IT Know-How #10: Horizontal rules in Microsoft Office
04 Jul 2012
Did you know there are two ways of inserting a horizontal rule line into emails and Word documents?
You can either use the AutoFormat feature or the Borders and Shading options.
Using AutoFormat
Word creates a line when you type three or more special characters and press Enter. The resulting style of line depends on the characters you typed.
If you don’t want this to happen you need to disable Automatic borders:
- See the Knowledge Base article How to use the AutoFormat feature to create a horizontal rule
Using Borders and Shading
There are several horizontal rule options (including graphical types) within the Borders and Shading options palette, including the traditional horizontal line feature:
- See the Knowledge Base article How to use the Borders and Shading palette to create a horizontal rule
Having trouble deleting a horizontal rule line?
Check whether it was created using the AutoFormat feature (in which case you can simply press backspace or delete) or if it was created as a ‘paragraph border’.
If you are unable to select and delete the horizontal line then it has likely been set as a ‘paragraph border’. To remove this, visit: Paragraph > Borders and shading (which is within the ‘Format Text’ tab when using Outlook 2007). Then select ‘None’ or ‘No border’ whilst highlighting the space directly above the horizontal line.
For more information on other areas of Microsoft Office or Outlook, take a look at our full training guides, or perhaps even book yourself onto one of IT Services popular training sessions: