Page Boundaries and Invisible Table Boundaries No Longer Display in Win11

Question

Using MS Word on Win10 I used to have page boundaries displayed. In Win11, they disappeared.

In Win10, my invisible table boundaries used to show up as very light dotted lines. In Win11, now they're 100% invisible. Invisible borders are very difficult to deal with - and don't give me any of that "Why don't you just make them solid and then change them before printing?" I didn't used to have to do that. Something has changed and is now different. I want to see my page borders again. I want my faint table borders back.

This is not a diver or display issue. No, these are not shared over sharepoint.

I am using Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019.

Answer 1

While the classic "text boundaries" were removed in Word 2013 (and replaced by text boundaries that are worse than useless), the "crop marks" you show can be displayed by selecting them at File | Options | Advanced: Show document content. Table boundaries (gridlines) are toggled using the View Gridlines button on the contextual Table Layout tab.

Answer 2

Suzanne has responded well to the page boundaries/text boundaries issue.

For tables, make sure that you have gridlines displaying. The control for this is at the left end of the Table Layout tab.

If you are not seeing the gridlines even with that checked, it may have to do with your screen resolution settings.

Answer 3

To restore page boundaries and make table gridlines visible again in Word on Windows 11, adjust the Word display and view settings rather than Windows settings.

1. Turn page margins/white space back on
   1. Switch to Print Layout view (View tab > Print Layout).
   2. Move the mouse pointer to the very top edge of the page until it becomes a double-pointed arrow.
   3. Double-click. This toggles the display of the top and bottom margins (page boundaries). Repeat to hide/show as needed.
   Alternatively (same feature via Options):
   1. Go to File > Options > Display.
   2. Under Page display options, check Show white space between pages in Print Layout view.
   3. Select OK.
   This restores the visible top and bottom margins and the separation between pages.
2. Show table gridlines (for “invisible” borders) When a table has no borders applied, Word can still show non-printing gridlines so the structure is visible on screen.
   1. Click anywhere inside the table.
   2. Go to Table Tools – Layout (or Table Layout) on the ribbon.
   3. Click View Gridlines.
   • This toggles faint, non-printing lines for all borderless table cells in the document.
   • If gridlines are already on but still not visible, zoom in (e.g., 100% or higher) so the dotted lines are easier to see.
3. Confirm display options for margins If margins still appear missing or inconsistent:
   1. Go to File > Options > Display.
   2. Ensure Show white space between pages in Print Layout view is checked, as described above.

These settings are stored in Word, not in Windows 10 vs. Windows 11, so enabling white space and gridlines in Word should restore the behavior previously seen.

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References:

• My top margin is missing
• Word Options (Display)