Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 12, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
Tables are often used to display all sorts of information in a document. If you remove the borders of a table, however, it can be difficult to see where the table is located and where the edges of each cell are. For these instances, Word allows you to display gridlines around the table. The purpose of these gridlines is to mark the boundaries of the table and each cell in the table when you have the table formatted for no border.
You can turn gridlines on by placing the insertion point within a table and then displaying the Layout tab of the ribbon. In the Table group, click the View Gridlines tool. When you later want to turn gridlines off, again follow the same steps.
It should be noted that you may not see any visible difference in the appearance of your tables when you turn the gridlines on or off. The reason is simple—tables, by default, have borders turned on, and the borders obscure the gridlines that Word may display. To see the gridlines, you'll want to remove any border from your table.
The gridlines setting is not set on a per-table basis. In other words, if you turn the gridlines off anywhere in a document (in or out of a table), it is turned off throughout the entire document.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6038) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.
The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!
Need to jump to a particular row in a table? Word provides an easy way to jump to all sorts of things, but it doesn't ...
Discover MoreIf you need to quickly display the Column tab of the Table Properties dialog box, here are some handy tricks you can use. ...
Discover MoreNeed to make sure that all the cells of a table have something in them? It's easy to do with a handy little macro.
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2021-04-01 12:24:09
glnz
Allen - is there a pre-dedicated shortcut key for this? I thought I had ALT + A,G, but that is not working any more. Thanks.
2020-09-10 17:01:39
Jana
Is there a way to turn on and off table gridlines in the online version of Word?
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments