To change the alignment of a paragraph, you can click the Align Left, Center, Align Right, or Justify buttons on the Formatting toolbar (the Home tab’s Paragraph group in Word 2007). You can also select Format | Paragraph, click on the Indents And Spacing tab, and choose the desired setting from the Alignment dropdown list. But, when you’re typing up the paragraph you need to align, where are your hands? They’re on the keyboard, of course. Instead of breaking the flow by moving to the mouse to apply alignment settings, you can keep your fingers on the keyboard using the helpful alignment shortcut keys listed in Table A.

Cut out this handy table and keep it next to your desk so you can use these shortcut keys on command.

Table A: Alignment shortcuts

Alignment command	Shortcut key
Align Left	[Ctrl]L
Align Center	[Ctrl]E
Align Right	[Ctrl]R
Justify	[Ctrl]J

Note: On the Mac, use [command] instead of [Ctrl]

Filed under: Microsoft Office Tutor