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# INFO: Text Alignment in Single Line Edit Controls

PSS ID Number: 108940

Article Last Modified on 7/12/2000

The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK)
- Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.1

This article was previously published under Q108940

## SUMMARY

Text in single line edit controls cannot be centered or right-aligned (right-justified). Text in single line edit controls is left-aligned (left-justified) by default. This is by product design, and therefore specifying the ES_RIGHT or ES_CENTER style while creating the single line edit control does not have any effect on the text alignment.

## MORE INFORMATION

Windows does not allow text to be centered or right-aligned in a single line edit control. However, an easy way to work around this problem is to create a multiline edit control that is the same size as a single line edit control. For additional information on how to calculate the height of the edit control, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

124315 HOWTO: Calculate the Height of Edit Control to Resize It

Text in a multiline edit control can be centered or right/left aligned. Note that the multiline edit control should be created without the WS_VSCROLL or ES_AUTOVSCROLL style.
While single line edit controls may support text alignment in a future release of Windows, Windows 3.x applications must use multiline edit controls to achieve the same effect.

Keywords: kbCtrl kbEditCtrl kbinfo KB108940
Technology: kbAudDeveloper kbSDKSearch kbWin32SDKSearch kbWin32sSearch kbWin3xSearch kbWinSDK310 kbWinSDKSearch