Adding Custom Page Border Art

Theresa notes that on the Design tab of the ribbon she can choose to add a page border to her document. There is even an Art setting that allows a wide selection of graphics to be used for the border. Theresa wonders if there is a way to add to the art options. She would like to create a page border that uses her company logo in the same way these art options are usable.

The short answer is that there is no way to do this. Word doesn't allow the addition of custom art to the built-in collection that is accessible through the Art setting.

That means the only solution is to devise a workaround. The classic solution is to use a graphics program to create an image that covers the page area with the border you want. For instance, if you have a small logo and you want it to appear a half-inch from all sides of your page, you could create an image that is 7.5" x 10" and then repeat the logo around the entire edge of the image. Save it out using a format such as PNG or JPG.

Next, go into the header or footer of your Word document and place the image there. Then, use the sizing and positioning controls within Word to make sure the image is 0.5 inches from the top and left sides of the page. You can then remove text wrapping for the image and instruct that it be placed behind text.

By placing the image in the header or footer, it ensures that your "border" appears on every page of your document. The drawback is that it may make it more difficult to place other information in your header or footer, in addition to the image.

Of course, using this workaround will take some trial and error to get things right. You'll also want to print a couple of times during your testing to make sure that you get satisfactory results on the printout.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1850) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.