Drawing borders

This is, I must admit, a very fun option and totally different from what you get used to when working with Excel. On the other hand, if you are not skilled in formatting the table framework, it can help you to draw the tables in which you will enter the data. This option has not always been in Excel, so I believe that many experienced users do not know that it exists. Below you will find out more about drawing the framework of the table.

If you are positioning on the Home ribbon, in the options group labeled Font you will find an icon that resembles a “window” that is used to format the frame. Clicking on the arrow to the right of the icon will open the menu. From the top there is a multitude of predefined frames (Borders), and on the bottom there are options for drawing, deleting and formatting borders (Draw Borders).

By selecting the Draw Border option, the first thing you will notice is that the mouse pointer has changed and now it resembles a pen. When you click on the edge of a cell with a pen, it will turn into a frame in accordance with the defined style and color. If you want to change the style you can make it a choice from the Line Style menu, and change the color by choosing from the Line Color menu.

The menu also contains the Draw Border Grid option. It serves to draw a frame mesh. Here is also the Erase Border option, which is used to delete the frame. By clicking the Esc button at any time, we can exit the drawing mode… And since in practice these operations are often shifted when you enter drawing mode by clicking Draw Border, if you press SHIFT, you will shortly enter the deletion mode (Erase Border). If you press the CTRL key, you will enter the frame drawing mode. The last option in the More Borders menu is to enter the Format Cells dialog box.

You will agree, it’s not a big philosophy, but significantly facilitates the process of drawing borders.