How to Add Thick Box Border in Excel (3 Quick Ways)

When dealing with complex data in Excel, reading can be challenging. To enhance clarity, add borders to differentiate and focus on specific data in your dataset. Excel offers features to insert thick box borders, making your worksheet more representative and visually appealing.

In this Excel tutorial, you will learn to apply thick box border. Also, the process of creating a custom thick box border style in Excel to get rid of the repetitive steps of adding borders to multiple ranges.

The image shows data on the left without a border and on the right with a thick box border, including student names and departments.

What Is Border Thickness in Excel?

In Excel, border thickness refers to the boldness or width of lines outlining cells. It is a visual formatting feature that allows you to control the visibility of cell borders. Adjusting border thickness is a simple yet effective way to enhance the overall appearance of tables and improve data presentation. You can adjust border thickness in the Format Cells menu to customize the appearance of their spreadsheets.

3 Ways to Add Thick Box Border in Excel

You will learn to apply thick box border in 3 distinct methods: using Format Cells, built-in Border option and Line Style from Draw Border group. The following set of data contains the names of several students, their respective departments, student IDs, and the scores they achieved in an examination. We will use it in the whole article.

Note: We have used the Microsoft 365 version. You can use any other version at your convenience.

Using Format Cells Dialog Box

You can apply thick box border of different thicknesses using the Format Cells dialog box. Follow the steps below:

1. Select the data range.
2. Go to the Home tab > Font group > Font Settings dialog box launcher.
   Or, you can use the CTRL + SHIFT + F to open the Font Settings.Format Cells dialog box will pop out.
3. In the Format Cells dialog box:
   • Select Border > Line > Style > choose the thick line.
   • Go to Presets section and click Outside Border Outline.
   • Ensure the outline and then hit OK.

   

As a result, your outside cell borders will be created, just like in the snapshot below.

Note: You can press Ctrl+1 together to open the Format Cells dialog box.

Read More: How to Insert Border in Excel

Using Built-in Border Option

To insert thick box border, use the Thick Outside Borders feature of the Border drop-down. Follow the steps below:

1. Select the range of cells where you want to put the border.
2. Go to the Home tab > Font group > Border drop-down > choose Thick Outside Border.
   

You will get the following output in your worksheet.

Note: You can use the keyboard shortcut to apply thick box border. Select the range and use the keys ALT + H + B + T one by one serially.

Read More: How to Apply All Borders in Excel

Using Line Style from Draw Borders

You can use the Line Style from the Draw Borders group to apply thick box border. This efficient method allows you to add borders to multiple ranges simultaneously, saving you time. Follow the steps below:

1. Go to the Home tab > Border drop-down > Draw Borders group.
2. Click on the Line Style Select the thick border style.Excel switches to the Draw Border mode automatically, and the cursor becomes a pen.
3. Take the mouse pointer to the range of cells where you want to apply the border.
4. Click on the mouse, hold it, and drag it to the range of cells.

You will get the output in your worksheet. From the gif below, you will understand the process of applying thick box border using Line Style in Excel.

How to Create a Custom Thick Box Border Style in Excel

Applying thick box border to multiple cells or ranges through the built-in Border option or Format Cells dialog box is a time-consuming task and requires the repetition of several steps. On the other hand, keyboard shortcuts can’t control the Line Color of borders. We will create a custom border style to apply thick box border to each cell.

To create a custom thick box border for your cells, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Format New Style

1. Go to Home tab > Styles group > Cell Styles > New Cell Style.Style dialog wizard will appear.
2. In the Style dialog wizard give name to the style and click Format.The Format Cells dialog box will appear.
3. In the Format Cells dialog box:
   • Select Thick Border from Style group.
   • Pick a color from Color group.
   • Choose the Outline border.
   • Press OK.

   

4. The Style box will appear again. Click OK.

Step 2: Apply the Newly Created Style

1. Select the entire data range.
2. Go to Home tab > Styles group > Cell Styles > Custom group > click on the newly created style.
   

You will get thick box border applied to the cells like the image below.

Read More: How to Change Border Color in Excel

Download Practice Workbook

Download the following practice workbook. It will help you understand the topic more clearly.

Conclusion

In this article, we have used Format Cells dialog box, built-in Border option, and Line Style from Draw Border group to apply thick box border. In addition, we have developed a custom border style that simplifies the process of applying borders to cells multiple times.Please let us know in the comments section below if you have any queries or recommendations.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to remove a thick box border from a range in Excel?

Select the range. Go to Home tab > click on Borders drop-down > No Border option.

How to apply thick bottom border?

You can use the keyboard shortcut ALT + H + B + H to apply thick bottom border to a range of cells.

How to apply top and thick bottom border?

You can use the keyboard shortcut ALT + H + B + C to apply Top and Thick Bottom Border to a range of cells.

Related Articles

• How to Apply Bottom Double Border in Excel
  
• How to Add or Remove Dotted Border in Excel
• How to Add Cell Borders Inside and Outside in Excel
• How to Remove Borders in Excel
• How to Apply Top and Bottom Border in Excel
• How to Change Border Color in Excel

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