How to Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word

Troubleshooting methods to remove a horizontal line in Word

This wikiHow teaches you how to remove a border line in Microsoft Word that you may have inadvertently created by typing three hyphens (-), underscores (_), equal signs (=), or asterisks (*), and pressing "return."

Method 1
Method 1 of 3:

Highlighting and Deleting

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    1
    Click in the row immediately above the unwanted line. If there is any text immediately above the line, select the entire row above the line.
  2. Image titled Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word Step 2
    2
    Drag the cursor to the row immediately below the unwanted line. The left end of the line will be highlighted.
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  3. Image titled Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word Step 3
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    Press delete. In many versions of Word, doing so will remove the line.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 3:

Using the Home Tab Shortcut

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    1
    Click in the row immediately above the unwanted line. If there is any text immediately above the line, select the entire row above the line.
  2. Image titled Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word Step 5
    2
    Drag the cursor to the row immediately below the unwanted line. The left end of the line will be highlighted.
  3. Image titled Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word Step 6
    3
    Click the Home tab at the top of the screen.
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    4
    Click the "Borders and Shading" icon. It's a square divided into four panes in the "Paragraph" section of the ribbon.
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    Click No Borders. The border line will disappear.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 3:

Using the Page Borders Dialog

  1. Image titled Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word Step 9
    1
    Click in the row immediately above the unwanted line. If there is any text immediately above the line, select the entire row above the line.
  2. Image titled Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word Step 10
    2
    Drag the cursor to the row immediately below the unwanted line. The left end of the line will be highlighted.
  3. Image titled Get Rid of a Horizontal Line in Microsoft Word Step 11
    3
    Click the Design tab at the top of the window.
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    4
    Click Page Borders in the upper-right corner of the window.
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    5
    Click the Borders tab at the top of the dialog box.
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    Click None in the left pane.
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    Click OK. The border line will disappear.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    I typed a couple of underscores and then pressed enter and it won't go away. How do I get rid of them?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    First, select part of your text which contains "Border Lines," then go to the "Home" tab and select the "Paragraph" ribbon, click on "Borders" command and finally choose "No Border."
  • Question
    How do I identify an unwanted line on a page?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Press the backspace key. It is the one with an arrow going left on most keyboards. You can tell which way left is by making your hands into letters - the L is the left hand.
  • Question
    What do I do if the print of a section I was trying to cut and paste became small, and I need it to be big again?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Press Control + Z (which is undo) and right-click on the passage to find Undo.
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About This Article

wikiHow Staff
Co-authored by:
wikiHow Staff
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This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 969,092 times.
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Co-authors: 35
Updated: January 2, 2023
Views: 969,092
Categories: Microsoft Word
Article SummaryX

1. Click the row above the line.
2. Drag the cursor below the line.
3. Press the Delete key.

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