How to Add Borders to Textbox in Powerpoint

Highlight important text in PowerPoint presentations with a text box border.

Adding a border to a text box in a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation can draw attention to a key section of text by making it stand out on the PowerPoint slide. PowerPoint includes several text box and shape formatting tools that allow you to add a customized border to text boxes. To add a border to a text box in PowerPoint, use the program’s Shape Styles tool.

Instructions

1. Launch PowerPoint. Click “File” in the main menu, then click “Open” to open the presentation that you want to edit.

2. Scroll to the slide that contains the text box to which you want to add the border.

3. Click the textbox to highlight and select it. Click the “Format” tab on the program’s main menu ribbon.

4. Click “Shape Outline” in the “Shape Styles” group. Select “Weight” from the context menu. Click on your preferred line weight, which is the width of the text border line, in the options list.

5. Click on your preferred border color in the color-picker pane at the top of the context menu. Skip this step if you want to use the automatic setting, which is a black border.

6. Click “File” in the main menu, then click “Save” to store the changes and save the PowerPoint presentation.

Tips & Warnings

• By default, PowerPoint uses a standard solid line for text box borders, but you can also select from a range of border styles; for example, dotted or dashed lines. Select “More Lines” from the “Weight” context menu in step 4 and click on your preferred line style.

References

• Microsoft Office: PowerPoint 2010: Change or Remove a Border from a Text Box or Shape

Resources

• Microsoft Office: PowerPoint 2010 Help and How-To