How to Add a Vertical Line in Google Docs: 4 Quick Ways

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Add pizzazz and organization to your document with a vertical line

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido and Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: April 10, 2024 Fact Checked

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Using the Drawing Tool

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Using Paragraph Borders

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Using Columns

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Using Tables

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Video

If you're trying to create a custom Google Doc, you may want to customize it by adding a vertical line. This vertical line could be a simple design element or it could be used to split up columns of text, but unlike adding a horizontal line, adding a vertical line in Google Docs is not always straightforward. There are a few ways to add vertical lines to your document depending on what you're trying to do, and in this article we'll teach you how to do each of them.

Quick Steps

Open your Google Docs document.
Click Insert at the top of the screen.
Select Drawing > New .
Click the Line option.
Hold down shift and draw a vertical line.
Edit your line using the Google Docs drawing tools as needed.
Click Save and close to add the line to your document.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Adding Vertical Lines with the Drawing Tool

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It's between the View and Format menu items. You can draw a vertical line by using Google Docs' drawing tool to customize your document. ^{[1]
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A drawing box will appear on the screen.

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It's next to the shapes icon and looks like a diagonal line.
Hold down ⇧ Shift while drawing to force your line to be straight.
You can increase the size and width of your line or change the color to suit your document.
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Click Save and close when you're done. The line will be automatically added to your document and will be inserted wherever your cursor was when you opened the drawing menu.
- Optionally, click on the line to change how your text wraps around it so you can further customize your document. Select from in-line, wrap text, break text, behind text, or in front of text.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Adding Vertical Lines with Paragraph Borders

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Only the highlighted text will have a border next to it, so if you want a vertical line next to your entire document, press Ctrl + A on Windows or ⌘ Cmd + A on Mac.
It's between the Insert and Tools menu items.
A new window will pop up that has options for the borders around your paragraph.
This will add a vertical border next to your paragraph (or whatever text you selected in the first step).
There are a number of settings in the Borders and shading popup to edit how your line looks. Increase the line's size, change its color, or increase the padding (distance) between the line and the text to suit your document.
The vertical line will be added to your document.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Inserting a Vertical Line between Columns

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Use the columns tool to add a vertical line between two columns of text when editing a Google Doc .
It's between the Insert and Tools menu items.
A new window will pop up that has options for your document columns.
A good number to use is 2 columns, but you can add as many as you want. Note that the more columns you add, the more lines will be added to the document and the skinnier your columns will be.
This will add a vertical line between your columns.
Your text will be organized into columns and there will be a vertical line between your columns.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Adding Vertical Lines Using Tables

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Use tables to add a vertical line between your columns of text as well, or add a single line to one side of your paragraph. This option gives you some more control over what the vertical line looks like.
If you want to add a vertical line next to a single paragraph, choose a 1x1 table for the best option. If you want to add a vertical line between columns, a 2x1 table would work best.
The borders will turn blue when they have been selected.
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Click the "Border width" button and change the width to 0pt. The borders will now be invisible, leaving only the vertical line.
- Or, select the border that turned into your vertical line and edit the width and line color.
The vertical line will grow with the amount of text added to the table.