Microsoft Excel 
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UNDERSTANDING BORDERS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Borders are lines that are placed around the 
edges of individual cells or ranges. The lines may 
be thin, thick, solid, dashed, black or coloured, or 
even double lines. The reason for using borders 
is that the lines can be used to group together data 
or indicate totals, or to draw the user’s attention to 
critical cells that may need special data entry. Here 
are some examples. 
A Worksheet without and with Borders 
Borders can be used to apply a structure. Here’s the same worksheet shown without borders and 
then with borders applied. The use of borders helps to highlight the totals and separate them from 
the other data. 
Border Variations 
Borders can be applied to all four sides of a cell, or to individual sides of a cell. The following 
examples show a cell without a border, with an outside border and a top and double bottom border.