How to Remove Gridlines in Microsoft Word for Office 365

Last updated on January 16th, 2023 at 10:05 pm

When you hear the word “gridlines” in relation to a Microsoft Office product, it’s likely that you will associate it with Microsoft Excel.

That application displays gridlines on the screen by default, and can even be printed to make the spreadsheet data easier to read on paper.

But it’s possible to have gridlines in Microsoft Word, too, and it’s likely that, if you are reading this article, then those gridlines are probably unwanted.

If you want to know how to get rid of grid on Word then you will need to open the document, click the View tab, and uncheck the Gridlines box.

Some people like to use gridlines in Word as a way to more easily position document objects, and those gridlines might be displayed on a document that you receive from someone else.

Fortunately, you are able to remove those gridlines from view by changing a document setting if you find the gridlines to be distracting or troublesome.

How to Turn Off Gridlines in Word

1. Open the document.
2. Click View.
3. Uncheck Gridlines.

Our guide continues below with more information on adding or removing gridlines in a Word document, including pictures of these steps.

Many schools or organizations require documents to have a minimum number of words or letters, so find out how to get character count in Word so that you don’t need to resort to unusual methods to find that information.

How to Hide Gridlines in Microsoft Word (Guide with Pictures)

The steps in this article were performed in Microsoft Word for Office 365, but will work in some older versions of Word.

Step 1: Open the document with the gridlines in Microsoft Word.

Step 2: Click the View tab at the top of the window.

Step 3: Click the box to the left of Gridlines to remove the check mark.

Our tutorial continues below with additional discussion about how to get rid of grid in Word.

More Information on How to Remove Grid Lines in Word

For a lot of situations, a grid on a document is not going to be practical or necessary. Microsoft Word automatically adds text to the document in a systematic process by adding new words from top to bottom.

But someone might have been using it to position objects that don’t adhere to the standard Word document structure, or they might have been rotating objects and were using the grid to make sure that everything was even or spaced properly.

For anyone that is creating a standard document that just includes text, knowing how to get rid of grid on Microsoft Word is necessary to ensure that it doesn’t distract anyone reading the digital file. While the gridlines won’t print, they will be visible if someone is looking at the Word file on their computer.

Find out how to print without comments in Word if you are struggling to remove that part of the document when you need a printed version of your file.

Do you need Microsoft Word to begin a new page? Find out how to add a page break in Microsoft Word if you would like to force the document to start a new page.