Adding Borders to Sections and Paragraphs

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Whether you're interested in applying borders to a single word, a paragraph, a section, or a page, you can do it easily by using the Apply To drop-down list in the Borders And Shading dialog box. The tab you choose—Borders or Page Border—depends on the element you want to enclose in a border:

• If you want to create a border around a section in your document, click the Page Border tab. In the Apply To drop-down list on that tab, you'll find what you need to choose section bordering options.
• If you want to add a border around a paragraph, text, or selected cells in your document, click the Borders tab. The Apply To options in that tab will give you the item-specific choices you need to apply borders to portions of text.

Bordering Sections

You might want to create a border around a section when you have specific information you want to highlight or when you want to set a section apart from the regular flow of the text. To create a section border, start by placing the insertion point in the section you want to border. Choose Format, Borders And Shading to display the dialog box, and click the Page Border tab. Next, simply choose all the border effects you want—the border type and line style, color, and width—and then click the Apply To down arrow and select your choice. Depending on the border you're creating (these options are not available for every type of border), you might see the following options:

• Whole document adds a border to every page in your document.
• This Section adds a border only to the pages between the previous section break and the next section break.
• This Section—First Page Only finds the first page after the previous section break and adds a border only to that page.
• This Section—All Except First Page adds a border to all pages in the current section except the first page after the preceding section break.

Simply click the selection you want, and click OK to close the dialog box. The border is added to the section as you selected. If you want to see how the border looks for the entire section, choose File, Print Preview, and click the Multiple Pages button on the Print Preview toolbar and select the number of pages to display. The document appears in multi-page format so that you can see the effect of your border selection. Click Close on the Print Preview toolbar to return to the document window.

Tip - Add write-in spaces with a border

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Here's a great way to add horizontal lines for write-in spaces in your documents. Press Enter to insert a number of blank lines in your document. Then highlight the area to which you want to add horizontal lines and click the Tables And Borders button. Click the Borders down arrow on the Tables And Borders toolbar, and select Inside Horizontal Border from the menu. The lines are added automatically, extending from the left to the right margin, and they're spaced evenly.

Bordering Paragraphs

If you want to create a border around a smaller portion of text, such as a paragraph, selected text, or the cells in a table, you use a different set of choices. Start by selecting the text item you want to create the border around; then choose Format, Borders And Shading. When the dialog box appears, leave the Borders tab selected, make your border choices as usual, and click the Apply To down arrow. Depending on the text you've selected, you might see the following choices:

• Paragraph creates a border around the currently selected paragraph.
• Text adds a border to the highlighted text.
• Cell draws a border around the cells you've selected in the document.
• Table borders the entire table at the insertion point.

Click your selection, and then click OK to close the Borders And Shading dialog box. The border is added to the selection as you specified.