How to Center Text in Photoshop

The simple, no-frills guide to centering text in Photoshop, for every type of text layer.

Published Categorized as Apps & How-to's, Photoshop

You’re new to Photoshop, and you want to learn how to center text in your designs?

I created my first Photoshop document in 2004, when Photoshop—and the brushes, patterns, and add-ons for it—came on CDs you ordered online or by mail.

That was ages ago, I know, but I still remember how difficult it was to learn the basics. Seemingly simple tasks, like centering text, took me forever to figure out. (And there weren’t that many tutorials back then!)

How to Center Point Text

There are two types of text layers in Photoshop: point text and paragraph text. One is for short, concise titles and headings. The other for long paragraphs and blocks of text, and it gives you more control over the size and shape of the text layer.

To align point text, select the text layer and set the “Text” tool’s align setting to align center. The text will move to the left or the right of the canvas, and you will probably have to use the “Move” tool to put it back into the right place.

Here’s how exactly to do this:

Centering point text in Photoshop

How to Center Paragraph Text

To center paragraph text, select the text layer and set the “Text” tool’s align setting to align center.

Notice that the text will align within the boundaries of the text layer. You can adjust this either by resizing the text layer with the “Move” tool, or by clicking Control + A / Cmd + A to select the layer and centering it horizontally and, if needed, vertically.

I’ve demoed how to do this in the screen capture below:

Centering paragraph text in Photoshop

If you use the align horizontally or align vertically tool—but your paragraph layer isn’t getting centered—check the size of the layer itself.

If you have more free space in the layer boundaries than text, Photoshop aligns to the total amount of space, not the amount of space the text takes up.

Adjusting the size of a paragraph text layer

In Conclusion

In Photoshop, you center text from the “Text” tool’s text align settings. It’s quick and easy. But, once you’ve done it, you usually have to reposition the text layer using the “Move” tool.

Now, you know how! 🙂

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