Formatting table cells in PowerPoint

PowerPoint 365
A convenient way to display data is to present it in a tabular form - in the form of a grid of rows and columns. You can create or insert different types of tables into your PowerPoint slides. You can also apply different formatting to the entire table or a selected area, such as a cell, multiple cells, rows, or columns.

Along with resizing cells, you can change the look of cell contents:


Align text in a table cell

To align the text in one or more cells, select them, then do one of the following:

  • On the Table Layout tab, in the Alignment group:
    Alignment group in PowerPoint 365
    • Choose one of the three horizontal alignments:
      • Align Left button in PowerPoint 365 - Align Left (Ctrl+L),
      • Align Center button in PowerPoint 365 - Center (Ctrl+E),
      • Align Right button in PowerPoint 365 - Align Right (Ctrl+R),
    • Choose one of the three vertical alignments:
      • Align Top button in PowerPoint 365 - Align Top,
      • Align Center Vertically button in PowerPoint 365 - Center Vertically,
      • Align Bottom button in PowerPoint 365 - Align Bottom.
  • Right-click on the selection, then choose Format Shape... in the popup menu:
    Format Shape in table popup menu PowerPoint 365

    On the Format Shape pane, on the Text Options tab, in the Textbox group, from the Vertical alignment dropdown list, choose the option you need:

    Vertical alignment in Format Shape pane PowerPoint 365

For example:

Table text alignment example in PowerPoint 365

Modify text Direction

To change the text direction, select a cell or several cells, then do one of the following:

  • On the Table Layout tab, in the Alignment group, click the Text Direction dropdown list, and choose one of the following options:
    Table text direction in PowerPoint 365
    • Horizontal,
    • Rotate all text 90o,
    • Rotate all text 270o,
    • Stacked,
    • Click More Options... to open the Format Shape pane (see below).
  • Right-click the selection, then choose Format Shape... in the popup menu. On the Format Shape pane, on the Text Options tab, in the Textbox group, from the Text direction dropdown list, choose the option you need:
    Text direction in Format Shape pane PowerPoint 365

For example:

Table text direction example in PowerPoint 365

Change the cell margins

To change the cell spacing, select a cell or several cells, then do one of the following:

  • On the Table Layout tab, in the Alignment group, click the Cell Margins dropdown list, and choose one of the following options:
    Table Cell Margins in PowerPoint 365
    • Normal,
    • None,
    • Narrow,
    • Wide,
    • Click Custom Margins...

      In the Cell Text Layout dialog box, in the Internal margin section, type or select values you prefer:

      Cell Text Layout dialog box in PowerPoint 365
  • Right-click on the selection, then choose Format Shape... in the popup menu. On the Format Shape pane, on the Text Options tab, in the Textbox group, type or select the appropriate values in the Left margin, Right margin, Top margin, and Bottom margin fields:
    Cell Margins in Format Shape pane PowerPoint 365

For example:

Table Cell Margins example in PowerPoint 365

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