How to Add Borders in Google Docs (2 Methods)

This guide is a demo of how to add borders in Google Docs. As at the time of writing this guide Google Docs does not offer borders for documents.

This guide offers 2 ways you can walk around this limitation and still be able to add borders in Google Docs.

Option 1: Add Borders by Adding a 1×1 Table

• Open the Google Docs document you want to work on. You can open a Google Docs document from Docs.Google.com or from Google Drive.
• Then from the top of the document, click Insert, point to Table and select just one cell (1×1)

• A one-cell table (1×1) will be inserted into the document. To use the table as a page border, expand the 4 corners.
• To expand the table, move your mouse to each edge. When you place your cursor to an edge it will form something like a cross (highlighted in the image below). To expand that edge, drag the cross down.

• When you finish expanding all the borders your page will look something like this. You have added borders in Google Docs! To read more about how to edit the border – change color, make it bolder, etc read the next steps below…

• To change the color of the border, click the arrow top right of the table border. Then select the first option. The 4 corners or the table border will be selected.

• Then click the Border color icon and select a color. For this example, I will make the border color red.

• You can also change the border width. To do this click the arrow top right of the border and select the entire table again.

• This time around, click the Border width icon and select your preferred width – see the second image below…

• Finally, for this section – to make the borders dashed, click the Border dash icon. Then select your border dash style…

Option 2: Add Borders with Drawing Tool

• Open the Google Docs document you want to work with. Then click Insert, point to Drawing – finally, click + New.

• When the Drawing tool loads, click on the Shape icon and point to Shapes. Finally, select Rectangle – the first shape.

• Your mouse will become a + sign – hold your left mouse button down and draw. The drawing will make a square. After drawing you can expand the borders as you wish.

• To enter texts within the box, double-click within. Then type normally. You can also modify the border size, color or make the border dashed – see the highlighted portion of the image below. When you finish, click Save and Close.

• You have added borders in Google Docs! To resize the borders, click on it.

• When you click on the table, the edges will be highlighted. To expand an edge, point your mouse at the highlighted edge and drag.

That is it – 2 methods to add borders in Google Docs! I hope this Itechguide was helpful. If it was, click on “Yes” beside the “Was this page helpful” question below.

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