Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Adding Vertical Lines Between Columns.

Adding Vertical Lines between Columns

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 14, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

As you already know, Word allows you to add columns to your page layout. As part of your page layout, you may decide to add vertical lines between each column on your page. To do this, follow these steps:

Position the insertion point at the beginning of the material you want to appear in columns.
Display the Page Layout (Layout if you are using Word 2016 or a later version) tab of the ribbon.
Click the Columns tool and then click More Columns. Word displays the Columns dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Columns dialog box.

Specify the number of columns desired, as you normally would. (You need to specify at least 2 columns, but if you are already using 2 or more columns in your layout and you don't want to change the number of columns, leave this setting unchanged.)
In the Apply To box, select whether you want this change to apply to the whole document or just the current section of the document (if you have multiple sections in your document). Alternatively, you can choose This Point Forward, which causes Word to apply columns beginning where the insertion point is located.
Click on the Line Between check box. (The check box is available only if you choose two or more columns.)
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8877) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Adding Vertical Lines Between Columns.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is eight minus 5?

2019-10-29 15:59:32

Janis Boyd

Unless you specifically want to use newspaper columns I think using tables offers far superior control of formatting columns.

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