How to Add a Border in Google Docs
Put a border around a page in Google Docs with a one-cell table or a drawn rectangle set behind text, and add a border to a paragraph with Borders and shading.
Google Docs has no page border setting. The two workarounds are a one-cell table stretched to the size of the page, or a rectangle drawn in the Drawing tool and placed behind the text. The table is quicker; the drawing can sit closer to the page edge.
Insert a one-cell table
Put the cursor on the first line of the page. Click Insert, hover Table, and click the top-left square of the grid to insert a 1 x 1 table. A single box appears spanning the width between the margins.
Stretch the table to fill the page
Hover over the bottom edge of the cell until the cursor becomes a double arrow, then drag it down toward the bottom margin. Type your content inside the cell. The box grows with the text, so stop a little short of the page bottom to keep it from spilling onto a second page. To bring the border closer to the paper edge, reduce the margins under File, Page setup.
Style the border
Click inside the cell. Three extra buttons appear at the right end of the toolbar: Border color, Border width, and Border dash. Pick a color, a width such as 1.5 pt, and a solid or dashed line. For more options, right-click the table and choose Table properties, where the Color section has the same settings plus a cell background color.
Or draw a rectangle
For a border that can sit outside the margins and behind the text, click Insert, Drawing, New. Click the Shape icon, choose Shapes, then Rectangle, and drag on the canvas to draw one. With the shape selected, set Fill color to Transparent and choose a Border color and Border weight. Click Save and close.
Place the drawing behind the text
Click the inserted drawing and choose Behind text from the small toolbar that appears below it. Drag the corner handles to size the rectangle to the page, then drag the drawing into position. Text flows over it as if it were not there. To edit the shape later, double-click it to reopen the Drawing tool.
For a border around one paragraph. Click in the paragraph, then click Format, Paragraph styles, Borders and shading. Choose the sides, width, style, and color, and click Apply.
In the mobile app. A table can be inserted from the plus icon, but the Drawing tool is not available. Draw the rectangle on the web; it stays in place when the document is opened on a phone.