Adding Borders to Document Sections and Paragraphs

Whether you’re interested in applying borders to a single word, paragraph, image, section, or page, you can do it easily by using the Apply To list in the Borders And Shading dialog box. The tab you choose at the top of the dialog box-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 list, you’ll find what you need to specify section bordering options.

• If you want to add a border around a paragraph, text, tables, images, selected table cells, or other elements in your document, click the Borders tab. The Apply To options on that tab will give you choices specific to the item you chose.

Bordering Sections

You might want to create a border for a document section when you have specific information you want to highlight or when you want to set a section apart from the flow of the text. To create a section border, start by placing the insertion point in the section you want to surround with a border. Display the Borders And Shading dialog box and then click the Page Border tab. Next configure the border effects-including the border setting option and line style, color, and width-and then click the Apply To arrow and select the option you need. 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. If the document doesn’t contain any section breaks, the border is applied to every page in the document.

• This Section-First Page Only  Finds the first page of the current section and adds a border only to that page. If you’re working in a document without sections, the first page of your document will contain the border.

• This Section-All Except First Page  Adds a border to all pages in the current section except the first page of the section. If you’re working in a document without section breaks, all pages in the document will have a border except the first page.

To apply a border to a section, simply select the appropriate option from the Apply To list and then click OK. The border is added to the section as you specified. If you want to see how the border looks for the entire section, click the Microsoft Office Button, point to Print, and then click Print Preview. By clicking the Two Pages button in the Zoom group on the Print Preview tab, you can see the effect of your border selection on more than one page in your document. Click Close Print Preview on the Print Preview tab to return to the document window.

Inside Out-Using Border Settings to Add Blank Lines 

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 in the area where you want to create horizontal lines. Then select the blank lines, click the Border button’s arrow, and then click the Inside Horizontal Border option. Evenly spaced lines are added automatically, extending from the left to the right margin.