Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Adding Page Borders to a Printout.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 5, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Alan uses Excel frequently for creating printouts that are used by others. He likes to include borders on the final documents to give them a professional appearance. Alan knows how to invoke page borders in Word, but there isn't a similar feature in Excel. Lacking this he has resorted to manually inserting borders on cell ranges to get the appearance he wants. This works OK if the printout is a single page, but it isn't too great when Alan has multi-page printouts. He wonders if there is some way to add page borders automatically in Excel.
There are a couple of ways you can approach creating page borders for an Excel printout, but none of them are automatic. One way is to create an image of your border using your favorite graphics program and save it as a JPG, PNG, or TIF file. (You could actually use several other image file formats, but these are ones typically supported by all the graphics programs.) In Excel you can then, within the header, insert the picture of the border. Format the picture to adjust the image size so it covers your whole page.
If you prefer a macro approach to the problem, then you may want to use the solution presented in this message thread:
http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83326
There are also third-party solutions available. One that has come highly recommended by some subscribers over the years is ASAP Utilities (http://www.asap-utilities.com). It allows you to create borders rather easily.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8183) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Adding Page Borders to a Printout.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!
If you want to save paper on a printout, you might consider printing multiple pages on a single piece of paper. This can ...
Discover MoreExcel allows you to print out information in either portrait or landscape orientation, but what if you need both types of ...
Discover MoreIf a worksheet contains nothing but a bunch of values in column A, you may be loathe to print the worksheet and "waste" a ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here:
Comments