Adding Borders to Cells

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 30, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Excel allows you to quickly and easily add different types of borders to your individual cells and ranges of cells in your spreadsheet. You can use a number of different line types for your border. To add borders to cells, follow these steps:
  1. Select the cell or range of cells that you want bordered.
  2. Select the Cells option from the Format menu. You will see the Format Cells dialog box.
  3. Click on the Border tab. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Border tab of the Format Cells dialog box.

  4. In the Border section of the dialog box, select where you want the border applied. (Outline will surround the entire cell or cell range.)
  5. Select a line type from the Style area.
  6. Click on OK.
Another way to add borders around cells is to use the Borders tool on the toolbar. You can use this tool by following these steps:
  1. Select the cell or range of cells that you want bordered.
  2. If the type of border you want applied appears on the Borders tool, click on it and you are finished. (If not, proceed with the remaining steps.)
  3. Click on the downward-pointing triangle at the right side of the Borders tool. A drop-down palette of border types is displayed.
  4. Select the border you want applied to each cell in the range. You can outline the range by selecting the outline border, which is at the bottom-right position on the border palette.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2663) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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