How to Add Borders in InDesign

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: November 14, 2017 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to create a border around content in InDesign. Borders in InDesign are called "strokes". You can add a stroke to your content on both Windows and Mac versions of InDesign.

Steps

1
Open InDesign. Its app icon resembles a pink "Id" on a black background. The InDesign startup window will appear.
2
Click Start. This tab is in the upper-right corner of the window. A drop-down menu will appear.
- If you're using a computer that has a touch screen, you'll instead click Touch here.
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3
Click Typography. It's in the Start drop-down menu. This will change your InDesign layout to a more edit-friendly appearance.
4
Open a project. Click File, click Open…, and select your project.
- You can also click File, select New, and click Document…, then click Create in the lower-right side of the window to create a new project.
5
Select an item in your project. Click the image around which you want to place a border. Doing so selects it.
6
Click Swatches. This tab is in the upper-right side of the window. A small pop-out window will appear.
7
Click the "Stroke" icon. It resembles a box with a border around it in the upper-left side of the "Swatches" window. Clicking this will prompt a drop-down menu.
8
Select a color. Click a color that you want to use for your border in the drop-down menu.
- If you double-click a color, a separate window in which you can customize the color will open.
9
Click the Window menu item. It's at the top of the window (Windows) or screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.
10
Click Stroke. This option is near the bottom of the Window drop-down menu. The Stroke window will open.
11
Edit your border. In the Stroke window, you can change several aspects of the border design:
- Thickness - Increase border width by clicking the upward-facing arrow to the right of the "Weight" heading in the Stroke window.
- Shape - Click the "Type" drop-down box, then click a border format.
- Gap color - If you choose a border type that has a gap between two elements of the border, click the "Gap Color" drop-down box and select a color to fill in the gap with a different color.
12
Save your work. Click File, then click Save to save your border.
- You can also click Save As… in the File drop-down menu to save your work as a new project.