by One of the most common complaints about gridlines is that they are not printed by default. In this article you'll learn how to print gridlines in Excel and get these faint lines brighter on a hard copy by changing the default gridline color.
It's a good idea to preview your worksheet before getting it on paper to make sure that it looks the way you want. Luckily, Excel 2010 and 2013 allow you to preview and print your files in one location -- on the Print tab in the Backstage view. When you go there, you may find that Excel won't print gridlines in your sheet. As the result, you will get a stack of papers with the data that can be difficult to separate visually.
To cope with this problem, you can use the Borders option or just make Excel print gridlines. The first way will take you a good deal of time. So if you, as many other users, want to do it faster, read this article and find out how to print lines in Excel without drawing cell borders.
Turn on the Print Gridlines option in the Excel Ribbon
It really takes you a few seconds to instruct Excel to print gridlines. Just go to the Sheets Options group on the PAGE LAYOUT tab and check the Print box under Gridlines.
It's that simple! Now you can leisurely keep working on your worksheet.
If you want to make sure that the document will be printed with gridlines, just navigate to FILE -> Print or press the Ctrl + P keyboard shortcut. In the Print Preview pane you will see how your worksheet will look like on the printouts.
Specify the Page Setup settings to print lines in Excel
If you forget to enable the Print Gridlines option in the Ribbon, you can do it just before getting a paper copy of your spreadsheet. Here are easy-to-follow steps to print gridlines in Excel keeping the Print Preview pane open.
Note: If you've already got out of the Backstage view, you can either go to FILE -> Print or press Ctrl + P to come back.
- Click on the Page Setup link under the Print Settings list.
- Move to the Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box.
- Select the Gridlines checkbox in the Print group.
- Click OK.
You will immediately see your spreadsheet with lines in the Print Preview pane.
Note: Excel does not print gridlines around empty cells in a worksheet. If you want to include blank rows and columns into printing as well, just use the Print Area icon to set the range.
Change the printed gridlines color
By default, gridlines in Excel spreadsheets are light gray. If you're printing your sheet with grid on a color printer, you can change the lines color for something more attention-getting.
- Click the FILE tab in the Ribbon.
- Choose Options from the FILE menu to open the Excel Options dialog.
- Select the Advanced category on the left pane of the Excel Options window.
- Scroll down to Display options for this worksheet.
- Pick the sheet from the drop-down list where you want to change the grid lines color.
- Make sure that the Show gridlines checkbox is selected.
- Click on the small arrow next to Gridline color.
- Choose the color you want and click OK.
You will see that the cell boundaries are accurately outlined by colored lines. They will help you read information on the paper copy of your spreadsheet, keeping rows and columns with data visually organized.
Alongside with grid lines, you can also improve readability of your Excel document by printing row and column headers on every page.
Now you know how to print gridlines in Excel 2016-2010 and change the default gridline color. I hope you'll find these simple tricks helpful, and your colleagues will appreciate your friendly way of printing out data.
43 comments
I got my exel with my Samsung tablet and I can't find print options anywhere. Looks like I have to put the lines in my hand.
Dear Sir/Madam
My sheet is not printing lines, show the view all lines show
Thanks you Bespalaya
Dear Sir,
My Question is i will required in one excel sheet each paper total sum show in each paper printout
thank you very much.problem solved..i just changed the color of the grid lines and that's it ..THANKS SO MUCH .GOD BLESS.
Wow! Interesting tutorial.
I enjoyed it.
Very easy
Thanks you for this site.
On screen each cell is single spaced (with grid lines showing as I want) when I preview prior to printing everything looks the same, when I actually print the sheet, most cells are combined with the one below it again showing and printing the grid lines double spaced and some cells/rows are still showing and printing single spacing. I have tried everything I can to fix it.
Thanks.
Doug
Awesome work! Thank you so much!
This did not help at all. Why don't you make it clear that if printer and printer driver is OLD, nothing help.
Awesome it resolved the issue
I highlighted my selection on the Excel spreadsheet and then saved it as a PDF file and then printed it. The gridlines were printed too!
I work with Excel 2010 and my problem is that printing gridlines is not consistent with each time I print a worksheet. I will print a worksheet and it will print the gridlines fine. I then make changes, save the document and when I print again it will not print gridlines. I have to close the document, reopen and then it will print the gridlines. Any suggestions? Thanks!
I did everything suggested here and still cannot get gridlines!
Keep asking Ekaterina Bespalaya to prepare responses and how-to articles! I often search for tips for a problem, and this is by far the most comprehensive, simple, and easy-to-follow. In fact, other writers should be given her work as an example of how they should answer.
Tried everything. it still does not work.
Thank you sooooo much you are literally the best, everyone in office is wondering how i get to have neat work Ekaterina your the best awww
Thank you SO much for your posts. I was recently given Excel 2013, NOT impressed with changes but your posts have helped me tremendously with issues.
sorry new excel file also i am not able to view the grid line. kindly help me
Dear All,
I am facing problem to view the Grid line in excel. if i open new excel iam now able to view grid line. please help me
thank u so much. for ur kind information