While creating a document in Word, you may want to place a decorative border around a page. You may also add a border around a specific section on the page. For instance, you may want to highlight a paragraph in the document with a colored border. You may also need to place a border around some cells in a table. Word allows adding such borders easily.
We will show you how to add borders:
- Around a paragraph on a page
- Around some cells in a table
- Around a page
Let us begin.
Method #1: Adding a border around a paragraph
Step #1: Open a document
Open the Word document where you want to add a border around a paragraph.
Select or highlight the paragraph.
Click on the Home tab on the top menu bar to change the ribbon.
Step #2: Open the Borders and Shading dialog
In the Paragraph section, click on the small triangle beside the Borders icon.
This will open the Borders selection.
Click on Borders and Shading at the bottom.
This will open the Borders and Shading dialog.
Step #3: Create a border
In the Borders and Shading dialog, click on the Borders tab.
Under Setting, select the type of border you want. The choices are:
- None: No box, no borders
- Box: A box with simple borders
- Shadow: Borders with a shadow
- 3-D: A box with three-dimensional looks
- Custom: A box with open sides, top, or bottom
Under Style, select the type of line for the border.
Under Color, select the color of the box outline.
Under Width, select the width of the lines making up the borders.
The Preview section shows a preview of the borders based on your choices.
Click on the down arrow under Apply to, and select Paragraph.
Click on Options to change the gap between the borders and the text of the paragraph.
After making the necessary choices, click on Ok to close the dialog.
Word draws a box around the paragraph text.
Method #2: Adding a border around cells in a table
Step #1: Open a document
Open the Word document where you want to add a border around cells in a table.
Select or highlight the cells.
Step #2: Open the Borders and Shading dialog
Click on the small triangle beside the Borders icon.
This will open the Borders selection.
Click on Borders and Shading at the bottom.
This will open the Borders and Shading dialog.
Step #3: Create a border
In the Borders and Shading dialog, click on the Borders tab.
Under Setting, select the type of border you want. The choices are:
- None: No box, no borders
- Box: A box with simple borders
- Shadow: A box with a shadow
- 3-D: A box with three-dimensional looks
- Custom: A box with open sides, top, or bottom
Under Style, select the type of line for the border.
Under Color, select the color of the box outline.
Under Width, select the width of the lines making up the borders.
The Preview section shows a preview of the borders based on your choices.
Click on the down arrow under Apply to, and select Paragraph.
Click on Options to change the gap between the borders and the text of the cells.
After making the necessary choices, click on Ok to close the dialog.
Word draws a box around the selected cells.
Method #3: Adding a border around a page.
Step #1: Open a document
Open the Word document where you want to add a border around a page.
Step #2: Open Borders and Shading dialog
Click on the Design tab on the top menu bar to change the ribbon.
In the Page Background section, click on Page Borders.
This will open the Borders and Shading dialog.
Step #3: Create a border
In the Borders and Shading dialog, click on the Borders tab.
Under Setting, select the type of border you want. The choices are:
- None: No box, no borders
- Box: A box with simple borders
- Shadow: A box with a shadow
- 3-D: A box with three-dimensional looks
- Custom: A box with open sides, top, or bottom
Under Style, select the type of line for the border.
Under Color, select the color of the box outline.
Under Width, select the width of the lines making up the borders.
Under Art, select the images to make up the borders.
The Preview section shows a preview of the borders based on your choices.
Click on the down arrow under Apply to. Word offers four choices:
- Whole document: To apply borders to the entire document
- This section: To apply borders only to a section of the document
- This section – First page only: To apply borders only to the first page of a section
- This section – All except the first page: To apply borders to all pages in the section except the first page.
Click on the choice you want.
Click on Options to change the gap between the borders and the text of the page.
After making the necessary choices, click on Ok to close the dialog.
Word draws a box around a page or pages as per your choice.
Conclusion
Borders can enhance the visual appeal of a page or a paragraph within it can also emphasize the importance of information in a table. Using our methods should allow you to place borders in Word documents very quickly.
Learn to create borders in Google Docs.