Excel gridlines not showing: how to get them back

1. Gridlines turned off for the sheet

Gridlines are a display setting saved with each worksheet. Someone may have switched them off to make a report look cleaner, and the setting travels with the file. That's why a new sheet in the same workbook shows lines and this one doesn't.

1. Click the sheet tab that's missing gridlines.
2. Go to View and tick Gridlines in the Show group.
3. Or go to Page Layout and, under Sheet Options, tick View below Gridlines. Both boxes control the same setting.

2. A white fill is covering them

If gridlines show on part of the sheet but a block of cells looks blank, those cells almost certainly have a white fill colour. White fill and no fill look the same on a white sheet, but a fill paints over the gridlines. It often arrives with data pasted from a web page or another workbook.

1. Select the cells with no lines, or press Ctrl+A to select the whole sheet.
2. Go to Home, click the arrow next to Fill Color (the paint bucket) and choose No Fill. Choosing White is not the same thing.
3. If the lines come back but some colours you wanted have gone, undo with Ctrl+Z and select a smaller range instead.

3. Conditional formatting or the gridline colour

Lines that disappear only when a value changes are a conditional formatting rule with a white fill. Go to Home > Conditional Formatting > Manage Rules, set Show formatting rules for to This Worksheet, edit the rule, and under Format > Fill choose No Color.

If View > Gridlines is ticked, there's no fill, and lines are still invisible or very faint, check the colour. Go to File > Options > Advanced, scroll to Display options for this worksheet, pick the sheet in the drop-down, and set Gridline color to Automatic. Show gridlines is in the same place. On some screens the default grey is simply faint; picking a darker Gridline color in the same place makes the lines easier to see on that sheet.

4. Gridlines don't print

Gridlines on screen and on paper are two separate settings, and printing is off by default. That's why a sheet that looks fine turns into floating numbers in a PDF.

1. Go to Page Layout.
2. Under Sheet Options, tick Print below Gridlines.
3. Check with File > Print: the preview shows gridlines when the setting is on.

5. When to use borders instead

Gridlines are a view setting: they help you work, but whether anyone else sees them depends on their settings, the print option and how the sheet is shared. Borders are formatting, part of the cells themselves. They print, survive a PDF export, and look the same for everyone.

For a report or a form, select the table and use Home > Borders > All Borders, then you can turn gridlines off for a clean look. If you've gone the other way and can't remove lines after unticking Gridlines, those lines are borders: select the cells and choose Home > Borders > No Border. More on print layout in how to print an Excel sheet on one page.