Excel: How to Remove Gridlines

Although Excel was created as a spreadsheets program to make countless mathematic operations and functions, thanks to the data storage. Also, can be used as pivot tables, to save important information, to make a plan, etc. To be the case, sometimes the gridlines can be a hindrance. 

The main idea of Gridlines in Microsoft Excel makes it easier to view your data. However, you can disable these gridlines if you don’t want to use them while making spreadsheets. There are multiple ways to remove gridlines in Excel. 

Also, you can hide them, fill them with white to make them disappear into the page, in other words, different ways to disappear them or create a template that uses no gridlines. 

Quickly Remove Gridlines 

The program has an option that defines whether, or not, gridlines appear in your spreadsheets. Maybe, you can disable this option to hide gridlines in your Excel spreadsheets. 

Keep in mind, that this method works on a per-worksheet basis, in other words, you will have to perform these steps for each worksheet, if you want to remove gridlines. 

1. Open your spreadsheet with Microsoft Excel on your computer. 
2. Then, select the worksheet you want to remove gridlines from at the bottom of the spreadsheet. 
3. And, select the Page Layout tab at the top of the Excel interface. 
4. For the last step, deselect the View box in the Gridlines section. 

Immediately, Excel will hide all gridlines in your current worksheet. And if you would like to bring gridlines back, enable the View box in the Gridlines section. 

Change the Gridline Color to Remove Gridlines 

Another option is to remove gridlines from an Excel worksheet is by changing the gridline’s color. By default, Excel uses the gray color for gridlines. So, if you change this to white, your gridlines will automatically disappear. 

Remember, this option works on a per-worksheet basis, which means you will have to follow and repeat these steps for each of your worksheets to remove gridlines. 

1. Launch your spreadsheet with Microsoft Excel. 
2. Select the worksheet you want to remove gridlines from. 
3. Select the File in the top-left corner of Excel, and then choose More > Options from the left sidebar. 
4. Now, choose Advanced from the left sidebar on the Excel Options window. 
5. Then, scroll down the right pane to the Display options for this worksheet section. Here, selects the Gridline color option. 
6. Choose White in the color list. 
7. And for the last, select OK at the bottom of the window. 

And now, you will see all gridlines should now be hidden in your current worksheet. 

Apply a Fill Color to Remove Gridlines 

The other solution is to fill the white color in your worksheet to make gridlines disappear. Later, if you change your mind, you can remove the fill color to get gridlines back. 

1. Open the worksheet you want to remove gridlines from. 
2. Select the cells you want to remove gridlines from. Then remove gridlines from your entire worksheet, press Ctrl + A if you are working with a Windows PC or Command + A for Mac to select your entire worksheet. 
3. Select the Home tab at the top of the Excel interface. 
4. Then, select the small down-arrow symbol next to the bucket icon and choose the White color. 
5. Gridlines should now be removed from your worksheet. 

Remove Gridlines from Specific Rows or Columns in Excel 

If you want to remove gridlines from specific rows or columns, use Excel’s Border option. This option allows you to remove gridlines from the selected area in your spreadsheet. 

1. The same first step, open the worksheet you want to hide gridlines in. 
2. Select the row or the column you want to remove gridlines from. 
3. Right-click the selected column or row and choose Format Cells from the menu. 
4. Select the Borders tab on the Format Cells window. Then, select the Color option and choose the White color. 
5. Choose Outline and then Inside in the Presets section. Then, select OK at the bottom. 

You will find gridlines from your selected area are now gone. 

Always Keep Gridlines Removed 

If you are tired to make all this steps page by page. Make your future spreadsheets without gridlines, creating an Excel template that uses no gridlines by default. Then, any spreadsheets that you base on this template will have no gridlines. 

To create this template: 

1. Open Excel and select Blank workbook to create a new workbook. 
2. On the editing screen, select the Page Layout tab at the top. 
3. Deselect the View option in the Gridlines section. This will disable gridlines in your current worksheet. 
4. Save your workbook as an Excel template by selecting File > Save As. 
5. Then, choose Excel Template from the Excel Workbook dropdown menu. 
6. Enter a name for your template (something that let you know that are Gridline free) and select Save. 
7. To use this template to make spreadsheets, open Excel, select New > Personal, and select your template in the list. This will create a workbook without gridlines. 

Print Gridlines in Excel 

By default, gridlines are not printed when you print an Excel spreadsheet. But, if you would like to print gridlines, enable an option in the Excel app. 

1. Launch your spreadsheet with Microsoft Excel. 
2. Select the Page Layout tab at the top of the Excel interface. 
3. Enable the Print option in the Gridlines section. 
4. Press Ctrl + P for a Windows PC or Command + P for a Mac device to open the print screen. You will notice the print preview shows gridlines, which means your gridlines will be printed when you print your spreadsheet. 
5. To disable printing gridlines, turn off the Print option in the Gridlines section. 

For the occasions when you don’t need gridlines, the methods above should help you remove gridlines from your Excel spreadsheets.