# Native option to vertically center cards in Anki Desktop **URL:** \ **Category:** Suggestions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/native-option-to-vertically-center-cards-in-anki-desktop/45651 "2024-06-05T16:03:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![camoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@camoz](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/camoz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/native-option-to-vertically-center-cards-in-anki-desktop/45651/1 "2024-06-05T16:03:05Z")
Hi, I was wondering why, in Anki Desktop, there is no “center vertically” option in the Preferences-\>Appearance menu, like it is on AnkiDroid? What do the developers think about including one? I think aiming for feature parity is a good thing, and from what I see it’s not uncommon that users want to center their cards. (I know that it’s possible to achieve this via custom CSS.) Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![BrayanDSO](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/brayandso/32/12323_2.png) [@BrayanDSO](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/BrayanDSO)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/native-option-to-vertically-center-cards-in-anki-desktop/45651/2 "2024-06-05T16:16:29Z")
As a note, the tendency is to remove that from AnkiDroid as well. Ideally, there should be the possibility of using HTML/CSS/Js cross-platform add-ons, which would solve that problem. ---
**Author:** ![anon26589880](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@anon26589880](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/anon26589880)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 12:04pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/native-option-to-vertically-center-cards-in-anki-desktop/45651/3 "2026-06-13T12:04:37Z")
> [@BrayanDSO](#): > > As a note, the tendency is to remove that from AnkiDroid as well. Why? Is it a problem? Are people asking for its removal although they can just not choose it? I just created a thread asking for its return. I guess I’m bound to never update AnkiDroid then. ---
**Author:** ![ZornHadNoChoice](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/zornhadnochoice/32/28874_2.png) [@ZornHadNoChoice](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/ZornHadNoChoice)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/native-option-to-vertically-center-cards-in-anki-desktop/45651/4 "2026-06-13T14:01:52Z")
AnkiDroid is trying to match the desktop version as much as possible, when it makes sense to do so. More features means more potential bugs, more maintenance for the devs, and more confusion for the users. In any case, vertically center aligning is just a bad option for flashcards. Don’t you find it annoying that the words keep moving and you can’t quickly find the beginning of the answer? If a user really wants that inconvenience, they can edit the styling like [I shared in your other post](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/new-study-screen-center-align-setting-no-longer-available/70089/2). ---
**Author:** ![anon26589880](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@anon26589880](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/anon26589880)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/native-option-to-vertically-center-cards-in-anki-desktop/45651/5 "2026-06-13T14:52:15Z")
> [@ZornHadNoChoice](#): > > Don’t you find it annoying that the words keep moving and you can’t quickly find the beginning of the answer? If the cards are properly designed, the problem doesn’t occur. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![camoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@camoz](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/camoz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/native-option-to-vertically-center-cards-in-anki-desktop/45651/6 "2026-06-13T15:04:19Z")
> [@ZornHadNoChoice](#): > > AnkiDroid is trying to match the desktop version as much as possible, when it makes sense to do so. > > More features means more potential bugs, more maintenance for the devs, and more confusion for the users. Yes, I think this is very important to keep in mind, and is often overlooked. Especially for an open source project like Anki, where maintainer and developer resources are often scarce. > [@ZornHadNoChoice](#): > > In any case, vertically center aligning is just a bad option for flashcards. Don’t you find it annoying that the words keep moving and you can’t quickly find the beginning of the answer? > > If a user really wants that inconvenience, they can edit the styling like [I shared in your other post](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/new-study-screen-center-align-setting-no-longer-available/70089/2). As long as there is some way to configure it, I personally I’m fine with it. If too many people are complaining however, it might be worth considering keeping/re-introducing the option. The question content changing its position when displaying the answer is a good point and IMO annoying. However, having Anki Desktop on a 24"/27"/32" inch monitor displaying a card as basically a blank page with a 1-2 line question at the top and then the answer buttons at the bottom is also not optimal IMO. (One could downsize the Anki window to avoid that, but as I have some content heavy cards, I like to keep it maximized.) One solution could be to vertically center the final content, i.e. question + answer. Then, the question before showing the answer would not be completely centered, but it won’t move when displaying the answer, I think. Another argument for having content top-aligned by default, i.e. not vertically centered, is that the content of a new card will always start at the same position, i.e. the top of the screen.