Gridlines are not printed on a Microsoft Excel worksheet or workbook by default. But you might want to print them to improve the readability of the data. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how you can achieve this in a few easy steps.
2 Methods for printing gridlines in Microsoft Excel:
- Use the Page Layout menu
- Use the keyboard shortcut
Let us begin.
Method #1: Use the Page Layout Menu
By default the printing of gridlines is disabled. This method will show you how to enable it.
Step #1: Open your workbook
Open an Excel document to print.
If you already have an existing workbook that you want to print, then open that.

If you’ve opened a blank workbook, make sure to add some data to print.
For our example, we have filled two rows with random text and numbers as shown below.

Step #2: Select Page Layout
In the main menu bar, select the Page Layout tab.
In the Page Layout ribbon you’ll see the Sheet Options section.
Under the heading Gridlines, there are two checkboxes: View and Print.

Step #3: Enable printing of gridlines
By clicking on the Print checkbox under Gridlines, you enable the printing of gridlines.

Step #4: Print the document
To print the document, click on the Print option under the File tab.
Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl + P to print the document. On your keyboard, you will press the Ctrl key, and then press P on your keyboard.
As you can see in the print preview, the gridlines will be included in the printed document.
Method #2: Use the keyboard shortcut
This method follows the same process as Method 1 for printing the gridlines. The only difference between these two methods is the input hardware used. Method 1 only uses the mouse, while in Method 2, the keyboard is enough to get you through the exercise.
Step #1: Open your workbook
Open an Excel document to print.
If you already have an existing workbook that you want to print, then open that.

If you’ve opened a blank workbook, make sure to enter some data to print.
For our example, we have filled two rows with random text and numbers as shown below.

Step #2: Apply the keyboard shortcut
Applying this shortcut will first enable the printing of gridlines.
On your keyboard, press the following keys successively: Alt > P > P > G.
This will enable the printing of gridlines, as shown, by applying a tick on the Print checkbox under Gridlines.
To disable the printing of gridlines, you can use the same shortcut again.

Step #3: Print the document
To print the document, click on the Print option under the File tab.
Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl + P to print the document. On your keyboard, you will press the Ctrl key, and then press P on your keyboard.

As you can see in the print preview, the gridlines will be included in the printed document.
Conclusion
As you’ve noticed, it is quite easy to print the gridlines using the methods mentioned in this article.
We hope this article helped you get rid of issues you may have faced while using borders to print tables in Excel.