No-border Text Boxes by Default

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 29, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

When you insert a text box into your document, Word makes some assumptions about how that text box should appear. By default, the text box includes a border. If you normally remove the border, you may be wondering how you can instruct Word to not include the border, by default.

Well, there is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that you can instruct Word to not include the border by default. Just follow these general steps:

Insert a text box into your document.
Format the text box as desired.
When the text box looks just like you want it, right-click on the text box. Word displays a Context menu.
Choose Set AutoShape Defaults from the Context menu.

Now, whenever you create a text box, it will have the formatting attributes you specified. This affects every text box you create in the current document. If you want all new text boxes, in all documents, to be affected, then open the Normal.dot file and perform the above steps. (You can delete the text box from the Normal.dot file after performing the steps.)

Now for the bad news. Word considers a text box just another AutoShape. Thus, the formatting you set as default in step 4 will affect all the other AutoShapes you place in your document. If you only use text boxes, this isn't a big deal. If you use all sorts of other AutoShapes, then it can be a big drawback. You will need to analyze your needs and make your decisions accordingly.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1633) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Changing Above-the-Line Fonts

Word maintains a list of the fonts most recently used in the program. You can't modify the list, but you can turn it on ...

Discover More

Backing Up Building Blocks

Got a lot of Building Blocks defined in Word? You can back them up rather easily, but first you need to figure out where ...

Discover More

Jumping to the Real Last Cell

Jumping to the last cell in a worksheet should be easy, but you may not always get the results that you expect. This tip ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Finding Text Boxes

Need to search for various text boxes in your document? It's easy to do with the handy macro provided in this tip.

Discover More

Creating Usable Figure Captions

Many people add both images and figure captions within text boxes so they can be easily positioned within a document. ...

Discover More

Including Text Box Text in Word Counts

If you use text boxes in the layout of your documents, you should know that any word counts you perform do not include ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 8 - 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.