I can't justify an existing document (change to justify from alighn left).

Robert C Culp 20 Reputation points
2026-06-08T22:02:23.3466667+00:00

I have a WORD document that ia alighned to the left margin. I want to change it to justified (straight margins on both sides. The process of highlighting the text and selecting justify is not working!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2026-06-09T16:42:35.9+00:00

After Ctrl + Shift + 8 i did find paragraph marks on every line. How do I remove them?

If each text "line" ends with a paragraph mark and each new paragraph is indicated by two paragraph marks, you can use Find & Replace (Ctrl+H). For more, see http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/CleanWebText.htm .

Was this answer helpful?

4 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

1 additional answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. John Jefferson Doyon 88,635 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-06-08T23:06:09.5233333+00:00

    Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

    Just to clarify, does nothing happen when you click Justify, or does the text stay left-aligned even though the Justify button appears selected?

    A common cause is that the document contains a paragraph mark (Enter) at the end of every line instead of normal paragraphs. When that happens, Word cannot fully justify the text because each line is treated as a separate paragraph.

    As a quick test, could you open the same document in Word for the web and see if Justify works there? This will help determine whether the issue is with the document itself or with the desktop Word app.

    Also, please press Ctrl + Shift + 8 to show paragraph marks (¶) and let us know if you see a paragraph mark at the end of every line or any manual line breaks. Those can prevent justification from working as expected.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.