Draw a straight line in word

You can add horizontal lines, sometimes called horizontal rules, to a document or email message to help separate sections of text and add visual appeal. 

By default, Word and Outlook have a three-character shortcuts that inserts a full-width horizontal rule in your document or message. The appearance of that rule—thinner, thicker, double-line, dotted, wavy—depends on which shortcut you use, as illustrated in the image below. 

If this automatic line feature doesn’t suit you, you can turn off this feature in Word or turn it off in Outlook.

If you want to draw a line for illustration purposes, see Draw a line in Word or Outlook instead.

Insert a horizontal line by typing a few characters

The fastest way to add a horizontal line or rule is to use the AutoFormat feature. When you type certain characters three times in their own paragraph and then press Enter, those characters instantly become a full-width horizontal line.

1. Place the cursor where you want to insert the horizontal line.

2. Type three of the characters illustrated below, and then press Enter.

   

   The line is inserted for the full width of the page. When inserted into a column, the line is inserted to match the width of the column. To add text above the line, put your cursor where you want the text and begin typing.

Format the horizontal line after you create it

The shortcut described above creates an empty paragraph with a bottom border. You can change the look of that border line by using the Borders options:

1. In Word, on the Home tab of the ribbon, select the down arrow next to Borders.

   In Outlook, on the Format Text tab of the ribbon, select the down arrow next to Borders.

2. At the bottom of the menu, select Borders and Shading.

3. In the dialog, you can change the line’s style (solid, dotted, wavy, double, and so on), color, or width as you see fit. 

4. When you’re done formatting the line, select OK. Then, on the ribbon, select the  Borders button to apply your changes. 

Word: Turn off the automatic line feature

To prevent Word or Outlook from automatically inserting a horizontal line when you type the three shortcut characters, do the following:

1. On the ribbon, select File > Options.

2. In the dialog box, select Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type. 

3. Clear the Border Lines option.

4. Select OK.

Outlook: Turn off the automatic line feature

1. On the ribbon, select File > Options.

2. In the dialog box, select the Mail tab, then select Editor Options.  

3. On the Proofing tab, select AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type. 

4. Under Apply as you type, clear the Border Lines option.

5. Select OK.

Want to draw a line?

See Draw a line in Word or Outlook.

See Also

Add a border to some text

Draw shapes

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How to create a straight line in Microsoft Word

1. Go to the Insert menu.
2. Click on Shapes, and select which type of line you want to draw.
3. Press the Shift button on the keyboard while dragging the pointer to form a straight line (horizontal or vertical).
4. The straight line has created!

How do you draw a straight horizontal line in Word?

Insert a Horizontal Line From the Ribbon

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the line.
2. Go to the Home tab and then click the dropdown arrow for the Borders option in the Paragraph group.
3. Select Horizontal Line from the menu.
4. To tweak the look of this horizontal line, double-click the line.

Why can’t I draw a straight line in Word?

To work around this problem and make the straight line horizontal, set the height to zero in the Size tab of the Layout dialog box. Similarly, to make the straight line vertical, set the width to zero. To display the Layout dialog box, right-click the line and choose More Layout Options.

How do I draw a straight line in Word 365?

Draw a line without connection points

1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Shapes.
2. Under Lines, click any line style you like.
3. Click one location in the document, hold and drag your pointer to a different location, and then release the mouse button.

Why can’t I draw straight lines?

In art, drawing a perfectly straight line is neither necessary nor desirable. It has no expressive qualities, therefore has no artistic merit; it looks un-natural and contrived. Nature very seldom has straight lines; they are usually found in man-made objects.

Which tool is used to draw a straight line?

Answer:Ruler is used to draw straight line.

How do you draw a line in Word 2020?

How to draw in Word

1. Click the ‘Shapes’ button and select ‘Scribble’ Open up your Microsoft Word document.
2. Hold down your mouse to draw. Click and hold down your mouse to draw.
3. Release the mouse. As soon as you release your mouse, the drawing will be finished.
4. Edit your drawing. Double-click your drawing.

How do you draw a curved line in Word?

Draw a curve

1. On the Insert tab, click Shapes.
2. Under Lines, click Curve.
3. Click where you want the curve to start, drag to draw, and then click wherever you want to add a curve.
4. To end a shape, do one of the following: To leave the shape open, double-click at any time. To close the shape, click near its starting point.

How do you draw a straight vertical line?

Hold your pencil naturally, about 1″ back from the point, and approximately at a right angle to the line to be drawn. Draw horizontal lines from left to right with a free and easy wrist and arm movement. Draw vertical lines downward with a wrist and arm movement. Draw curved lines using finger and wrist movements.

Which is used to draw curved lines?

The curved line drawing tool is used to create curved or straight lines. The curved line tool provides greater control over the shape of a polyline than the straight line tool (see Drawing With the Straight Line Tool).

How do you draw a straight line in paint?

As a workaround, you may hold Shift key + left click of the mouse to draw a straight line.

How do you align different lines in Word?

You can also apply individual alignments to different lines by just clicking anywhere on the line and then clicking the “Home” tab. Use the alignment buttons, which look like small stacks of horizontal lines, in the Paragraph section of the ribbon.

If you want to add a horizontal line inside a Word document, you can do it by using the formatting tools. But inserting a vertical line is a little trickier. You have to insert the line as a shape. Word lets you tweak the line’s color, shape, style, angle, thickness and alignment. You can also add visual effects such as 3-D styles, outlines and shadows.

In this tutorial, you will learn the different ways to draw a line inside a Word document.

Method 1: Using Shapes Menu

The very basic method to draw a line inside a Word document is to draw it. You can do this by using the Shapes menu. This menu has several options such as lines with arrow points on one or both the ends. You can also customize the appearance and color of the line after drawing it.

Please follow the steps below:

• Open Ms Word, Double-click a Word document that you want to edit, or double-click the Word App Icon and click Blank document to open a new document.

• Now place the cursor where you want to insert a line and click Insert

• Click on Shapes drop-down arrow available in In the Illustrations group.

• Next,choose the shape of the line from the line group

• Inside the document, click on the shape and drag across the area where you wish the line to be placed.

 

Creating Vertical Line

• Put your cursor where you want the line to begin. Then, drag it to the area where you want the line to end.

Note: If you press the Shift key and drag the mouse while drawing the line, you can easily get an absolute horizontal or vertical orientation.

Change Style of Line

• You can change the style of the line, for that select the line and then click Format tab (Shape Format for some versions).

• In this Format tab you change the color, style or apply effects to the line.

Method 2: Using the Horizontal Line Tool

Another easy way to insert a line in the Word document is by using the Horizontal Line Tool present already. Let us see how you can use it.

Please follow the steps below in order to insert a line Horizontal Line Tool:

• Place the cursor in the word document where you want to draw a line and click Home Tab

Note: When you open a New Word document or an existing one, the Home tab is selected by default.

• Now go to Paragraph group and click on the Border drop-down and select Horizontal Line.

• A Horizontal Line will be inserted to your word document.

Change Style of the Line

In order to change the style (look) of the horizontal line, double click on the line

A Format Horizontal Line dialog box will appear where you can change the width, height, color and alignment of the line.

Method 3: Insert Line Above or Below Heading

Lines are commonly used in Word to decorate a heading or a subheading. It decorates the text and makes it eye-cathy, and also helps to divide the document into sections.

Please follow the steps below

• First place the cursor on the heading (where you want to add line) and click on Home Tab.

• Now go to Paragraph group and click on the Border drop-down and select Bottom Border to add line below Heading or Top Border to add line above Heading.

Method 4: Create Lines Using Keyboard

Another easy way to create a line in Word is to press the hyphen key 3 times and hit the Enter key. This will automatically create a straight line. You can also replace the hyphen key with an underscore or the equals symbol. This will give you thicker lines and doubles lines respectively. Hash signs can be used to drawing triple lines with thick centers.

You can use the Asterisk symbol to create a dotted line or use tildes to draw some wavy lines.

Using Hyphens (—)

• Just type three hyphens and press Enter on your Keyboard.

Using Underscore (___)

• Just type three underscore and press Enter on your Keyboard for thicker line.

Note: Press Shift + Hyphen to type Underscore

Using EqualTo Sign (===)

• Just type three EqualTo sign and press Enter on your Keyboard for double line.

Using Hash Sign (###)

• Just type three hash signs and press Enter to create triple line with a thick center

Using Asterisk Sign (***)

• Just type three asterisk Sign and press Enter to create a broken or dotted line.

Using Tildes (~)

• Just type three tildes and press Enter to create a wavy line

Conclusion

All of the methods described above are simple and easy to insert your desired lines in a Word document. Modification of the styles, colors and alignments is also easy with Word’s in-built line formatting tools. So, go ahead and play around with these methods a bit until you find the one that suits you the best.

Если вы хотя бы иногда пользуетесь текстовым редактором MS Word, наверняка знаете о том, что в этой программе можно не только набирать текст, но и выполнять ряд других задач. О многих возможностях этого офисного продукта мы уже писали, при необходимости, вы можете ознакомиться с этим материалом. В этой же статье мы расскажем о том, как в Ворде нарисовать линию или полоску.

Уроки:
Как создать диаграмму в Word
Как сделать таблицу
Как создать схему
Как добавить шрифт

Создаем обычную линию

1. Откройте документ, в котором необходимо нарисовать линию, или создайте новый файл и откройте его.

2. Перейдите ко вкладке “Вставка”, где в группе “Иллюстрации” нажмите кнопку “Фигуры” и выберите подходящую линию из списка.

Примечание: В нашем примере используется Ворд 2016, в предыдущих версиях программы во вкладке “Вставка” есть отдельная группа “Фигуры”.

3. Нарисуйте линию, нажав левую кнопку мышки в ее начале и отпустив в конце.

4. Линия заданной вами длины и направления будет нарисована. После этого в документе MS Word появится режим работы с фигурами, о возможностях которого читайте ниже.

Рекомендации по созданию и изменению линий

После того, как вы нарисуете линию, в Ворде появится вкладка “Формат”, в которой вы сможете изменить и отредактировать добавленную фигуру.

Чтобы изменить внешний вид лини, разверните меню пункта “Стили фигур” и выберите тот, который вам нравится.

Чтобы сделать пунктирную линию в Word, разверните меню кнопки “Стили фигур”, предварительно кликнув на фигуру, и выберите необходимый тип линии (“Штрих”) в разделе “Заготовки”.

Чтобы нарисовать не прямую, а кривую линию, выберите соответствующий тип линии в разделе “Фигуры”. Кликните один раз левой кнопкой мышки и потяните ее, чтобы задать один изгиб, кликните второй раз для следующего, повторите это действие для каждого из изгибов, а затем дважды кликните левой кнопкой мышки, чтобы выйти из режима рисования линии.

Чтобы нарисовать линию свободной формы, в разделе “Фигуры” выберите “Полилиния: рисованная кривая”.

Чтобы изменить размер поля нарисованной линии, выделите ее и нажмите на кнопку “Размер”. Задайте необходимые параметры ширины и высоты поля.

Совет: Изменить размер области, которую занимает линия можно и с помощью мышки. Кликните по одному из кружков, обрамляющих ее, и потяните в нужную строну. Если это необходимо, повторите действие и с другой стороны фигуры.

Для фигур с узлами (например, кривая линия) доступен инструмент их изменения.

Чтобы изменить цвет фигуры, нажмите на кнопку “Контур фигуры”, расположенную в группе “Стили”, и выберите подходящий цвет.

Чтобы переместить линию, просто кликните по ней, чтобы отобразилась область фигуры, и переместите ее в желаемое место документа.

На этом все, из этой статьи вы узнали, как нарисовать (провести) линию в Ворде. Теперь вы знаете немного больше о возможностях этой программы. Желаем вам успехов в ее дальнейшем освоении.

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