How to Get Missing Gridlines Back in Excel

Method 1: Enable Show Gridlines

MS Excel provides an option to hide gridlines for users who do not like them. In your case, the hide feature may have been activated by mistake. Here is how you fix it.

Step 1: Launch the Excel app.

Step 2: Navigate to the View tab and ensure to check the box for Gridlines under the Show section.

Method 2: Ensure the Gridline Color Is Not Set to White

By default, Excel assigns a greyish shade to the gridlines. However, you may have set the color to white, which could be why the gridlines are missing. Follow these steps to change the color to default again.

Step 1: Launch the Excel app and navigate to File > Options.

Step 2: Now click on Advanced, scroll to Display options for this workbook section, and select your workbook.

Step 3: In the Display options for this worksheet section, select your worksheet and choose Automatic in the drop-down for Gridline color.

Method 3: Update Cell Border Colors

In some cases, your gridlines may have everything right, but the white cell borders may still hide them. The best thing here is to remove the cell borders.

Step 1: Launch Excel, press Ctrl + A to select all cells, then right-click and choose Format Cells.

Step 2: Go to the Border tab, select None, and click OK.

Method 4: Update Color Overlay

Sometimes, you may highlight blocks of data with different colors to differentiate them. In a color overlay situation, gridlines may not be visible. If you do not see any color, the overlay color may be white.

Step 1: Launch Excel and press Ctrl + A to select all the cells.

Step 2: Go to Home tab and change the color fill option to No Fill.

Method 5: Clear Conditional Formatting Options

The worksheet may have conditional formatting, which hides the gridlines. This will come in handy if some formatting options are color alternating the sheet.

To fix this, navigate to Home > Styles > Conditional Formatting > Clear Rules > Clear Rules from Entire Sheet.

Note: Clearing rules will remove all other rules along with the one you are trying to remove. So, it is better to go to Manage Rules and check the details to see if there is such a setting. If yes, remove the specific formatting.