Adding a border to your PowerPoint slides is an easy way to make your presentations look more polished and professional. While PowerPoint doesn’t have a specific “add border” feature, you can easily create borders using shapes, images, or even by resizing background images.

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn multiple methods for adding borders in PowerPoint, along with tips for choosing the right border style for your presentation.

Why Add Borders to PowerPoint Slides?

Before jumping into the how-to steps, let’s look at a few reasons why you may want to add borders to your PowerPoint slides:

Enhance visual appeal – Borders can make your slides look more complete and structured. Just having a subtle line around the edges goes a long way in improving aesthetics.
Draw attention – Strategically placed borders around key text, images, or other elements help highlight important information.
Brand consistency – Using the same border style throughout a presentation is an easy way to reinforce a brand identity.

Define sections – Borders are a great way to visually separate major talking points or different parts of your presentation.

Method 1: Add a Border Using a Shape

The quickest and easiest way to add a border in PowerPoint is by inserting a shape, stretching it to the slide edges, removing the fill color, and customizing the outline. Here’s how:

Select the slide you want to add a border to.

Go to the Insert tab and click Shapes.
Choose a simple shape from the rectangle category. The rounded rectangle usually works well.
Click and drag to draw the shape to cover the entire slide area within the placeholders.

With the shape still selected, go to Shape Format > Shape Fill and choose No Fill so only the outline shows.
Adjust the outline color, weight, dashes, etc. to your liking under Shape Format > Shape Outline.

And that’s it! You now have a customized border around your slide. Copy and paste the shape to add the same border to other slides quickly.

Method 2: Insert an Image Border

Another way to add borders in PowerPoint is by searching for and downloading a border image online directly through Bing Image Search. Here are the steps:

On the slide you want to add a border to, go to Insert > Online Pictures.
Type a search term like “border images” in the Bing search bar and press Enter.

Browse the results and select a border image you like.
Click Insert to add the border image to your slide.

This method gives you access to tons of border styles and designs beyond just plain lines.

Tips for Choosing Borders in PowerPoint

When adding borders to PowerPoint slides, keep these tips in mind:

Use borders sparingly – Just one or two bordered elements per slide is usually sufficient. Too many borders can look cluttered.
Be consistent – Stick with the same border style throughout your presentation for a cohesive look.

Consider context – Make sure borders fit with the tone and branding of your presentation.
Don’t distract – Avoid borders that are too thick, brightly colored, or complex if they draw attention away from content.
Use subtly – Soft, thin borders tend to work better than loud, flashy ones.

More Tricks for Creating Borders in PowerPoint

Here are a few more clever ways to create borders and border effects in PowerPoint presentations:

Resize a background image slightly smaller than the slide so that a border effect appears around the edges.
Overlap two shapes with different outline colors and adjust the layering order to create a double border.

Use a text box with border formatting instead of a shape for greater customization options.
Apply a picture border to an image to make it stand out on the slide.
Use the eyedropper tool to sample and match colors between borders and other design elements.

So whether you want a simple clean border or an elaborate custom frame design, PowerPoint provides all the tools you need to add stylish borders to your presentation slides.

The borders you choose should ultimately enhance your content without overpowering it. Focus on consistency, simplicity, and subtlety, and your PowerPoint borders will take your slides from bland to beautiful!