Comments on: How to show and hide gridlines in Excel

In the previous blog post we successfully solved the problem of Excel not printing gridlines. Today I’d like to dwell on another issue related to Excel grid lines. In this article you’ll learn how to show gridlines in an entire worksheet or in certain cells only, and how to hide lines by changing cells background or borders' color. Continue reading →

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Comments page 2. Total comments: 56

  1. gridlines go off when setting a bg color
    how do you fix this ?

  2. Awesome Thanks

  3. how to turn on a grid lines in excel?

  4. So helpful

  5. Thanks a lot! I work well!

  6. Thanks, no response expected!!!

  7. Thank you this was very helpful, I was trying to get the lines back in certain cells only and this really helped me figure it out.

  8. Sometimes you find a set of three cells (arranged vertically) plus one more to the right of the middle one of the three, with no gridlines showing between them. In this case it seems (sometimes) that that middle one has been formatted unexpectedly. To cure, go to Format Cells, select the Fill tab, and click on No Colour (because even if you can't really see it, it turns out that the White button has been selected. This cured a puzzle for us!

    1. This is the answer I've been searching for. Thank you!

  9. This is what I use because I want colors but still wanted the faint gridline to organize the data.

    My solution: Highlight the area you want the gridlines (likely the area you colored and lost them) - Right click - format cells - select the normal border size on the bottom left of the style box - under the color option select "Tan, Background 2" (this is a pre-set option third over right on the top selection - next ensure you select the type of border you want (this is the sample box that says "none, outline, inside, etc.) - finally click okay. You should now have a faint grid border that blends with the original grid marks un-noticingly (yes I made that word up :)

    You can then use the same steps to add a black border around your new grid like border to better present your colored grid lined chart. :)

    1. Thank you!!! I couldn't find this anywhere.

  10. thank you!!!!

  11. The gridlines only show for the information entered. Meaning, if only two days have been entered so far, gridlines only show up for those two days. I need the whole page to print out in gridlines. Those future gridline days will eventually be filled in.

  12. Hello, I have a problem. When I write two numbers next to each other, the line between them disappears. What should I do?
    Thanks.

  13. I am steel in problem with office 2013 excel because of gridline. All is checked and nothing

  14. Yes, but is there any way to have both background color (fill) AND gridlines?

  15. I followed all the suggestions on the Web to show gridlines in Excel 2013 to no avail. I have no idea why it suddenly stopped displaying them. Please help.

    1. Just go to view and check the gridlines box.

  16. Allens comment solved my problem, background set to "no fill"

  17. Thank Mark I resolved with your Tips

  18. nice :)

  19. who r u i dont no but thanks to u god bless u my dear

  20. One reason that grid lines are not showing is that background has been set to white. Select whole sheet, click TLH corner. In Home set background to "no fill".

  21. THANK YOU. I could not work without the lines and it bugged me really badly to see it blank. The second tip helped me.

  22. Hi Ilka,

    To fix what you describe, go to the 'Home' tab. On the right hand side of the toolbar, you will see 'Clear'. Click on clear and then select 'Clear Formats'.

    That should fix your problem.

  23. I have a spreadsheet I received from someone else. When I look at it on the screen, it looks fine. When it prints (legal/landscape) it is only printing the gridlines on the left half of the paper. I have tried adding borders to the entire document, selecting all and showing/printing gridlines, etc. Nothing seems to work.

  24. Thanks!

  25. Thank you! Saved my morning. My boss isn't here and I didn't want to have to ask him how to do this. So yeah, thanks :D

  26. I attempted to get the gridlines back after removing cell borders and by selecting the area and then presets of 'none' I still cannot get the gridlines back. Any ideas in using Excel 2010?

    Thanks.

    1. same problem here

      1. Please change the color type to automatic, choose none and press ok

        1. i am having same problem as Ilka. Please explain step by step. where is the colour type which i have to set as automatic??

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