How to Add Cell Borders Inside and Outside in Excel (5 Methods)

Suppose we have a dataset of some Student’s Name, ID, and specific Departments. Let’s add borders inside and outside the cells using Excel’s built-in features.

Method 1 – Using Format Cells Feature

Format Cell feature is mostly used to add beautification to a report by changing and adding various formats.

Step 1:

• Choose all the cells to which you want to add borders. Here, select cells B4:E11.
• While the cells are selected, press Ctrl+1 to open the “Format Cells” window.

• Select “Outline” from the “Border” options.
• Click OK to continue.

We have successfully added outline borders to our chosen cells.

Step 2:

Now let’s add borders inside the cells.

• Select cells B4:E11 and click Ctrl+1.

A new dialog box will appear named “Format Cells”.

• Select “Inside” from the “Border” options and click OK.

Inside borders are added to all the cells.

Read More: How to Insert Border in Excel

Method 2 – Using Border Options

Step 1:

• Select cells B4:E11 and click the “Border” icon from the Home ribbon.

• From the drop-down list, select “Outside Borders”.

An outline border will be created on the outside of the chosen cells.

Step 2:

Now we add inside borders using the border icon.

• Follow the process in Step 1, but this time choose “All Borders” from the list.

All of our selected cells have borders inside and outside added.

Read More: How to Apply All Borders in Excel

Method 3 – Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Steps:

• Select cells B4:E11.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+& to add borders outside cells.
• Alternatively, press Alt+H+B+S.

Borders outside cells are added.

• Press Alt+H+B+A to create borders inside cells.

All the cells now have borders inside and outside.

Read More: How to Apply Top and Bottom Border in Excel

Method 4 – Drawing Borders Manually

Steps:

• Click the “Border” icon in the Home tab and press “Draw Border”.

• Select cells B4:E11.

• Press Esc and an outside border is drawn around the chosen cells.

• To draw borders inside cells, click “Draw Border Grid”.

A “Pen” icon will appear.

• Select the cells manually to draw borders inside their cells.

We have successfully drawn borders inside and outside cells.

Read More: How to Apply Bottom Double Border in Excel

Method 5 – Using VBA Code

Steps:

• Press Alt+F11 to open the “Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications” window.

• Select “Module” from the “Insert” option.

• In the new module that opens, enter the following code and press the “Run” icon to run it:

Sub outside_borders()
Dim rng As Long
rng = Range("B" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
Range("B4:E" & rng).BorderAround LineStyle:=xlContinuous
End Sub

A new border will be created outside the selected range.

• To add borders inside the cells, enter the following code in the module:

Sub inside_borders()
Dim rng As Long
rng = Range("B" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
Range("B4:E" & rng).Borders.Weight = xlThin
End Sub

• Click the “Run” icon.

We have added borders inside the cell.

Things to Remember

• You can also change the color and style of the borders from the “Format Cells” feature.

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