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How to Use Distributed Alignment in Word

Tap a step to see how it works.

  1. Select the text to align

    Select the short line of text whose letter spacing you want to stretch evenly.

  2. Find the alignment icon in the Paragraph group

    In the Home tab's Paragraph group, click the small arrow next to the alignment icon.

  3. Choose Distributed

    Click Distributed among the alignment options.

  4. Check the result

    The spacing between characters automatically expands so the text fills evenly out to both margins.

  5. Why this helps

    It's useful when you want a short title or cover-page phrase to visually fill the entire width of the document in a clean, deliberate way.

Stretch a short title across the full page width

If a short phrase on a cover or title page looks lopsided sitting off to one side, distributed alignment automatically expands the letter spacing so the text fills the full width of the document evenly.

Compare it with tab leaders

It's also worth learning how tab stops with leader characters work, since that's another way to control spacing precisely β€” useful for things like a table of contents where dots or dashes fill the gap between a title and a page number.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can distributed alignment be applied to a long paragraph too?

Technically yes, but applying it to a long paragraph tends to create unnaturally wide gaps between characters, so it's best reserved for short titles or phrases.

How do I undo distributed alignment?

Choosing a different alignment option, such as left-align or center, from the same alignment menu removes the distributed effect.