Darken grid lines in Excel

A reader thinks the gridlines in excel are just too darn light and wanted to know how to make them darker and have it stick.

Let’s look at some options. To change the color of grid lines in Excel, create or open a sheet and click the File tab.

Select Options.

excel-file-options.jpg

Then Advanced.

Scroll down to Display Options. Make sure Show Gridlines is checked. Click on the little arrow next to the paint bucket icon next to Gridline Color.

gridline-color.jpg

Choose black or another darker color and click on OK.

choose-grid-color.jpg

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the default gray and the one changed to black.

grid-option-comparison.jpg

Another option is to add a border. Select the cells you want to change. In my case, I hit Ctrl +A to select them all.

grid-select-all.jpg

Click the border icon and select the type of border from the drop-down menu. I’m going to select All Borders.

Here’s what it looks like.

defined-boarders.jpg

You’ll have to make these changes every time you create a work unless you change the default worksheet template for Excel. I’ll show you how to do that tomorrow.

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