this page. To learn more about these Text Layout options within the Format Text dialog box explore our Text Layout Options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.

C. Margins

This option controls the amount of blank space between the perimeter (edge) and the actual text within the table cell. Click the Margins button (highlighted in red within Figure 6) to bring up the Margin drop-down list, as shown in Figure 6.

Margins drop-down list
Figure 6: Margins drop-down list

Do note that there are four margins: Left, Right, Top, and Bottom and these four can be individually controlled. Let us explore the margin options in the order they appear in the Margins drop-down list:

  1. Normal: Sets Left and Right margins to 0.1" and Top and Bottom margins to 0.05".
  2. None: Sets all margins to 0".
  3. Narrow: Sets all margins to 0.05".
  4. Wide: Sets Left and Right margins to 0.2" and Top and Bottom margins to 0.15".
  5. Custom Margins: Opens the Format Text dialog box as shown in Figure 5, above. Within the Format Text dialog box, locate the Internal Margin section (highlighted in blue within Figure 5, above). This section provides options to tweak the space around the text within the table cell. You'll find four separate boxes to enter values for the internal margins. These are Left, Top, Right, and Bottom. Enter the values or use the up and down arrows to change the margin value in each of these four boxes.

You can see all these 4 margin settings applied to Table Cells in Figure 7, below.

Various margin settings applied to the Table Cells
Figure 7: Various margin settings applied to the Table Cells

Save your presentation often.


See Also:

Table Cells: Text Alignment within Table Cells in PowerPoint (Glossary Page)

Text Alignment within Table Cells in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

You May Also Like: Table Styles in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac | PowerPoint versus Excel: by Kurt Dupont


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