Microsoft has added a Borders toolbar to Excel 2002 that makes creating an outline or grid border on your spreadsheets slick and easy. Read on to find out how this new toolbar can increase your productivity, and learn some shortcuts along the way!
Drawing a Border
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From the View menu, choose Toolbars and Borders OR select the drop-down arrow beside the Borders tool on the Standard toolbar and choose Draw Borders.
| Shortcut: Right-click on anywhere on any toolbar and choose Borders. |
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The Borders toolbar displays as shown below. Note the Erase Border tool - very handy!
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When using the Draw Border tool, you can line the outside of a cell or group of cells OR you can border the cells in a grid fashion. To line the outside, simply choose the Draw Border tool and drag over the area where you want to place an outline. Note that you can also change the Line Style and Line Color before you begin, and you can drag along a single grid line to create a line.
To border with a grid, choose the drop-down arrow beside the Draw Border tool and select Draw Border Grid. Drag over the area to be outlined in the same manner as above.
| Shortcut: The Ctrl key changes the tool to draw a grid - press and hold, then drag. |
Erasing a Border
To erase a border, simply select the Erase Border tool and drag over the area to be erased.| Shortcut: The Shift key changes the tool to erase a border - press and hold, then drag. |
These tools make drawing and deleting an odd-shaped or custom border much easier than in previous versions of Excel. Take advantage of this simple-to-use toolbar and spruce up those spreadsheets!