Bug in Word 2016? Gridlines sometimes won't show

Question

Hello, community!

Lately, I have been using Word to design nice CVs, and I'm using the grid (View => Gridlines) to align objects. I found that in some documents, after saving them a few times, the gridlines simply won't show when I turn them on.

I could not discern a pattern for this behaviour. The only workaround I have is to abandon the file and rebuild the document in a new one.

Is anybody having the same problem? Have you found a fix?

Answer 1

Hi Matthias,

Based on the documents you shared, I found the grid settings in the "doesn't work" document is not the default value.

Given this situation, I suggest you follow the steps below to add the Grid Settings button to the QAT bar so that you can configure this:

1. Go to Word and click the arrow on the Quick Access Tool bar as below:

2. Select All commands in the Choose commands from selected box.
3. Find Grid Settings and click Add > OK.

4. Click Grid Settings and change the setting as the following:

5. Go to View and check Gridlines.

Hope this can  resolve it.

Regards,

William

Answer 2

Hi Matthias,

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

To troubleshoot this issue, please share the following information with us.

1) Go to Word > File > Account to capture a screenshot about the Product Information.

2. As you mentioned above, this is a random issue, can you recall anything that whether you do some operations before this issue occurs?

Regards,

William

Answer 3

Hi, William!

Here is the info:

I'm afraid that, unfortunately, I can't discern any action that would precede the issue.

I have picked two files from my recent work, one in which the grid doesn't work, and one in which it works. The files are here.

Additional info: I have Word running on Windows 10 Home, 64-bit, inside a VirtualBox virtual machine.

Here's a video showing the issue.

Answer 4

In the problem document, look at the Grid and Guides dialog box where you'll find that gridlines are not displayed.

Answer 5

Hi Matthias,

Have you tried the suggestion above?

Let us know if you need further assistance.

Regards,

William