When you fill up a spreadsheet with data, dotted lines will appear in between cells. They’re useful for some people, but they can be distracting to others. We’ll tell you when and why these lines will appear and how to get rid of them.
There are a few instances when dotted lines can appear in Excel. For example, if you set up your sheet for printing or use the Page Break Preview then dotted lines for page breaks will appear. Additionally, if you share a spreadsheet with editing privileges, a collaborator may add a border with a dotted line style too.
How to Overcome Printer Issues in MS Excel
If you print your sheet or simply look at a print preview of it, you’ll notice these dotted lines appear when you return to the sheet. These are indicators of page breaks for your spreadsheet because once an item gets separated onto a different page, you can’t select it anymore.
If you see dotted lines after seeing the print preview, it’s possible to delete them
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Editing the Excel Preferences to Remove Dotted Lines
Select Advanced from the left and uncheck the Show Page Breaks box on the right.
Show Page Breaks in Excel
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Eliminate Dotted Lines After a Page Break Preview In Microsoft Excel
Blackened lines mean that the print preview was paused and in page break mode.