Format paragraphs

You can align text relative to the bounding boxes of the objects that contain the text in your Microsoft Expression Blend application, for text that is contained in TextBox, TextBlock, or RichTextBox objects. Specifically, you can align text to the left, right, or center, or you can justify the text to the left and right edges of the bounding box that contains the text. For RichTextBox objects, you can set the alignment of individual paragraphs separately, and you can also control the line height and paragraph spacing of text in the objects.

To align text in a TextBox, TextBlock, or RichTextBox object

  1. Select the TextBox, TextBlock, or RichTextBox object that contains the text that you want to align, by using either the Selection tool Cc295348.2ff91340-477e-4efa-a0f7-af20851e4daa(en-us,Expression.40).png or the Direct Selection tool Cc295348.6dd6571f-c116-451d-8dd2-1f88b8406362(en-us,Expression.40).png.

  2. In the Properties panel, under Text, click Paragraph Cc295348.11ff1de9-476e-4280-9af5-13dd9fa5c83c(en-us,Expression.40).png.

  3. Set the Text Alignment Cc295348.30a54e2f-d80a-4657-96d8-62743c3bfb0b(en-us,Expression.40).png the way that you want it.

Note

If you are in text-editing mode for a TextBox or TextBlock object, the Text Alignment option applies to all of the content contained in the object. Press the ESC key to exit text-editing mode and to enable Text Alignment for content selected inside a TextBox or TextBlock object.

To format a paragraph in a RichTextBox object

Note

The RichTextBox object in Microsoft Silverlight does not support modifying line height or paragraph spacing for text in a RichTextBox object.

  1. Select the RichTextBox object that contains the text that you want to format, by using either the Selection tool Cc295348.2ff91340-477e-4efa-a0f7-af20851e4daa(en-us,Expression.40).png or the Direct Selection tool Cc295348.6dd6571f-c116-451d-8dd2-1f88b8406362(en-us,Expression.40).png.

  2. To format individual paragraphs separately in the text object, right-click the object, click Edit Text, and then click to position your cursor anywhere in the paragraph that you want to format. Otherwise, to uniformly format all paragraphs in the object, continue to the next step.

  3. In the Properties panel, under Text, click the Paragraph tab Cc295348.11ff1de9-476e-4280-9af5-13dd9fa5c83c(en-us,Expression.40).png.

    If you are working in a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) project, do one or more of the following:

    • Set the Line Height property Cc295348.1decde9b-acdb-4a0b-bdfb-bc20ae355159(en-us,Expression.40).png as you want to set the amount of space between every pair of lines in the paragraph or paragraphs.

    • Set the Paragraph SpacingBefore**** property Cc295348.ff9d0231-32ec-4d0b-843d-7c7eefdda7bc(en-us,Expression.40).png to set the amount of space that comes before the paragraph or paragraphs.

    • Set the Paragraph Spacing After property Cc295348.f8c165cf-5c19-445b-a360-cdc6230397e2(en-us,Expression.40).png to set the amount of space that follows the paragraph or paragraphs.

    • Set the Text Alignment Cc295348.30a54e2f-d80a-4657-96d8-62743c3bfb0b(en-us,Expression.40).png the way that you want it.

    If you are working in a Silverlight project, set the Text Alignment Cc295348.30a54e2f-d80a-4657-96d8-62743c3bfb0b(en-us,Expression.40).png the way that you want it.

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