Formatting the borders of panel stacks

Before you begin

You should be familiar with the different parts of a panel stack. See Defining the parts of a panel stack for detailed descriptions.

When you format the borders of a panel stack, the formatting applies to all panels in the panel stack. You can select 3D borders to give the panel stack a three-dimensional appearance, like a button, and/or drop shadows, which "float" the panel stack on top of the background.

To quickly specify basic borders for a panel stack, you can use either the Formatting toolbar or the right-click menu. Instructions for both interfaces are included in Selecting basic borders for panel stacks.

Prerequisite

This procedure assumes you have added a panel stack to the document. For instructions, see Adding panel stacks to documents.

To format the borders of a panel stack

1. Open the document in the Document Editor. (How?)

2. Select the panel stack to format.

3. Do one of the following to open the Format Objects dialog box:

   • Right-click the panel stack and select Format.

   • Select Format from the Format menu.

4. Select Container in the object list on the left.

5. To format basic borders:

   • Click the Border tab.

   • To remove the entire border, click None in the Presets area. You do not have to select a Line Style, Line Color, and so on.

   • Select the Line Style, which is the style of line to use as the border. Your choices are No Line, Dashed, Dotted, Hair, Thin, Double, and Thick.

     The Hair line style cannot be displayed in documents viewed in MicroStrategy Web.

   • Select the color to use for the border by clicking the arrow next to Line Color.

   • Select which borders to apply the Line Style and Line Color to:

   • To apply the formatting to the entire border, click the Outline button in the Presets area.

   • To apply the formatting to specific sections of the border, click the Top Border, Bottom Border, Left Border, and/or Right Border buttons.

   • As you make changes, the Border area changes to show a preview of your selections.

Drop shadows and 3D borders take precedence over any existing border. If you later disable the 3D effect and drop shadow, the original border settings are restored.

6. To apply 3D borders, which make the panel stack appear three-dimensional, like a button:

   • Click the Effects tab.

   • Select one of the following for the 3D border:

   • Sunken insets the object like a pushed button.

   • Raised outsets the object like a button.

   • In the Weight field, set the thickness of the 3D line, measured in points.

7. To apply a drop shadow, which "floats" the panel stack on top of the background:

   • Click the Effects tab.

   • Set Enable Drop Shadow to Yes.

   • In the Drop shadow depth field, set the offset of the drop shadow, measured in points.

8. Click OK to return to the document.