Hiding Gridlines

You may not realize it when you first insert a table, but most versions of Word include non-printing gridlines around the table. You can't normally see the gridlines because they are obscured by the border that Word formats tables with by default. (Click here to see a related figure.) The purpose of gridlines is to mark the boundaries of the table and each cell in the table when you have the table formatted for no border.

In versions of Word prior to Word 2007 the gridlines are turned on by default. In Word 2007 these gridlines are turned off by default. You, of course, have complete control over whether gridlines are displayed or not, regardless of your version of Word.

If you are using a version of Word prior to Word 2007 you can turn gridlines off by choosing Hide Gridlines from the Table menu. When you later want them back on, choose the same option again.

If you are using Word 2007 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.

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.