How to Add a Page Border in Word (One Page or All)

To add a page border in Word, go to Design > Page Borders, choose Box under Setting, pick a style, color and width, choose what to apply it to, and select OK. The part that confuses people is scope. Page borders apply to sections, not individual pages, so putting a border on just the cover or on one page in the middle means using the Apply to list and, sometimes, section breaks. The other common surprise comes at the printer: with the default settings, many office printers cut off the bottom or right edge of the border. A proposal going to a customer is worth thirty seconds in the Options dialog before it prints.

How to Add a Page Border in Word

Where the command is

Page borders live at the right end of the Design tab, in the Page Background group next to Watermark and Page Color.

Set up the border

Microsoft's page border guide walks through the same dialog:

1. Select Design > Page Borders. The Borders and Shading dialog opens on the Page Border tab.
2. Under Setting, choose Box. Shadow and 3-D add depth; Custom lets you pick sides individually.
3. Choose a Style, Color and Width. For business documents, a solid line between 3/4 pt and 1 1/2 pt reads as professional.
4. Use the side buttons around the Preview to turn individual edges on or off.
5. Choose Apply to, then select OK.

Art offers picture borders such as stars and trees. They suit invitations, not quotes or proposals; a single solid line in your brand color looks cleaner.

Not the same as paragraph borders

The Borders button in the Home tab's Paragraph group draws lines around paragraphs or table cells, not the page. Its menu ends with Borders and Shading, which opens the same dialog, but on the Borders tab. Going through the Design tab takes you straight to Page Border.

Top and bottom lines only

For a memo-style page with heavy rules only at the top and bottom, choose Custom, set the style and width, and click only the top and bottom edges in the Preview. To mix styles, say a double line on top and a single line at the bottom, change the style and click the edge again. Starting from Box and switching off the left and right edges gives the same result.

Apply to: Whole Document, Cover Only or One Page

Border on the cover page only

If the cover is the first page, you do not need section breaks. Put the cursor on the cover and set Apply to This section - First page only. Microsoft notes this works for the first page of a document too. A cover from Insert > Cover Page is always placed first, so the same setting puts a border on it.

Border on one page in the middle

To border a single page in the middle, say the pricing summary, that page must be its own section. Insert Layout > Breaks > Next Page at the start of that page and at the start of the page after it. A plain page break (Ctrl+Enter) does not create a section and will not work.

Then click on that page, open Page Borders and set Apply to This section. To confirm the section breaks are there, open the Page Setup dialog from the Layout tab: if its Apply to list offers "This section", the document has more than one.

New sections also split headers and footers. They stay linked to the previous section by default, but check them after adding breaks.

👉 Headers and Footers in Word: First Page and Sections

When the Border Gets Cut Off in Printing

Select Options in the Borders and Shading dialog to control placement:

• Measure from: Edge of page (the default) or Text.
• Margin: top, bottom, left and right distance in points, up to a maximum of 31 pt.

By default the border sits 24 pt (one third of an inch) from the edge of the paper. Many office printers cannot print that close to the edge, so the bottom or right line comes out broken or missing. Two fixes:

1. Set Measure from to Text with a distance of about 4–10 pt. The border moves in toward the text, inside the printable area.
2. Keep Edge of page but increase the distance to 31 pt.

With Measure from set to Text, the dialog also offers check boxes to surround the header and footer. Turn them on if the document number or page number appears to sit outside the border.

If the border feels cramped against the text, widen the page margins rather than shrinking the gap: Layout > Margins offers presets, and Custom Margins takes exact values.

Remove a Page Border, and Borders That Won't Show

Remove it

Microsoft's steps to remove a page border are short: open Design > Page Borders, choose None under Setting, set Apply to the range you want cleared, and select OK. To remove just one side, click that edge in the Preview. If a few pages keep their border, those pages are in a different section: click on one, choose None and This section. Draft view shows section breaks as labeled dotted lines.

Border doesn't appear

Page borders only show in Print Layout. Draft and Web Layout do not draw them, so if a border you added seems missing, switch back on the View tab.

Page Color is something else

Design > Page Color fills the whole page background. It shows on screen but does not print by default; printing it requires File > Options > Display > Print background colors and images. If you only want an outline, leave Page Color at No Color.

Worked Example: A Supply Proposal for a Retail Customer

The sales team at Ridgeline Manufacturing is finishing a private label packaging proposal for Brightway Retail. The document runs: cover, two pages of company background, four pages of product specifications, a one-page pricing summary and two pages of delivery terms. The sales manager wants a navy border, matching the logo, on the cover and the pricing summary only.

1. Cover first. With the cursor on the cover, Design > Page Borders: Box, solid line, 1 1/2 pt, navy, Apply to This section - First page only.
2. Isolate the pricing page. Insert Next Page section breaks at the start of the pricing summary and at the start of the delivery terms, replacing the page breaks that were there.
3. Border the pricing page. Click on it and apply the same border with Apply to This section.
4. Prevent printer clipping. In Options for both, set Measure from to Text at 8 pt. A test print on the office copier shows all four sides.
5. Check headers. The new sections still carry the proposal header and page numbers; a pass through Print Preview confirms it.
6. Save as PDF and check again. Only the cover and pricing summary have borders.

Step 2 is where it goes wrong. With only page breaks, "This section" means the whole document, and every page gets a border. Trying to fix that with None and Whole document removes the cover border too. Break the sections first, then apply borders.

Word for Mac and the Web

On Windows, Microsoft 365, Word 2024, Word 2021 and Word 2019 have the same Design tab command and dialog. Word for Mac has Page Borders on the Design tab with the same Apply to list and Options. According to Microsoft, Word for the web cannot add or edit borders, but it keeps borders added in the desktop app; use Open in Desktop App to change them.

FAQ

Q. Where is the page border option in Word?

On the Design tab, in the Page Background group, select Page Borders. Older versions placed it on the Page Layout tab.

Q. How do I put a border on only the first page?

Click on the first page, open Page Borders and set Apply to This section - First page only. No section break is needed.

Q. Why is the bottom border missing when I print?

The printer cannot print that close to the paper edge. In Page Borders > Options, measure from Text, or increase the distance from the page edge to 31 pt.

Q. Why won't the page border go away?

The remaining pages are in another section. Click on one of them, choose None and This section.

Document Formatting with inline AI

Adding your company border to the cover and summary pages of every proposal, splitting sections and setting print-safe margins is work inline AI takes on. inline AI edits each Word document directly to your formatting standard for borders, margins and headers, and applies the same standard to the next document.