Change The Color, Style, Or Weight Of A Line - Microsoft Support

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You can change the look of a line shape by changing its color, line style, or weight. If you are using Excel, Outlook, Word, or PowerPoint, you can apply a predefined Quick Style to quickly change the look of your line. 

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What do you want to do?

• Add a Quick Style to a line

• Change the color of a line

• Make a line dotted or dashed

• Change the weight of a line

• Format cell borders in Excel

• Work with lines in Project

Add a Quick Style to a line

Quick Styles for lines include theme colors from the document theme, shadows, line styles, gradients, and three-dimensional (3-D) perspectives. When you position your pointer over a Quick Style thumbnail, you can see how the style affects your line. Try different Quick Styles until you find one that you like.

1. Select the line you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select the Quick Style you want.

   

   To see more Quick Styles, click the More button .

   Note: If you don't see the Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

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Change the color of a line

1. Select the line that you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select Shape Outline, then select the color that you want.

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

   To use a color that isn't a theme color, click More Outline Colors, and then click the color you want on the Standard tab, or mix your own color on the Custom tab. Custom colors and colors on the Standard tab are not updated if you later change the document theme.

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Make a line dotted or dashed

1. Select the line you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select Shape Outline.

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

3. Point to Dashes, and then click the style you want.

   To create a custom style, select More Lines, then choose the options that you want.

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Change the weight of a line

1. Select the line that you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select Shape Outline.

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

3. Point at Weight, then select the line weight that you want.

   To create a custom line weight, click More Lines, and then choose the options that you want.

   Note: To draw a double line, draw a single line, copy and paste a second line next to it, and then group the two lines.

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Format cell borders in Excel

If you want to apply line styles and colors to borders in Excel spreadsheets or tables, see the following articles:

• Apply or remove cell borders

• Create and apply a border cell style

• Show or hide gridlines on a worksheet

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Work with lines in Project

You need to have a Gantt chart open to follow these steps.

1. Right-click the line you want to change, and click Properties.

2. Under Line, choose a color from the Color list and a line thickness from the Line list.

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The following options are available in the web apps for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. 

Add a Quick Style to a line

1. Select the line you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape tab, select the quick style you want.

   

   To see more quick styles, select the  More button at the right end of quick-style gallery.

   Note: If you don't see the Shape tab, make sure you've selected the line.

Change the color of a line

1. Select the line that you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape tab, select Shape Outline (or, in Excel, just Outline), then select the color that you want.

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape tab, make sure you've selected the line.

   To use a color that isn't a theme color, click More Outline Colors, and then click the color you want in the Custom Colors dialog. (Custom colors are not updated if you later change the document theme.)

Make a line dotted or dashed

1. Select the line you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape tab, select Shape Outline (or, in Excel, just Outline).

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape tab, make sure you've selected the line.

3. Point at Dashes, then select the style you want.

Change the weight of a line

1. Select the line that you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold Ctrl while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape tab, select Shape Outline (or, in Excel, just Outline).

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape tab, make sure you've selected the line.

3. Point at Weight, then select the line weight that you want.

   Note: To draw a double line, draw a single line, copy and paste a second line next to it, and then group the two lines.

What do you want to do?

• Add a Quick Style to a line

• Change the color of a line

• Make a line dotted or dashed

• Change the weight of a line

Add a Quick Style to a line

Quick Styles for lines include theme colors from the document theme, shadows, line styles, gradients, and three-dimensional (3-D) perspectives. Try different Quick Styles until you find one that you like.

1. Select the line you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold  Command while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select the Quick Style you want.

   

   To see more Quick Styles, click the More  button.

   Note: If you don't see the Shape Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

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Change the color of a line

1. Select the line that you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold  Command while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select Shape Outline, then select the color that you want.

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

   To use a color that isn't a theme color, click More Outline Colors, and then click the color you want.

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Make a line dotted or dashed

1. Select the line you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold  Command while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select Shape Outline.

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

3. Point to Dashes, and then click the style you want.

   To create a custom style, select More Lines, then choose the options that you want.

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Change the weight of a line

1. Select the line that you want to change.

   If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold  Command while you select the other lines.

2. On the Shape Format tab, select Shape Outline.

   

   Note: If you don't see the Shape Format tab, make sure you've selected the line.

3. Point at Weight, then select the line weight that you want.

   To create a custom line weight, click More Lines, and then choose the options that you want.

   Note: To draw a double line, draw a single line, copy and paste a second line next to it, and then group the two lines.

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See Also

Draw or delete a line or connector

Format the bar chart of a Gantt Chart view in Project

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