Sahil Aggarwal 
Excel is widely used for organizing and analyzing data, but sometimes lines such as gridlines, borders, underlines or shape make the sheet look messy. To make more professional spreadsheets it is important to learn how to remove these lines. This blog will cover every method you need to know for removing lines in Excel.
Types of Lines in Excel
Before knowing how to remove lines, it is important to understand the types of lines that exist in Excel. Each has a different purpose and each line needs a different method to remove these lines.
- Gridlines: Gridlines are faint grey lines which you see on every blank excel sheet. They help to align data within cells but they are not printed by default.
- Borders: These are the custom lines that users add around cells, rows or columns. They make data to stand out but may create a messy look.
- Underlines: These are applied to text or numbers and often used for emphasis. While they are useful in some cases, they might not look professional.
- Drawing or Shape Lines: From the Insert tab excel allows users to insert lines as shapes. These are graphic objects which must be deleted manually.
Why You Might Want to Remove Lines in Excel
Removing unnecessary lines ensures that your worksheet looks neat and easy to understand. Here are some of the reasons why to remove lines in Excel:
- For better Presentation: While presenting, extra lines can be quite disturbing. A clean sheet will help the audience to focus more on numbers.
- To focus on data: Data becomes easy to read when there are not many dividing lines.
- For printing purposes: Sometimes the lines that look fine on-screen appear awkward in printouts. Removing these lines ensures smooth, professional-looking reports.
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How to Remove Gridlines in Excel
Gridlines are the most common type of lines that you’ll encounter. There are multiple methods to remove these and some of them are as follows:
1. Using the View Tab
- In the excel ribbon, click on the View tab.
- Look for the Show Group
- Uncheck the box next to Gridlines.
Your worksheet will appear without the faint gridlines.
2. Using the Page Layout Tab
This method is best fitted while customizing a sheet’s layout. Here are the steps for this:
- Click the Page Layout tab
- In the Sheet Options group, find the option of Gridlines section.
- Uncheck View to hide gridlines from the screen.
3. Changing the Background Color
One of the most used ways to hide gridlines is by applying a background fill. Once applied you will see the gridlines disappear behind the filled background. Here are the steps to change the background color to remove lines in excel:
- Press Ctrl+A to select the complete worksheet.
- On the Home tab, go to the Font Group.
- Choose Fill Color → White (or other color according to your preference)
How to Remove Borders in Excel
Borders, unlike gridlines, are manually added by the user. They must be cleared separately. Here are some methods to remove borders in Excel:
1. Using the Borders Tool
- First select the cells that have borders.
- On the Home tab, go to the Font group.
- Click the Borders drop-down menu.
- Select No Border.
2. Using Clear Formats
This method resets the cells to default formatting. Here are the steps:
- Select the cells in which you want to remove borders.
- On the Home tab, go to the Editing group.
- Click Clear → Clear Formats.
3. Shortcut Key Method
Excel provides a keyboard shortcut for efficiency and the shortcut key method is a quick way to remove borders without using the mouse. To use this, press Alt → H → B → N in sequence.
How to Remove Underlines in Excel
Underlines may appear in text or numbers, but you can remove them easily.
1. Removing Single or Double Underlines
- First, select the underlined cell or text.
- On the Home tab, go to Font Group.
- In the Underline drop-down, select None.
2. Using Keyboard Shortcut
The shortcut Ctrl+U toggles underline on and off. If the text has underline already, then pressing Ctrl+U will remove it. This works best for both single and double underlines.
How to Remove Drawing or Shape Lines in Excel
Excel allows inserting shapes like straight lines or arrows. These must be deleted manually since they are not cell-based. Here are few methods to remove these:
A. Deleting a Single Line Shape
To delete a single line shape click directly on the line shapes and press delete. This will remove the single line shape.
B. Removing Multiple Shape Lines
- Hold down the Ctrl key.
- Click each line shape you want to delete. Then, press delete.
C. Using the Selection Pane
The selection pane helps to manage objects in a worksheet. To delete the line using selection pane we need to follow these steps:
- Go to Home → Find & Select → Selection Pane.
- After following the step above a panel will appear which will show all objects.
- Select the lines and then press Delete.
How to Remove Lines in Excel When Printing
Even after hiding lines on the screen, they may still appear in printouts. Here’s how to make sure they don’t show up.
1. Disabling Gridlines in Print
To disable the gridlines in print go to the Page Layout tab and in the Sheet Options Group uncheck Print Guidelines. This will make sure that gridlines won’t appear in print.
2. Adjusting Page Setup
This method helps you to give extra control over how your sheet looks when printed. By adjusting page setup you can remove the gridlines by the following steps:
- First, go to File → Print → Page Setup.
- In the Sheet tab, uncheck Gridlines and press Ok.
3. Using Print Preview
Make sure to check the document before printing:
- To do this press Ctrl + F2 or click File → Print to open Print Preview.
- Review your sheet to confirm that no unwanted lines are visible.
Conclusion
There are many types of lines in Excel which include gridlines, borders, underlines or shapes. These play an important role in organizing data but if they are too many this make sheets look cluttered. By knowing how to remove lines in Excel you can make your sheet look cleaner, professional and easy to read.
