By using predefined border styles, you can quickly add a border around cells or ranges of cells. If predefined cell borders do not meet your needs, you can create a custom border.

Note: Cell borders that you apply appear on printed pages. If you do not use cell borders but want worksheet gridline borders to be visible on printed pages, you can display the gridlines.

Apply a predefined cell border

  1. On a worksheet, select the cell or range of cells that you want to add a border to, change the border style on, or remove a border from.
  2. On the Home tab, in the Font group, do one of the following:
    • To apply a new or different border style, click the arrow next to Borders Button image, and then click a border style.

Tip: To apply a custom border style or a diagonal border, click More Borders. In the Format Cells dialog box, on the Border tab, under Line and Color, click the line style and color that you want. Under Presets and Border, click one or more buttons to indicate the border placement. Two diagonal border buttons Button image   Button image are available under Border.

    • To remove cell borders, click the arrow next to Borders Button image, and then click No Border Button image.
  • The Borders button displays the most recently used border style. You can click the Borders button (not the arrow) to apply that style.
  • If you apply a border to a selected cell, the border is also applied to adjacent cells that share a bordered cell boundary. For example, if you apply a box border to enclose the range B1:C5, the cells D1:D5 acquire a left border.
  • If you apply two different types of borders to a shared cell boundary, the most recently applied border is displayed.
  • A selected range of cells is formatted as a single block of cells. If you apply a right border to the range of cells B1:C5, the border is displayed only on the right edge of the cells C1:C5.
  • If you want to print the same border on cells that are separated by a page break, but the border appears on only one page, you can apply an inside border. This way, you can print a border at the bottom of the last row of one page and use the same border at the top of the first row on the next page. Do the following:
    1. Select the rows on both sides of the page break.
    2. Click the arrow next to Borders Button image, and then click More Borders.
    3. Under Presets, click the Inside button Button image.
    4. Under Border, in the preview diagram, remove the vertical border by clicking it.

Remove a cell border

  1. On a worksheet, select the cell or range of cells that you want to remove a border from.

To cancel a selection of cells, click any cell on the worksheet.

  1. On the Home tab, in the Font group, click the arrow next to Borders Button image, and then click No Border Button image.

--OR--

Click Home > the Borders arrow > Erase Border, and then select the cells with the border you want to erase.