How to Add a Page or Text Border in Microsoft Word

Adding borders to your Word documents can help enhance their visual appeal and make important text stand out. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps for adding page borders as well as text borders in Word.

Benefits of Using Borders

Here are some of the key benefits of using borders in Word:

• Draw attention – Borders are an easy way to highlight key sections or text that you want readers to focus on. The border frames the content, making it more prominent on the page.
• Improve organization – Borders can help separate different parts of your document visually. This makes it easier for readers to navigate and digest the information.
• Enhance visual interest – Creative borders with custom styles, colors, widths, and designs can give your document a more polished, professional look.

Add a Page Border

Adding a border around the entire page is straightforward in Word. Here are the steps:

1. Open your Word document and select the page you want to add a border to.
2. On the Design tab, click Page Borders.
3. In the Borders and Shading dialog box, select the border style, color, width, and art option you want under Settings.
4. Under Apply to, choose Whole document to add the border to all pages or This section to only add it to the currently selected page.
5. Click OK when you are done.

You can customize options like the distance from the edge of the page and which pages to apply borders to under the Options and Apply to sections.

Add a Border Around Text

To add a border around specific text or paragraphs, use these steps:

1. Select the text you want to border. You can select a word, sentence, paragraph or multiple paragraphs.
2. On the Home tab, click the Borders drop-down menu.
3. Choose a border style from the menu. Select Borders and Shading at the bottom for more customization options.
4. In the dialog box, adjust the settings and click OK.
5. Ensure Text or Paragraph is selected under Apply to.

You can control settings like the line style, color, width, and spacing from text to finely tune the text border.

Border Tips and Ideas

• For a quick pop of color, try a border around the first letter of a section.
• Use borders to frame important quotes, definitions, notes or warnings.
• Double borders (two borders close together) can help even more text stand out.
• Get creative with styles like dots, dashes and graphic borders using clip art.

Conclusion

With this simple guide, you should now feel confident adding borders around pages or text in your Word documents. Experiment with different looks, colors and styles to find options that work well for your content. Borders can take your documents from boring to beautiful!