Learn about text alignment within table cells in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac. You can align content within a table cell horizontally and vertically.
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2011 for Mac
OS: Mac OS X
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.
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:
There are six alignment buttons (highlighted in red within Figure 2) which are responsible for the horizontal and vertical alignment of table cell content.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
You can see all these 4 margin settings applied to Table Cells in Figure 7, below.
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
Microsoft and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.