Kevin I don't disagree one bit, just wanted to provide a workaround for those that would like to left align their images without needing to wait months/years for Atlassian to implement the functionality in the UI.

We moved to Cloud because we were essentially forced due to pricing changes for Server. And while I now like the new editor more than the legacy editor (though I didn't at first), we found so much basic Server functionality was missing, such as image borders (though that has since been added).

I'm still waiting for the ability to do images side by side (not the tiny inline function they added). It's ridiculous that I have to resort to using a table to show a bunch of images, and even then it's not helpful when already in a table because you can't do nested tables on cloud.

Chris it is insanity we cannot do left alignment. The priorities over a Atlassian are clearly based on user voice and not product capability. Nice model for new features but completely misses the point for important features left out of the original deployment. What do you have to do to get it addressed? Walk into their HQ in Sydney until someone decides to listen? Protest outside the building? My gosh it's just beyond the pale. https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-76630

For those looking for another workaround that is easier to use than the layout macro trick that Curtis posted:

1. Download a storage editor plugin such as Source Editor PRO or Storage Format Editor for Confluence FREE.
2. When in view mode (not edit) click the 3 dots on the page to access the storage edit function.
   
3. Search for what you are looking for. You can search for just "center" or more of the string such as <ac:image ac:align="center" ac:layout="center"
   
4. Remove the ac:align and ac:layout attributes completely. The image will default to left alignment without these attributes specified.
5. Save.

Looks like this is now available for images inside tables:

Just click the image inside a Table and alignment options will be displayed.

That doesn't seem to be available on Expands, but it's possible to Align Left by using Keyboard Shortcuts:

1. Click the image to select it
2. On MacOS, hit ⌘ + Shift + L

It doesn't seem like there are shortcuts for Align Center and Right as of right now, but hopefully this helps a few users out.

Note that hovering the cursor over the editor functions will display their shortcut if one exists. Also, hitting ⌘ + / while in Edit mode will display a list of available keyboard shortcuts.

Reference: Confluence Cloud - Keyboard shortcuts and autocomplete

Thanks Curtis, this workaround (although crazy) worked perfectly. My images are now aligned to my liking within the expanding block.

I wanted to share a somewhat ridiculous workaround I found and now use in Jira cloud. I stumbled across this on my own, otherwise I'd give a link to a reference.

1. Add a layouts macro.
2. Paste the image in the layouts macro and select the desired alignment (left/right).
3. Inside the layouts macro, add an expand macro.
4. Copy the image with the desired alignment.
5. Paste the image in the expand macro (note that the previously-selected alignment persists).
6. Copy the expand macro with the image in it.
7. Paste the expand macro in the desired location on the page.

If I know I'm going to be doing this multiple times on a page, I basically leave layouts macro on the page that I use just for this workaround.

Note: Unfortunately, this doesn't work in Jira, as the layouts macro does not exist there. There may be another workaround in Jira for this same behavior.

EDIT: I only edit pages in the new editor now, so I cannot say if/how this will work if you try this with pages that were created by the old editor. Also, why doesn't Atlassian's public instance of Jira support their newest editor?! I had to tweak this comment several times since it doesn't support anything.

I just tried to left-align images in an expanding block and it defaults to centre-aligned. This limitation has stopped me from using what is otherwise a great feature (expanding blocks) to help readers navigate a meaty topic.

Just migrated to Cloud and am extremely disappointed that all my left aligned images within macros are now centered and I cannot get them back to being left-aligned. This is really frustrating.

Hello, are you going to resume this? or are you still gathering interest? it's been more than 3 years since this was raised.

It's very frustrating not being able to align a picture inside a macro when you can do it when it's placed outside.

Absolutely can not believe this is gathering interest... This is a formatting catastrophy!

What's up with Atlassian lately? Do they have employee shortages? Are they in over their heads with the migration from server to cloud? Sure seems so. And never clear communication towards their customers. Really frustrating. If anybody can recommend alternate software to confluence, please hit me up!