Excel borders are formatting applied to cell edges. You can remove them without deleting the values, formulas, or most other formatting in the selected cells.
Remove borders from selected cells
- Select the cells whose borders you want to remove.
- Open the Home tab.
- Open the arrow beside the Borders button in the Font group.
- Choose No Border.
Only the border formatting for the selection is removed.
Gridlines are not borders
Excel’s faint worksheet gridlines are a display feature rather than borders stored on individual cells. If lines remain after choosing No Border, they may be gridlines. Use Excel’s View controls when your actual goal is to hide worksheet gridlines.
Remove only one edge when needed
If a cell has several borders and only one is unwanted, open the Format Cells border controls and change the specific top, bottom, left, right, or internal edge rather than clearing every border.
Conditional formatting can create a similar appearance
A line or visual style that returns automatically may come from conditional formatting or a table style. Inspect those rules if ordinary border removal does not produce the expected result.
Be careful with Clear All
Excel’s Clear All command removes much more than borders and can erase values, formulas, comments, and formatting. Use No Border when the border itself is the only thing you want to change.
Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.
His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.