# Microsoft Office Application Help - Excel Help forum > For Other Platforms(Mac, Google Docs, Mobile OS etc) >  > [SOLVED] Excel 2008 : Grid lines missing in spreadsheet

## alsevcik

My Excel (2008 for Mac) spreadsheets have areas where the faint grid lines are missing. How do I get these to show?

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## JBeaucaire

Tools  > Options > View > Gridlines   (2003)

Show Gridlines in Preferences   (2008)   I think....

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## alsevcik

Thanks, but that's not the solution.  My cure, so far, is to use the format brush to paint blank cells over the affected ones.  That works, but I lose any entries in the cells.

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## shg

It it's like Excel on PC, cells must have no fill in order to see the gridlines. Otherwise you need to use borders.

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## alsevcik

Thanks for helping, but this is not the solution.  There is no fill on these cells.

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## jujuwillis

Assuming the Mac version is the same as PC version (looking wise)   To view them, On the Ribbon, chose View tab,
in the Show Group, select the gridline check box.

To print them, On Page Layout Tab, the little arrow in the Page Setup group will open the Page Set up dialog box.  Sheet tab, select, Print check box

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## alsevcik

Thanks, but apparently the PC and Mac versions have differences.  There is a "view" tab, but in the menu thereof there is no "Show" group.

I've discovered a work-around, however.  I can use the Format Brush to paint grid lines from another part of the spreadsheet.  So, I guess I am happy, now.  But, I still don't understand what made the grid disappear in certain areas in the first place.

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## jujuwillis

Think you must have your borders formatted to white instead of automatic.  You might want to checkout the display options for grid lines under the File Tab, Options, Advanced, Display on this sheet

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## alsevcik

Again, we run into differences between Excel versions.  My version -- 2008 for Mac -- doesn't have an "Options" choice under the "File" tab.  In any case, I don't believe I'm having a problem with borders.  My problem is with the faint grid lines that normally cover every inch of a spreadsheet.  I appreciate your interest though; thanks.

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## DRRedler

This happened to me using Excel 2010 running Windows XP 32-vit on a PC. Not sure if that makes a difference. Gridlines disappeared when I removed some border formatting. This has never happened before in all the years using Excel. To fix I just copied some blank cells with normal faint gridlines and did a paste-special-formatting operation.

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## cwb

alsevcik, I had the same problem with Excel 2007.  I just now corrected it based on a comment here.  I highlighted the cells that had missing gridlines and then selected "no fill" from the fill drop-down.  The faint gridlines reappeared in those random cell blocks. Thanks for posting the question that ultimately solved my problem (and hopefully yours.)

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## alsevcik

THAT'S IT!!!
After 2 years of struggling I now have the answer. Thanks to you.
Best.
AL

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## Izandol

Is this not what shg told you two years ago in this same question and you said there was no fill?

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## alsevcik

Yes it is. The thing is, I had not put a "fill" into any spaces on my spreadsheet, so I thought there wasn't any fill to remove. When I saw your comment recently I decided to give the "no fill" command a try --- and it worked. Wish I had done that 2 years ago, but that's the way it goes.

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