Gridlines are straight lines, which may be horizontal, vertical or a combination of both. Word uses gridlines for specific purposes, such as for:
- Defining borders of cells in tables
- Defining major and minor axes in charts
- Aligning pictures and text
Using grids to define the borders of cells in tables makes the document more readable. Using grids in Word you can easily locate and enter data within individual cells in business documents.
Charts are easier to read and interpret if they show the major and minor axes as grids together with boundary lines. Grids help to position elements such as images and text on a page.
Microsoft Word supports printable gridlines.
Although gridlines look good on the document and serve a useful purpose, printing them may be an issue—Word does not always print gridlines—unless you specifically set it up for printing them.
How to print gridlines in Microsoft Word
Here, we will guide you so that you can print gridlines easily under different circumstances.
- Printing Gridlines in Table
- Printing the Axes in the chart
- Printing Gridlines in text and for Image Alignment.
Lets get started.
Method #1: Printing gridlines in Tables
Step #1: Open the Word document containing a table
Open the Word document, and navigate to the table. Depending on the border settings, gridlines on the table may or may not be visible. Hovering the mouse pointer on the table will cause two icons to become visible in the top left corner and bottom right corner of the table.
Step #2: Change the Border settings
Right-click on the icon in the top left corner, and two menus will open.
Click on the small triangle next to the border icon in the top menu. This will open the border menu.
Step #3: Make Borders visible
Click on All Borders to make all the gridlines visible.
Note: If you do not want all borders or all gridlines to be visible, selectively choose the type of border you require from the Border menu.
You can change the thickness, type, and color of the borderlines by clicking on Borders and Shading and setting the parameters in the new menu that opens.
If you select View Gridlines, you can see the borders in the document, but they will not print.
With all borders visible, your table will look like this.
Step #4: Print the gridlines (Borders)
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar. The file menu opens. Click on the Print tab on the left side. The print preview displays all gridlines and you can print them by clicking on the Print icon.
Method #2: Printing the Axes in Charts
Step #1: Open the Document with Chart
Open the Word document and navigate to the chart. Depending on the Gridline settings, major and minor axes on the chart may or may not be visible. Clicking anywhere inside the chart area will open four icons on the right side.
Step #2: Turn Gridlines on
Click on the second Icon from the top. The Chart Elements menu will open. Click on Gridlines, and the axes on the chart will become visible.
Step #3: Add More Gridlines
Hover the mouse pointer over Gridlines and click on the small triangle on the right side. This will open another menu allowing you to add more axes as necessary and display them as additional gridlines.
Step #4: Format the Gridlines
Once you are satisfied with the additional axes, click on More Options to open the menu Format Major Gridlines. Make necessary changes like line type, color, transparency, width, etc., and close the menu by clicking on the close icon at the top right.
This is how the chart will look like with the gridlines visible.
Step #5: Print the Chart with Gridlines (Axes)
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar. The file menu opens. Click on the Print tab on the left side. The print preview displays all gridlines (axes) and you can print them by clicking on the Print icon.
Method #3: Printing Gridlines for Text and Image Alignment
Step #1: Open the Word document containing an image
Open the Word document, and navigate to the page with the image.
Step #2: Turn Gridlines on
Click on View tab on the top menu bar and click on Gridlines to turn it on. A grid should now cover the page.
You can use this grid to align your text and image, but you cannot print it. However, you can use an alternate method to print the grid along with the page. For this, you must turn the grid into an image first.
Windows 10 offers a nifty tool called Snip & Sketch, which allows taking snapshots of a portion of the screen using the key combination Win+Shift+S.
You can save the snapshot as an image. Read on for more.
Step #3: Capture the Gridlines into the Clipboard
With the gridlines turned on, proceed to an empty page on your document.
Press the keys Win+Shift+S together and the mouse cursor will change into a cross.
Position the cross in the top left corner of the grid and while holding the left mouse button down, drag the cross to the right bottom corner.
Release the mouse button.
This action will capture the grid as an image and save it into the clipboard. A notification will appear at the bottom of the window and disappear.
Step #4: Move Clipboard Image into Snip & Sketch
Click the Windows Notifications (top right-hand corner) and select Snip saved to clipboard from the notifications displayed. This will open the app Snip & Sketch with the image of the grid inside.
Step #5: Save the Grid Image as a file.
Click on Save as and save the grid image as a PNG file at a suitable location with a suitable name (example grid.png). Close Snip & Sketch.
Step #6: Insert Grid into a Page in Word
Follow this step onwards if you want to insert the grid image in any single page in your Word document. If you want to insert it in all the pages, proceed from Step #9.
Return to your Word document and navigate to the page with an image.
Click on the Insert tab on the top menu bar. The ribbon changes to display the Insert options. Click on Pictures and select the saved Grid image.
The image will cover the page contents.
Step #7: Make Page Content Visible
Click on the icon on the top right side of the grid. Layout Options will appear. Select the Behind Text option. Click on X in the Layout Options menu to close it.
The page with the grid image inserted will now look like this. Click on the grid image to select it and position or size it as necessary. Click outside the image to exit the selection.
Step #8: Print the Page with Gridline Image
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar. The file menu opens. Click on the Print tab on the left side. The print preview displays all gridlines and you can print them by clicking on the Print icon.
Step #9: Insert Grid into all Pages in Word
If you want to insert the grid image in all pages in the Word document, you must insert it as a watermark. Open your document at any page. Click on the Design tab on the top menu bar. The ribbon changes into the Design menu. Click on Watermark to open the Watermark menu.
Choose Custom Watermark and a Printed Watermark menu opens to allow image selection.
Click on Picture watermark and then on Select Picture. Choose to work offline and select the grid.png file you had saved earlier. Turn off Washout before clicking on Apply. Click on Cancel to exit the menu. Word will apply the grid image as a watermark on all pages. However, you will not be able to resize or move the watermark.
Step #10: Print all Pages with Gridline image as Watermark
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar. The file menu opens. Click on the Print tab on the left side. The print preview displays all gridlines and you can print them by clicking on the Print icon.
Conclusion
Gridlines are an effective way of making information in a Word document more presentable and easier to use. The three methods outlined above allow you to print your document together with gridlines under different circumstances.