Removing the HR Line from Word
It was an annoying bugger that I couldn’t figure out – I was having a problem removing what I thought was the horizontal rule <hr> tag from Microsoft Word. Try as I would… I couldn’t get it to go away; I couldn’t delete it with the delete key nor the backspace key, I couldn’t select it with the cursor… it was driving me mad.
The Problem:
I was using some auto-correct (actually auto-format) feature of Microsoft Word that I really didn’t understand, I would type three underscores (_) and then hit the enter key – the ensuing output seemed to be a horizontal rule.
I’ve come to find out that this auto-format feature actually creates a border for the document, not just a mere horizontal line. I have also come to find out that the instant horizontal line (border) will show up if you use 3 hyphens (-), 3 tildes (~), 3 pound signs (#) or 3 equal signs (=) in a row followed by the enter key. At the time, I was just trying to get rid of it.
The Fix
In earlier versions of Word (maybe 2003 or earlier), several websites state that you must:
- Place your cursor right above the horizontal line
- From your menu choose Format >> Borders and Shading >> None >> Ok
I personally have Word 2007 – and it’s not quite the same… so I cannot verify that the above is 100% correct – but I would imagine it’s spot-on.
Here’s how to do this when you have Microsoft Office Word 2007 (or Word 2007) screenshots:
- Place your cursor directly above the offending line
- From your menu, choose Page Layout
- Once you click on Page Layout, click on Page Borders
- Choose the Borders Tab, in the upper left select None, then hit Ok
- The line should disappear
How to turn off the auto-format feature for borders
If you’ve accidentally created one of these horizontal lines, you can fix it so that this mistake doesn’t happen again. I’ve created screenshots of how to shut this auto-format feature off.
Step 1
Click on the lightning-bolt box near the newly created horizontal line:

Step 2
Choose “Control AutoFormat Options”:

Step 3
Untick the “Border Lines” checkbox:

Hit “OK” – you’re done!
Remove the horizontal line in Word 2007 screenshots
These screenshots follow the steps above..
Step 1
Place your cursor directly above the problematic line:

Step 2
Choose “Page Layout” from your menu:

Step 3
Choose the “Page Borders” sub-heading under Page Layout:

Step 4
Select the “Borders” tab:

Step 5
Under “setting”, select “None”:

Hit “OK” – You’re done!
I hope that this little tutorial has helped some of you – I know that this problem was quite a pain for me… and using the above steps is how I fixed it.
Update May, 2009
This “removing the line from MS word” tutorial has been viewed 10s of thousands of times since I wrote it last year, and it has helped hundreds at least, I’m assuming, to fix what appears to be a very common problem for Word users. Based on the enormous amount of traffic this page receives, a lot of people struggle with this nagging line/border/table thing.
Now, I ask nothing in return — this is here for you to benefit from. However, if you would like to visit Amazon.com and purchase something via this link – I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to it.
If this tutorial helped you out, feel free to leave a comment, and thanks for stopping by.
Related Topics
- Formatting Excel (.xls) for 2 decimal places
- Free Word to Text Converter Tool
- How to Improve Wordpress SEO in 3 Steps
- How to choose keywords for your website
- Effective Article Marketing for SEO
- Tip for finding freelance writing jobs using Google and Craigslist
- Free article directory manual submission tool
comments
106 Responses to “Removing the HR Line from Word”
Leave a Reply
Thank you so much for that tip! I was so annoyed by that stupid line!
I have the ‘horizontal line’ problem in using Word 2007 in compatibility mode – but neither the suggestion for Word 97 or 2007 works for me. My line happens to be in a cell within a table – just to complicate matters, so when I try your suggestion – all the borders of my table disappear but my unwanted line is still there – bold as ever. Any suggestions?
thanks, I needed that tip! it had been driving me nuts!
Thank you so much for sharing the info, that line was driving me crazy
Thanks… I was really helpful for me while spending a lot of time with this stupid Microsoft word
HUGE THANKSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
I love you
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I spent hours trying to figure out that stupid line in microsoft word!
Thanks a bunch! That line was driving me nuts and ended up retyping half a page into another document. I also highlighted the offending row and clicking the [Borders] button from the [Paragraph] group on the [Home] tab and selecting [None]. That might do the trick for lines showing up inside of tables–have not proven it though. Thanks again!
Thank you. Very helpful.
This fix of clicking “none” on the borders and shading menu worked for a few of the lines on my Word document, however, now it just seems to be shifting the line up one line of text higher. For some reason, I also appear to have a line at the bottom of most of my pages. Any suggestions for permanently remove these lines from my document?
Thanks
thanks. It was also driving me nuts. It isn’t very practical and easy to remove a simple line…
Thank you! That was driving me nuts.
Thanks for this.
This is excellent information!!!
However, Microsoft (Word especially) has ways of challenging users in new ways.
This sticky line has somehow entered the footer section. Any suggestions on how to get rid of that?
I have Word 2007 and I’m not quite sure what type of line you have in your footer, but you can try this:
Double click in the footer area of your Word document. When the footer “opens”, on the menu bar area above, you’ll see ‘header’ and ‘footer’ to the left. Click on ‘footer’, then look at the bottom when the new window pops up and click on ‘remove footer’.
At this point, you can either add a different footer or just click somewhere within the body of the document to close the footer editor.
If this doesn’t work for you, I’m not sure what else to suggest. I use Word every single day, but like a lot of other people – I have to rely on search engines to find the answers to my problems for these quirks… I’m glad you found the post on my site helpful, though.
thank you sooo much!! i had started writing a story, and these stupid little things kept popping up all over the place. Now I can correct it all to look like it makes sense!
Didn’t work for me. Not sure what kind of line mine is, but Word won’t even let me put my curser right above it. Any suggestions?
Thank you so very much!!!!! I was about to take a hammer to my monitor here. I couldn’t take it anymore. What an annoying thing to see those lines and not be able to erase them. Thank you once again.
Yeap, thanks for the tip, just had an annoying line removed !
That was driving me crazy, thank you so much!
Not working for me either, and my stupid lines are made up of a bunch of little squares.
Three words. I love you
. You made me so happy! Oh my god, I’d really hot tempered and that thing was driving me crazy. Thanks a ton!
Thanks a bunch! This has been a pain in my butt for awhile now! Figured it was something stupid like this too!
Thank you guy! 5 more minutes trying to figure out how to remove this stupid line and I thought I would be able to thow my computer out of the window! =D
Thank you very much. It was driving me insane.
Thanks so much!!!
You saved my life!
Great tip! I had to put cursor BELOW the line to make it work, but then it did.
Thought I was going crazy — some of these tips worked for me, some didn’t. Some made my line just dance around the page. What ultimately worked for me was selecting the line and a paragraph of text, then selecting the Borders button from the Paragraph section in the Home ribbon and then selecting ‘No Borders.’
Now I plan to ban the use of horizontal lines in the office.
THANK YOU! I sure could not find anything in Word help about this problem. What a relief!
Great tip!
Thanks so much
LIFE SAVER!
Those lines have been annoying me for ages. Thank you so much.
THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. That’s a problem for me for a year!!!!
THANKS SO MUCH omigosh i thought i’d never get rid of offending lines! you rock my socks! facebook me!
Thanks a lot for sharing the solution!! This bug is really annoying.
THANK you so so so so much. This thing was driving me insane. Only your “put the cursor above the line” tip could save me. Word 2007 is a pain.
Again, thank you!
Muchas gracias
Thank you very much. Office 2007 sucks!
Huge thanks! I was getting really aggravated!
Many thanks!! I just get done with my paper and then there’s a line I can’t delete. I’ve been up all night working on my paper and now a little line thinks it can stop me from finishing???
I THINK NOT!!
Thanks again!!
thank you thank you thank!!!! i spent hours trying to figure this out!!!!!!
THANK YOU!!! Word is soooo eeeevillllll.
Thank you!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
fantastic – great help thanks…
Thank you so much, i’m the one who spent time around one hour to remove this line..
Thanks you so much. I have sat here all day fussing with the silly lines. Word 2007 is not user friendly.
Whoever put this info together, You are the best! Thanks very much!!!
Thanks a lot mate, saved me heaps
OMIGOD! I can’t believe I finally found the answer to this. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have a manuscript I’m trying to get ready to submit and when I edited anything, and wanted to remove one it wouldn’t go away. Stray ones were lurking everywhere! It’ll be a pain in the butt to remove them all this way but at least it works!!!
Thanks again!
Victoria…
Thankyou!!! How I wish I’d never “upgraded” to 2007.
Thank you so much. This also works for Word 2008 for Mac. Very similar procedure.
1-Place the cursor before the Border Line.
2-Select Format –> Borders and Shading …
3-In pop-up window select Borders button, and then select the None icon, as pictured on this website.
You’re the messiah
Thank you so much! I had random lines all over my dissertation that’s due in today and none of the other guides how to tell you to get rid of it in Word 2007.
Many many thanks. This has been driving me insane for quite a while now. Thanks!
[...] Sumber : http://www.inowebmarketing.com/2008/01/removing-the-hr-line-from-word/ [...]
Thank you so much. You saved me a great amount of time. I appreciate your clear writing style and the screenshots. Perfect!
Thanks a lot for this tip…:)
oh god, finally, FINALLY, i managed to get rid of the horizontal line. Thanks to you.
I chose built-in features of 2007 to enter footer with page number but did not want the stupid ass line in certain sections.
You are genious, my friend. Gold star for you!
I love you.
Do you have any idea the amount of hours I could have back in my life – had I known this in 2000?
You are a lifesaver thank you.
I am currently working on an extremely important document and this ‘line/border’ had brought me close to breaking point.
I wil certainly make a purchase from Amazon via your link.
Write a book – it will sell millions!
Bless your beautiful brain…. Thanks for posting.
Thank you.
Worked like a dream.
No help at all. The line is IN the header – and i cannot get it to go away
thank you guys… . ur postings really helped to solve the problem which was driving me nuts…. gr888 … keep going….
The very quick and simple way to handle ANY Auto-correct or Auto-format change you didn’t want is to use Control-Z (Command-Z on the Mac) as soon as it happens. Rules change back into dashes, capitalizations you didn’t want revert to the way you typed them, magic numbered lists that format themselves when you hit “Enter,” smiley characters when you wanted the plain
… They all switch back with Control-Z. Edit < Undo also works, but why waste the time.
Asa designer, I spend a fair amount of time helping people create good looking Word docs: not the keystroke by keystroke tutorials, but the things that make a document look good or look amateur. Microsoft spent a lot of time putting these automated features into Office, but no time at all on when and why you should use them (or not!). So I decided to fill the gap.
I was at my wit’s end! Thank you so much for this site! I tried to copy and transfer my text to another document, but the line would follow.
I do make purchases on Amazon and I will go through your site to make them.
Again, a million thanks!
thank you soooooooooo much! especially for providing 2007 instructions too!
A million thanks!
Oh my god … I didn’t know how many people had the same problem like me.
Despite some very annoying things like the stubborn line, I’m a big fan of Word 2007.
Thanks to inowebmarketing.com we all found the solution within 1 minute instead of spending hours of digging through tons of info first.
Thank you !!
Thank you so very, very much.
Oh, yeah. That works. So simple, yet so dumb. Thanks for the help.
You SO ROCK!!!
Made my day! thanks mate!
Thank you so much. This was driving me completely crazy.
Thank you so much
I had a dealine to make and had ths annoying line
Your explananation was very clear and worked!
Thanks a lot again
i
Great tip…that line was so annoying…it was easy to fix this that I’m quite embarrassed I couldn’t figure it out…Thanks!
Thank you so very much for the detailed guide. Excellent job.
Awesome, this is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for improving the Internet’s SNR. Good Work
Man u Rock.. thanks..saved my life
Hi, thanks a ton for the tip. This is more of a MS bug than it is a feature.
Thanks so much for showing me how to get rid of that annoying borderline; it was driving me borderline insane!!! lol thanks=)
Thanks A Lot!!! I really didn’t want to retype my entire essay just cuz of one +>K1^G line. Its people like you that make the internet a good place
_____________________________________________
^^stupid line, LOL
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the tip. It only worked for me by selecting all and then changing the Border option.
Thanks Buddy.
Thnak you so much. Google search: “word can’t remove horizontal rule”, you appear first, one-click, one instant-fix. Bliss.
Thank you very much for your big help
Adia´s last blog ..Tip to improve local targeting with online ads
Thanks, saved me 10 minutes of searching
I love you man
Thanks so much!
Great stuff. To remove all lines in the document select all text (CTRL-A), and do the same trick as described above. Initially the line just jumped up a row when I tried to remove it.
Thanks, Bob
thank you so much! this was very helpful! you saved me from further frustration,my friend!
cheers!
Thanks a lot… This is a good piece of information!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
EXCELLENT FROM YOUR PART…
HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME
Finally! You do good anger-therapy work. It was such a relief to delete those lines!
Thanks a lot! I spent more than half an hour trying to remove that line!
postscripter´s last blog ..Theremin – The Untouchable Instrument
I love you .<
Thanks! I was about to lose it with this auto-format feature…. your solution worked as stated, much appreciated!
Bless you!
Wow!!! I have dealt with this many times over the years and finally decided to Google for an answer…LOL! Thank you sooooo much!
Thank a lot.
Useful guide.
It did not work for me until I used Ctrl A to select the entire document. Then your very helpful solution was successful.
To prevent future occurrences I followed a more involved route than your suggestion. If the thunderbolt is not applicable the following will do it.
Tools, Auto correct options, Auto format as you type, unchk the Borders box
after reprinting my essay 8 times and copy and pasting back and forth notepad and word to remove that annoying line, here’s the solution. -sigh-
now i know what to do. =D thanks.
This was a wonderful help. I had the same problem after I cut and paste the line I created and the original line stayed while the new one was created. This is a big help when I did a Google search. Thank you!