How to Center a Title in Excel Across Multiple Cells

One way to create professional-looking spreadsheets is to ensure that titles and headers are centered properly. Even a chart title should be centered. In this article, we will explore how to center a title in Excel using various techniques and formatting options.

Don't forget to check out my article on visually appealing tables for more tips on making your spreadsheets look more professional.

Center a Title in Excel

There are two main ways that you can center a title in Excel.

Merge and Center

In this method, you are simply selecting a range of cells (typically this will be the number of cells across your table or data) and merging them into a single cell and then centering your title within that cell. To center a title in an Excel spreadsheet and merge cells, use the following steps:

1. Select the range of cells where you want to center the title. The text you want centered should be typed into one of the selected cells.
2. Go to the “Home” tab in the Excel ribbon.
3. In the Alignment group, click on “Merge & Center”. This will merge the selected cells together and center the text

PRO TIP: It is important to note that if you use this method, you will not be able to sort a dataset that has merged cells. All merged cells must be unmerged before sorting raw data. This typically isn't an issue with titles because they are located at the top of your data, but it's good to be aware of this. Furthermore, data formatted as an Excel Table can not be sorted. You must remove the Table formatting.

What if you want to unmerge the cells? That's simple, you'll do the exact same thing again, with a small change.

1. Select the single merged cell that you want to unmerge.
2. Go to the “Home” tab in the Excel ribbon.
3. In the Alignment section, use the drop-down menu where the “Merge & Center and choose “Unmerge Cells”. This will unmerge the cells. Your text will be in the original cell is was typed into and the cell alignment will still be centered (vs the default left alignment).

Center Across Selection

you can center a title without merging cells by using the “Center Across Selection” option. This option allows you to center the title across multiple cells without actually merging them.

When working with titles or headers in an Excel spreadsheet, you may want to center them across a range of cells without merging the cells together. This can be particularly useful when you want to maintain the flexibility of individual cells while still achieving a visually pleasing centering effect for your title.

To center a title without merging cells, follow these steps:

1. Select the range of cells where you want to center the title. The text you want centered should be typed into one of the selected cells.
2. Go to the “Home” tab in the Excel ribbon.
3. In the Alignment group, click on the “Alignment Settings” (Small box with arrow pointed down and to the right). This will open the “Format Cells” dialogue box (or sometimes called the formatting toolbar).
4. Click on the “Alignment” tab.
5. In the “Horizontal Alignment” section, choose the “Center Across Selection” option.
6. Click the “OK” button to apply the changes.

There is another method to center a title in Excel using the Center Across Selection which is a bit quicker:

1. Select the range of cells where you want to center the title. The text you want centered should be typed into one of the selected cells.
2. Right click with your mouse.
3. Select “Format Cells” from the options menu
4. In the “Horizontal Alignment” section, choose the “Center Across Selection” option.
5. Click the “OK” button to apply the changes.

By using the “Center Across Selection” option, the text of the title will span across the selected range of cells, appearing centered without actually merging the cells together. This provides the advantage of maintaining the individuality of the cells, allowing you to manipulate and edit them separately if needed. This great way also allows you to sort data whereas the merging title cells way does not.

If you want to remove the center across alignment, these simple steps are nearly identical to centering a title in Excel:

1. Select the range of cells where you have the title centered.
2. Go to the “Home” tab in the Excel ribbon.
3. In the Alignment group, click on the “Alignment Settings” (Small box with arrow pointed down and to the right). This will open the “Format Cells” dialogue box (again, this is sometimes called the formatting toolbar).
4. Click on the “Alignment” tab.
5. In the “Horizontal Alignment” section, choose the “General” option. This will remove the across center formatting and the your title will show in the original cell it was entered into with the default alignment (left aligned).

Center Align Text Within a Cell

If you have a single large cell where the text is quite a bit smaller than the cell, the text may appear at the bottom left corner with is the default location. You can change the cell alignment vertically and horizontally, by clicking the “Middle Align” button and “Center” button under the “Alignment” group under Home Tab. This will move to the text to the center of the cell.

Center a Title in a Chart

Centering a title within an Excel chart is just as important as with a table. The following steps outline how to do this easily:

1. Click on the chart you want to center the title on. This will activate the Chart Tools contextual tab in the Excel ribbon.
2. In the Chart Tools contextual tab, click on the “Chart Elements” button (plus icon) typically located at the upper-right corner of the chart.
3. From the dropdown menu that appears, click on the “Chart Title” option. This will add the title to your chart, typically above or beside it, depending on the chart type.
4. When the chart title appears, it will be placed at the top center of the chart.
5. Adjust Title Position (Optional): You might need to adjust the position of the title within the chart area. Click and drag the text box to the desired location within the chart.
6. Fine-Tune Formatting (Optional): Use additional formatting options in the Format tab to adjust font size, font color, background color, and other aspects of the title to match your chart's design.

Get Centered

There you have it! Centering titles in Excel spreadsheets is a simple yet important task to create well-organized and visually appealing documents. By using the alignment tab and format cells dialog box in the Merge and Center method, you can easily center titles and headers. Remember that if you choose this method, you will not be able to sort any merged cells.

With these techniques, you can enhance the overall presentation of an Excel table, an Excel chart, a sales sheet, a budget template, or any other spreadsheet for a more professional and easy read. Happy centering!