Gridlines

[Suec81]

I just purchased and installed Office 2008 because I developed a problem with gridlines on my Excel files. They disappeared. If I opened a new Workbook there were no gridlines present. Working through Excel Preferences, I was able to restore gridlines BUT ONLY TO THE DOCUMENT THAT WAS OPEN. There was no way for me to change the way Excel opened a new Workbook or my old files.

Now, I have the same problem with my new program Excel 2008(not an upgrade) as part of Office 2008.

Please help!!

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I just purchased and installed Office 2008 because I developed a problem with
gridlines on my Excel files. They disappeared. If I opened a new Workbook
there were no gridlines present. Working through Excel Preferences, I was
able to restore gridlines BUT ONLY TO THE DOCUMENT THAT WAS OPEN. There was
no way for me to change the way Excel opened a new Workbook or my old
files.<br>
<br>
Now, I have the same problem with my new program Excel 2008(not an upgrade)
as part of Office 2008.<br>
<br>
Please help!!

Do you have a default workbook set in your Startup folder (or alternate)?

 

[Suec81]

In my System Folder, Library, StartUpItems, there are no files. Am I looking in the right place??

 

[JE McGimpsey]

In my System Folder, Library, StartUpItems, there are no files. Am I looking
in the right place??

No. Look in

HD:Applications:Microsoft Office 2008:Office:Startup:Excel:

or in the folder, if any, specified for opening at startup in
Preferences/General.

 

[suec]

I looked in HD:Applications:Microsoft Office 2008:Office:Startup:Excel:
and found it empty.

I do not understand what you mean by, " or in the folder, if any, specified for opening at startup in Preferences/General".

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I do not understand what you mean by, " or in the folder, if any, specified
for opening at startup in Preferences/General".

Open XL Preferences.

Click the General button.

In the General preference pane, find the label

"At startup, open all files in:"

Does the input box to the right of the label have anything in it, or is
it blank?

 

[suec]

Where would I find XL Preferences?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Where would I find XL Preferences?

First time on a Mac? Congratulations!

You find them in the same place you find any other applications's
preferences. Choose Preferences.. from the Excel menu.

 

[Suec81]

The input box next to "At startup, open all files in:" is blank. What is your next suggestion?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

The input box next to "At startup, open all files in:" is blank. What is your
next suggestion?

Not sure I have one. If you've set Show Gridlines in preferences, they
should stick for new workbooks (unless you have a customized default
workbook, which you say you don't).

You could try trashing your preferences:

~:Libraryreferences:com.microsoft.Excel.plist

(where ~ is your home directory). Make sure XL is closed when you do so.

 

[Suec81]

I trashed the file Excel.plist and it made no difference. The file remade itself after I opened Excel.

Could my System be causing this problem since it happened with my old version of Office as well as this new one?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I trashed the file Excel.plist and it made no difference. The file remade
itself after I opened Excel.<br>
<br>
Could my System be causing this problem since it happened with my old version
of Office as well as this new one?

I don't see how, but you could try deleting the XL04 preferences file:

~:Libraryreferences:Microsoft:com.microsoft.Excel.prefs.plist

where ~ is your home directory.

 

[Suec81]

I don't have any XL 04 preference files. I was using Office 2001.

I believe what you call my home directory, is in the Users folder. That's where the Library: Preference: Microsoft: XL Preferences are located.

I have already tried removing them after quitting Excel, placing them on the desktop and restarting Excel. I still did not have gridlines. I have now replaced those preferences.

Do you have any other suggestions?
?

 

[Todd Aton]

I think I¹m following the thread correctly so far but just to clarify, are
you saying that this problem started while using Excel 2001 prior to
installing Office 2008?

Todd Aton, SDET
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided ³AS IS² with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

PMFJI, but are the View preferences set to show grid lines? Is the color set
to automatic?

 

[Suec81]

I don't know what "PMFJI" means. In Excel , in View, gridlines is checked and color is set on automatic.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

I don't know what "PMFJI" means. In Excel , in View, gridlines is checked and
color is set on automatic.

It means Pardon Me For Jumping In. I used it to enter this thread and offer
a suggestion that I didn¹t see covered before.

 

[Suec81]

I appreciate any suggestions you have. It is very annoying to manually select the color black in order to see gridlines.