How to darken gridlines in Microsoft Excel 

Gridlines are the horizontal and vertical lines that appear on a worksheet to help users align and organize data. By default, Excel’s gridlines are light grey, which may not be very visible, especially when printed out.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to darken gridlines in Microsoft Excel. Gridlines are an essential part of the sheet interface as they make the sheet more readable. The gridlines can be darkened by thickening the gridlines and applying a darker colour. For this, we can use the Border option in the Home tab or we can use the Format Cells for this purpose.

Method 1: Using the Border Option in the Home Tab

Step 1 – Select the Range of Cells

• Select the range of cells to darken their gridlines.

Step 2 – Click on the Border List Arrow

• Click on the Border list arrow in the Font section of the Home tab.
• A drop-down list will appear.

Step 3 – Click on the All Borders Option

• Click on the All Borders option in the drop-down list.
• The gridlines of the selected range will be darkened.

Method 2: Using the Format Cells Dialog Box

Step 1 – Select the Cells

• Select the cell to which the gridlines are to be added.

Step 2 – Right-Click on the Selected Cells

• Right-click on the selected cells.
• A context menu will appear.

Step 3 – Click on the Format Cells Option

• Click on the Format Cells dialog box option in the context menu.

Step 4 – Go to the Borders Tab

• Go to the Borders tab in the Format Cells dialog box.

Step 5 – Select the Inside and Outside Option

• Select the Inside and Outside options in the Presets sections.
• You may choose a style with thicker lines in the Style section.

Step 6 – Click on OK 

• Click on OK in the Format Cells dialog box.

Method 3: Changing the Default Gridline Colour to Darker Colour

Step 1 – Go to the File Tab

• Go to the File tab in the menu bar.

Step 2 – Click on the Options

• Click on the Options in the left bottom corner of the File tab.

Step 3 – Click on the Advanced Option

• Click on the advanced option.

Step 4 – Scroll down to the Display option for this workbook

• Scroll down to the Display option for this workbook.

Step 5 – Change the Gridline Colour

• Select a darker colour in the Gridline colour option.

Step 6 – Click on OK

• Click on OK in the Dialogue box.
• The colour of the gridlines will be changed.