Re: Grid-lines – spreadsheet – Office 2024

techbud wrote: Thu Oct 30, 2025 4:20 pm

I know there’s a lot of anti-AI sentiment on Bogleheads, but I think this is one of those scenarios where it can be extremely helpful. I believe the rest of this post complies with forum rules about posts containing AI.

I entered the following prompt into ChatGPT (the OP’s question verbatim):

Just wondering if anyone has had issues with non-existent or very faint grid lines in Excel with Office 2024 ? I can navigate to a spot where you can apparently choose the color of your grid lines but it doesn’t seem to work

And I got the following answer, which I hope solves your problem:

Yes — you’re not alone; there are known quirks with grid-lines in Microsoft Excel (including the version in Office 2024) and they often stem from a few particular causes. Below are possible reasons and fixes — you may need to try a couple of them to identify which one applies in your case.

Confirm the basic settings first

Make sure Show gridlines is enabled: On the View tab → in the Show group, the “Gridlines” checkbox should be checked.

In File → Options → Advanced → Display options for this worksheet: confirm that “Show gridlines” is selected for the specific worksheet.

Also in that same Advanced section you can change the “Gridline color”. If it’s too light (or white) it might look like there are no gridlines.

Common causes of “very faint or missing” gridlines

Here are situations that commonly result in gridlines being hard to see or apparently missing:

Fill colour on cells: If cells have a fill (background) colour, the default gridlines might be hidden or invisible because the cell interior is coloured. Microsoft states: “If you apply a fill colour to cells … you won’t be able to see or print the cell gridlines for those cells.”

Gridline colour set to something too light: Even if gridlines are turned on, if the colour is set to something very faint (light grey or white) then visually they’ll appear almost invisible. (See the article about making them “fancy” or more noticeable by changing colour.)

Worksheet or workbook with unusual theme/background: If your worksheet background, theme, or cell styles use very light colours, the contrast may be so low the gridlines are hard to see.

Zoom level / display rendering: Sometimes at certain zoom levels or on screens with certain resolutions the thin gridline rendering makes them appear faint.

Gridlines vs Borders confusion: Some expect gridlines to behave like borders (thick, visible) but gridlines are inherently faint default lines that apply to the whole worksheet. Microsoft explicitly: “Gridlines cannot be customised in the same manner that borders can.”

Additional “troubleshooting” steps you can try

Change the “Gridline colour” to a darker/more contrasting colour via File → Options → Advanced → Display options for this worksheet. Then see if they become visible.

Remove any fill background colour from cells: Select all (Ctrl+A) → go to Home → Fill Colour → choose “No Fill”. Then see if gridlines appear. (Because as noted, gridlines hide behind filled cells.)

If you still don’t see them, try selecting the entire sheet and applying borders instead: Home → Borders → All Borders. This isn’t gridlines per se but gives visible cell division lines.

Check if it’s just a display issue: Try zooming in/out, or viewing on a different monitor.

If you’re trying to print, recall that by default gridlines are not printed — you have to enable “Print gridlines” via Page Layout → Sheet Options → Gridlines → Print.

Thanks Techbud a great example to illustrate the power of AI