Have you ever wondered what the little vertical and horizontal lines are called when you create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet? They are called gridlines, and these lines form tables and cells. They are an integral part of Excel’s basic functionality by allowing you to organize your data into columns and rows. Gridlines also save you from having to create cell borders to make your data easy to read. That’s why it’s good to know how to add or remove gridlines in Excel.

Most Excel spreadsheets come with visible gridlines as the default setting. However, you may receive a spreadsheet from a colleague or friend where the gridlines are not visible. You may also decide that your data looks better without the gridlines being seen by other users. Either way, adding or removing gridlines is easy and doesn't take much time.

There are several methods you can use to show or hide gridlines in Excel 2019, Microsoft 365, and Excel 2016. These include changing the color of the gridlines themselves, changing the fill color of the worksheet, hiding the gridlines in specific tables and cells, and showing or hiding the gridlines for the entire worksheet.

Whether you want your gridlines to stand out more or hide them from view, you can easily change the default color of your gridlines.