Border feature erratic - Excel for Mac

Question

I am using Excel for Mac 16.16.11, MacOS 10.13.6.  The cell border feature is working erratically - sometimes it will "take" after I set up my borders in the "format cells" window and press "OK", and sometimes it doesn't, and I have to set them all over again. Sometimes some of the lines are there and others are blank. This is frustrating and time consuming, as I prepare a lot of tables for reports that use borders.  Suggestions?

Answer 1

Hi Carnelian,

If the border issue appear again, please feel free to post back and let us further assist you.

Best Regards,

Nathan

Answer 2

Hi CarnelianKM,

Thank you for sharing the information with us. Since this issue happen randomly, if this issue happen again, you may check if there are anything different on your Mac and on Excel. Meanwhile, to check if this is related to the add-ins or some other programs, you may open your Mac in the Safe Mode and see if the issue would appear.

If the issue also exists in the Safe Mode, I'd appreciate it if you may provide the following information with us so that we may further assist you:

1. Please check if something had been changed on your Mac before this issue appeared, for example install/upgrade of a program;
2. Please check if this occur on all your workbooks or just on certain of them;
3. Please click Excel in the top menu > About Excel > capture a screenshot of the detailed version information and share it with us.

Best Regards,

Nathan

Answer 3

I have been working with excel borders for many years and this is the first time I've had trouble.  I use the preview, and "outside" "inside" to start, and then tailor from there if there is a border that needs to be different.  I use all kinds of lines, thin, thick, dotted.  I just tried to reproduce it and was unable to do so.  However this has been plaguing me for a week.  I will post again if it happens and I can get a screen shot.  One thing I did find is that when I opened the dialog box a second time, the preview showed the lines I had been wanting it to show - so they are on the preview, but not on the spreadsheet.

Answer 4

Hi CarnelianKM,

Based on my test with Excel for Mac (Version 16.11), I cannot reproduce this behavior on our side. However, I notice that by default none of the border lines are selected. I'd suggest that before clicking OK, you may double-check the Border preview to see if all the borders that you need are selected.

Meanwhile, I also notice that if a thin line is selected in Line Style, the boarder could be not obvious enough to see. You may also select a thick line instead.

If my above suggestions couldn't help, you may also check if this would happen on a new created blank workbook in case this is related to the existing formats of the workbook.

Please let us know if there is any update.

Best Regards,

Nathan