Adjusting Gridline Spacing

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 24, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365

Dennis can turn on gridlines in a document, which seems to be used as a guide for object placement. He wonders if there is a way to adjust the gridlines in order to specify a distance between each of the lines.

Gridlines are used for exactly what Dennis surmised—a guide for object placement. You can turn them on, and they don't print. You turn them on by displaying the View tab of the ribbon and checking the Gridlines check box in the Show or Show/Hide group.

Display the Page Layout or Layout tab of the ribbon.
In the Arrange group, click the Align drop-down list.
Select the Grid Settings option from the drop-down list. Word displays the Drawing Grid dialog box (Word 2007 and Word 2010) or the Grid and Guides dialog box (Word 2013 and later). (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Grid and Guides dialog box.

Using the two controls in the Grid Settings area, change the Horizontal Spacing and Vertical Spacing as desired.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10810) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Insert a TOC without Upsetting Pagination

Insert a table of contents in your document, and your page numbering may get thrown for a loop. If you want the page ...

Discover More

Extracting Targeted Records from a List

When working with large amounts of data, you may have a need to extract just the information that meets the criteria you ...

Discover More

Looking Backward through a Data Table

Sometimes you need to look backward, through the information above your formula, to find the data you need. This can be ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Getting Help Offline

Word provides two different sources from which you can get help—either online or offline. By default, Word uses the ...

Discover More

Speeding Up Document Display

Are your documents displaying too slowly? You can configure Word so that it is as quick as possible on displaying by ...

Discover More

Shortcut for Show/Hide

Hate to take your hands off the keyboard? Here's a handy keyboard shortcut you can use to display (or not display) the ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is three more than 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

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.