InDesign

Align or justify text vertically within a text frame

You can align or distribute lines of text in a frame along its vertical axis to help keep type vertically consistent among frames and their columns.

You can align text to the top, center, or bottom of the frame using each paragraph’s leading and paragraph spacing values. You can also justify text vertically, which evenly spaces lines regardless of their leading and paragraph spacing values.

Bottom vertical alignment (left) and vertical justification (right)

Vertical text alignment and justification is calculated from the baseline positions of each line of text in the frame. Keep the following in mind as you adjust vertical alignment:

  • The top of the frame is defined as the baseline of the first line of top-aligned text. The First Baseline Offset option in the Text Frame Options dialog box affects this value.

  • The bottom of the frame is defined as the baseline of the last line of bottom-aligned text. Footnote text is not justified.

  • When the Align to Baseline Grid option is applied to paragraphs with Top, Center, or Bottom alignment, all lines will be aligned to the baseline grid. With the Justified option, only the first and last lines will be aligned to the baseline grid.

  • If you adjust a text frame’s Top or Bottom Inset values in the Text Frame Options dialog box, you change the location of the first or last baseline, respectively.

  • Vertical justification isn’t applied to text that takes on a non-rectangular shape due to influences such as text frame shape, text wrap, or corner effects. In these cases, top alignment is applied. When a corner effect is applied, vertical justification is possible if you make the text area rectangular by increasing the Inset value in the Text Frame Options dialog box, relative to the Size value in the Corner Options dialog box.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • With the Selection tool, select a text frame.

    • With the Type tool , click in a text frame.

  2. Choose Object > Text Frame Options.
  3. In the Vertical Justification section of the Text Frame Options dialog box, choose one of the following options in the Align menu:

    • To vertically align text down from the top of the frame, choose Top. (This is the default setting.)

    • To center lines of text in the frame, choose Center.

    • To vertically align lines of text up from the bottom of the frame, choose Bottom.

    • To evenly distribute lines of text vertically between the top and bottom of the frame, choose Justify.

  4. If you choose Justify and you want to prevent the leading value from becoming disproportionately larger than the paragraph spacing value, specify a Paragraph Spacing Limit value. The space between paragraphs is expanded up to the value you specify; if the text still doesn’t fill the frame, the space between lines is adjusted until the frame is filled. The paragraph spacing limit value is applied in addition to the Space Before or Space After values entered on the Paragraph panel.
    Paragraph spacing limit set to zero (left) and 1 pica (right)

    Note: Be careful about vertically justifying multi-column text frames. If the last column contains only a few lines, too much white space may appear between the lines.
  5. Click OK.
An easy way to adjust the Paragraph Spacing Limit value is to select Preview, and then click the up or down arrow next to the Paragraph Spacing Limit value until paragraph spacing appears to be balanced with leading.