How to insert a line in Word - Software Accountant

Want to learn how to insert a line in Word?

You’ve come to the right place.

In this article, I have explained a step by step guide on how to add a line into MS word, whether it is a horizontal line or a vertical line.

Without further ado, I’ll walk you through the easiest options for this task before diving into the other available options to insert a line anywhere in your Word document.

The simplest and fastest way to insert a line in Word

There are several ways of doing almost everything. And there’s always one way that’s way simpler than the others.

So, in this section, you are going to learn one of the simplest and fastest ways to insert a line into your Word document.

It involves using the Autoformat feature in Word.

All it takes is to type certain characters three times, then hit the Enter key to convert these characters into lines.

Without further ado, obey the instructions below to easily insert a line into your Word document:

To insert a single line in Word: type three hyphens (—) on a new line, then press the enter key. The three hyphens will get converted into a single line.

Press the hyphen symbol three times then hit Enter for a single line

To make double lines in Word: type three equal signs (===) on a new line, then press the enter key. The three equal signs will insert double lines into your document.

Press the Equal sign three times then press enter for a double line

To insert a Triple line in Word: Type three hash symbols (###) on a new line then hit the Enter key. These hash symbols will make a triple line automatically.

Type the number signs three times then hit enter for a tripple line

To insert a dotted line in Word: type three asterisks (***) on a new line, then press the Enter key. These three asterisks will change into a dotted line.

type three asterisks then press enter for a dotted line

To insert a wavy or zigzag line in Word: Type three tildes (~~~) on a new line then hit the Enter key. These tildes will get converted into a wavy line automatically.

How to insert a horizontal or vertical line in Word using shapes

This is another easy way to insert a line into Word.

This time around, it involved using shapes

Using shapes to insert lines in Word can be very flexible as it allows you to edit the length at any time the need arise.

To insert a horizontal or vertical line in Word, obey the instructions below:

Go to Insert>Illustrations>Shapes

A library of shapes will show up. Look for the line shape and then click on It.

It’s now time to draw the line. So, Click and drag horizontally to draw a horizontal line at any location within the Word document.
If you want to draw a vertical line, click and drag vertically to draw a vertical line at any place in the document.

If you couldn’t drag the shape well, you may not get a perfect line. In such a case, click on the edges of the line to re-position it well. You can also drag to move the line to a different location in your Word document.

This is how you may insert a horizontal line in Word using the insert shapes option.

Underlining text in Word

To underline text in Word means to place a horizontal line below any selected text. Thus, underlining texts is also a way of inserting lines into Word

If you want to underline any text in Word, select the text you wish to underline, then press Ctrl+U on your keyboard. The selected text will get underlined.

How to insert a line in Word using Paragraph borders

Aside from using the previous options to add lines into MS Word, you can also use the Borders approach to perform the same task.

With this approach, you can add lines above and below or beside any selected paragraph. This way, you can draw lines under or beside text for emphasis, or make out one or more paragraphs from the rest of the text.

Without further ado, below are the various ways to add lines into Word.

NOTE: Using this approach to insert lines in Word works best if you want to add lines below or above or beside full paragraph texts. To applying borders to individual words in a paragraph may not work.

How to put a horizontal line above a paragraph

To put a line above a paragraph text in Word:

First, Select the paragraph text you want to overline

Select the paragraph above which you wish to insert the line

Locate the Borders icon under the Home tab, in the Paragraph group.

Click on the small arrow beside the Borders icon.

Click on the drop down arrow beside the borders icon

A list of Border options appears, click to select the Top Border option.

As soon as you hit the Top Border option, Word will insert a horizontal line above the paragraph.

How to insert a horizontal line below a paragraph

If you want to place a horizontal line below some particular texts inside a paragraph, the simplest way is to select the text and press Ctrl+U on the keyboard.

However, using the underline command will not work if you want to insert a horizontal line below a paragraph that separates it from the other paragraphs.

In such cases, you need to apply a bottom border to the paragraph.

To do so: