MS Office 101

Vanishing Gridlines

Here's a good tip that comes from a reader's question regarding those pesky vanishing gridlines.

We all know that in MS Excel you can go into the Page Setup window (File menu, Page Setup choice) on the Sheet tab and check the box to have Excel print the gridlines with your data.

But what's going on when those gridlines just aren't showing up?

Another computer glitch?

Probably not.

Take a look two lines below the Gridlines checkbox.

See the Draft quality choice?

If that's checked then there's your culprit.

Draft quality is a great thing—it helps to print the worksheet faster.

The trade off (yep, there's always a trade off) is that while you're busy saving time it's busy not printing gridlines and most graphics.

Want your gridlines back?

Uncheck the Draft quality box and click OK.

... And just like that, you're back in the grid.

Office Tip of the Day

Zig or Zag—Which Way?

So, you've got this huge worksheet in MS Excel you're trying to print and it seems that the pages are coming out completely scrambled.

Now what's wrong with this stubborn machine that's causing this to happen?

Honestly—nothing.

It's all in the Page Setup choices you make.

What was that I heard you say?

You didn't make any choices in Page Setup that would cause this chaos?

Well, that could be the problem right there.

With all the other options available in Excel you may not have realized that you can tell it how to print the data.

That is, you can decide if Excel prints down the first page of columns then moves right to the next set of columns—or—if Excel should print across the rows of data then move down to the next set of rows.

Zig or zag?

So, now that you know that you have a choice,let's find out where and what it all means.

At some point before you print go to the File menu, Page Setup choice.

When the Page Setup window opens go to the Sheet tab.

Now you're looking for the Page Order section at the bottom.

Here you'll find two choices: "Down, then over" and "Over, then down".

Pay attention to the preview picture—when you make a selection the arrow changes directions to let you see the page printing order.

Does it make a difference?

You bet.

By selecting the correct direction your page numbering will be correct and you won't have to spend time re-sequencing the pages.

"Down, then over" prints in this direction:

This one seems to be good for data for each item is arranged in columns.

The "Over, then down" option prints in this order:

I find that this one works well when my data for each item is arranged in rows.

Whatever your needs, make a selection then click OK.

And voila!

You're ready to zig... or... zag—whatever fits your data best.

~ April