Page borders

U

uncle

I would like to customize the graphics of page borders in word. It should be
possible. Where are the borders stored and how can I add more borders? Any
help will be appreciated.
TIA
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

No, unlike Publisher, Word does not allow you to create custom Border Art.
 
U

uncle

Thanks Suzanne! Then I should try Publisher. My son is preparing a homework
about Hamlet and he wanted to have a page border consisted of skulls.:) So,
I can not make him happy for now.
 
G

Greg Maxey

Uncle,

Just as an experiment, I monkeyed around with some with some frames anchored
in the header and footer. It is not Publisher, but you can do a pretty
decent job of it by placing four borderless frames around the document and
fill them with the Wingdings character code 78 (Skull and crossbones).
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Or if you find a good piece of clip art, you can duplicate it around the
page, using a rectangular AutoShape to guide you (delete the AutoShape after
you have your border created). Better still, you might find a readymade
border with a such a theme that can be inserted as a watermark. A Google
Images search for "skull border" turns up www.sewnstuff.net/designs/
Halloween/H343.jpg on the first page.
 
U

uncle

It has been easy with publisher. I used your clip by cropping one skull out
of three.
Thanks to all
 
U

uncle

Dear Greg
Thanks a lot for your help. I actually did the job with Publisher but I
would like to understand the way you described (I am an old man). Do you say
I can insert four borderless frames in footer and header? Could you explain
it a little more?
 
G

Greg Maxey

Uncle,

Sure. You can access the frame icon on the Forms toolbar (I don't know why
the designers of Word stuck it there). The icon is just to the left of the
icon with the small "a" in a box. So go ahead and display the Forms
toolbar.

Now View>Header and Footers. Click the frame icon and then draw a long thin
frame across the top of the document in the header definition box (your
frame can hang over the right and left edges). Now Insert>Symbol. Select
the Wingdings font and you will find a skull and crossbones symbol. Insert
it in your frame and copy and paste until you fill the frame.

Now copy the whole frame and paste a copy in the footer. Paste another
copy, select it and change drag the borders to make it long and thin down
the left edge of the page. Select Font>Text direction and change the
direction of the symbols. Copy this left border adn paste to the right.
You can change the text direction again if you like. Adjust the four frames
and you are set.

Like I say it is crude, but might work.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Note that this workaround is necessary only if you're using font characters.
If you're using graphics, you don't need a frame.
 
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