Can’t Remove Gridlines – Causing Anxiety :-) (Excel 2000)

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Hello. I have created a template in Excel 2000 wherein I have applied GREY borders to some of the cells in the worksheet. I have applied WHITE borders around the remaining cells so that the users’ screen won’t look so “busy.” Because I am selectively using the borders on certain cells, I do NOT want the gridlines to print, so I have de-selected the “gridlines” option under File>Page Setup>Sheet.

This template prints fine on the printer in my office. When this same template is printed by users in various other departments, however, heavy interior gridlines are printed around EVERY cell (even those that I have formatted with white borders). I have verified that their “gridlines” option is turned off under File>Page Setup. (Just for the heck of it, I turned on the gridlines option and printed it again; the unwanted interior gridlines were still there, but this time the OUTER box around the worksheet printed too.)

This is a very data-intensive worksheet with many columns and rows… if I can’t “tone down” all the squares by eliminating the unwanted gridlines, this template will look very bad in print!

Does anyone know what my problem may be?

Thanks!
Jessi

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If you change the default color setting from automatic to white will that help(?) Worth a try!

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If you change the default color setting from automatic to white will that help(?) Worth a try!

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If you turn off the on-screen display of gridlines (Tools | Options…, View tab), you won’t need to make cell borders white. I suspect that your colleagues have a black and white printer.

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If you turn off the on-screen display of gridlines (Tools | Options…, View tab), you won’t need to make cell borders white. I suspect that your colleagues have a black and white printer.

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Just guessing here, but I think it has to do with the printers and the drivers. I have had similar problems with HP932 vs HP612. Things that printed great on the 932 printed whacko on the 612. Could not tell you what a workaround might be other than to write it for the lowest quality printer and test it there.

Another option (somewhat anyway) is to merge all of the cells together that you do not want gridlines in and eliminating SOME of the possible gridlines.

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Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

Hans – With regard to turning off the display gridlines under Tools>Options>View and removing the white cell borders… That sounds like a possible solution, if the setting stays with this particular document. Do you know whether their default gridlines will turn back on again when they open and view some OTHER Excel document? I just tested it on my home computer (with Excel 2002) and that option did seem to stay with the individual worksheet; all other new and existing documents reverted back to the default gridline view. Do you know whether Excel 97 and 2000 (the versions at work) will handle it the same way?

I agree that the problem may involve driver/software conflicts, Mike. This is a large mix-and-match organization; several versions of operating systems and application software are being used with many different hardware brands!!

Preston – are you referring to the gridline color under Tools>Options>View? I’ll have to check that out on Tuesday when I go back to work.

Thanks everyone for your help!
Jessi

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The View Gidlines setting is stored in the window definition of the worksheet. You can have different settings for different worksheets in the workbook, even for different windows on the same worksheet. The setting does not carry over to other worksheets/workbooks.

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Okay… Although today is Saturday, I’m tempted to go back in to work and try it.

Thanks so much!
Jessi

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Thanks, Hans. It worked perfectly!

Jessi

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Thanks, Hans. It worked perfectly!

Jessi

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Okay… Although today is Saturday, I’m tempted to go back in to work and try it.

Thanks so much!
Jessi

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The View Gidlines setting is stored in the window definition of the worksheet. You can have different settings for different worksheets in the workbook, even for different windows on the same worksheet. The setting does not carry over to other worksheets/workbooks.

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

Hans – With regard to turning off the display gridlines under Tools>Options>View and removing the white cell borders… That sounds like a possible solution, if the setting stays with this particular document. Do you know whether their default gridlines will turn back on again when they open and view some OTHER Excel document? I just tested it on my home computer (with Excel 2002) and that option did seem to stay with the individual worksheet; all other new and existing documents reverted back to the default gridline view. Do you know whether Excel 97 and 2000 (the versions at work) will handle it the same way?

I agree that the problem may involve driver/software conflicts, Mike. This is a large mix-and-match organization; several versions of operating systems and application software are being used with many different hardware brands!!

Preston – are you referring to the gridline color under Tools>Options>View? I’ll have to check that out on Tuesday when I go back to work.

Thanks everyone for your help!
Jessi

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