Middle align text vertically in table cell in Word 2010+

Question

In Microsoft Excel there are a set of buttons that control the vertical alignment of the contents of a cell.

When you use these buttons they change the the vertical alignment without changing the horizontal alignment. They are labeled Top Align, Middle Align, and Bottom Align. In Microsoft Word, though, I don't see those buttons or any way to use those commands. Instead, you have:

If you choose any of the buttons it affects both the horizontal and vertical alignment. Often I format the top row horizontally centered and the other rows left and right. I want to be able to select the entire table and adjust ONLY the vertical alignment (specifically to middle) and leave the horizontal alignments the same.

In addition, if it's possible to adjust only the vertical alignment, I'd like to add the vertical alignment buttons to my ribbon. I believe these buttons were available in Word 1997 and 2000. However, they were labeled "Center vertically" etc.

Answer 1

When this new nine-button palette was introduced in Word 2000 the immediate result was the article at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/CellAlignmentProbs.htm. That was very helpful for Word 2000, 2002, and 2003, and I even managed to retain it into Word 2007 by virtue of having a Normal.dotm based on my Word 2003 Normal.dot.

Unfortunately, there is no longer a Vertical Alignment button available for customizing Word 2010 (Cell Alignment is now used for the nine-button palette), but you can add the individual buttons to the QAT. In the Customize Quick Access Toolbar dialog, select All Commands or Commands Not in the Ribbon and add the buttons for Align Bottom, Align Top, and Center Vertically.

Answer 2

As long as there are no merged cells in the table, running a macro containing the following code will center vertically the text in all of the cells of the table in which the cursor is located without affecting the horizontal alignment:

Dim i As Long, j As Long

With Selection.Tables(1)

    For i = 1 To .Rows.count

        For j = 1 To .Columns.count

            .Cell(i, j).VerticalAlignment = wdCellAlignVerticalCenter

        Next j

    Next i

End With

Answer 3

How would that differ from selecting the entire table and clicking the Center Vertically button you've added to the QAT?

Answer 4

My QAT is more than full already.

Answer 5

But the OP specifically asked how to add these buttons to his QAT.