Hi there,



Every time I create a new table in Word 2010, the text alignment in each cell defaults to justified. If I select each cell and change the alignment to left (which is what I'd like to be the default), the alignment switches back to justified if I add bullets to any given cell.

Is this the way things are supposed to work? Is there any way to switch the default text alignment?

Thanks,

jjmclell

Hi
Take a look at this link.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/wo...aspx?section=5
Good luck.
Tony

Thanks for the link. Went through the tutorial and didn't find anything that suggested I could change the default behaviour.

I just find it annoying b/c I'm not a fan of justified text to begin with but I guess it's just something I'll have to live with.

jjmclell

Hi jjmclell,

The text justification is caused by the attributes of whatever paragraph Styles are being used in the cells concerned. If you don't like it, choose a different paragraph Style - one that doesn't use justification.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Hey macropod,

I've definitely played around with the paragraph styles. My default Normal style doesn't have justification in it for text outside of tables, yet it does for text within tables. Is there a separate set of styles for tables?

jjmclell

By default, whatever Style or paragraph format applies to the paragraph that is selected when you insert a table defines the formatting for the table. So, if a cntred. bold paragraph was selected, that's what the table will have.

And yes, Word 2010 allows tables to have their own Table Styles. These are accessible via Table Tools|Design, but those don't affect the underlying paragraph formatting.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Well, I must have done something to screw things up b/c I can open a new document with paragraph styles defaulting to left alignment and without changing anything, insert a table and have the alignment be justified within the table.

Even when I view the Normal style settings within the table (using modify style...) it shows the style is defined with left alignment, yet anything I type in the cell is justified. It's a total contradiction of the Normal style...

I'm getting the feeling that I'm alone with this problem...

jjmclell

Haha!! Fixed it!!!! There are separate paragraph styles for tables! In Tables/Design, I right clicked the design of the table and selected Modify Table Style. Within this dialogue box, there's a Format drop-down box in the bottom left corner...within there, selected paragraph and changed it to left and applied to all new documents.

Problem resolved!!

jjmclell