Excel Stop Showing Page Break Lines: Fixes

To stop Excel from showing page break lines, go to File > Options > Advanced, find Display options for this worksheet, select the affected sheet, and clear Show page breaks. If you are seeing blue boundaries in Page Break Preview, switch to View > Normal instead; these are two related but different display issues.

What Excel’s page break lines mean

Page break lines mark where Excel expects a worksheet to divide across printed pages. They can appear after you view or print a sheet, change print settings, or switch between worksheet views. In Normal view, they are usually thin, dotted lines. In Page Break Preview, the boundaries are more prominent and show how the printed pages are arranged.

These indicators are not cell borders, and they do not change the values, formulas, or layout of your data. Hiding the indicators does not remove page breaks from the print layout. It only clears visual guides from the worksheet window. If you later print or export the sheet as a PDF, Excel still paginates it according to the print settings.

Page breaks can be automatic or manual. Excel calculates automatic breaks using such factors as the paper size, page orientation, margins, print area, and scaling. A user can also insert a manual break to force a particular row or column to begin on a new printed page. The lines help you see those divisions, but the display setting controls whether you see them while editing.

Hide the lines in Excel for Windows

Use this setting when you want to keep working in Normal view but remove the dotted page break indicators. The option is attached to a particular worksheet, so make sure you choose the sheet whose lines you want to hide.

Click the worksheet tab where the page break lines are visible.
Select File > Options.
In the Excel Options window, choose Advanced.
Scroll to Display options for this worksheet. This is separate from the section called Display options for this workbook.
If necessary, choose the affected worksheet from the section’s worksheet dropdown.
Clear the Show page breaks checkbox, then select OK.

The dotted lines should disappear from that sheet while it is in Normal view. If other sheets still show them, repeat the process for each one. Selecting multiple sheet tabs before changing options is not a reliable substitute for checking the worksheet named in the Advanced options dropdown.

Use Normal view to remove blue boundaries

If the worksheet has large blue page outlines, page numbers, or shaded areas, Excel is probably in Page Break Preview. That view is designed to help arrange printed pages, so hiding the Show page breaks option alone may not remove its prominent page layout guides. Select View > Normal on the ribbon to return to the usual worksheet grid.

Normal view and the Show page breaks checkbox do different jobs. Normal view changes the worksheet view; the checkbox controls whether page break indicators appear in Normal view. If you return to Normal and still see dotted lines, turn off Show page breaks as described above. Conversely, if you want to inspect or adjust the printed page divisions, choose View > Page Break Preview again.

Page Layout view is another option on the View tab, but it is intended to show pages as they will look when printed, including page margins and headers or footers. It is not the same as Normal view. For a clean, continuous grid while editing, Normal view is usually the appropriate choice.

Where to find the setting on Mac and the web

In Excel for Mac, first use View > Normal if the sheet is in Page Break Preview. To hide dotted page break indicators in Normal view, open Excel > Preferences > View and clear Show page breaks under the window options, if that control is present in your release. Microsoft has changed some Mac preference labels and layouts between releases, so a newer version may label Preferences as Settings or place the option differently.

The Windows path File > Options > Advanced does not apply to Mac. If you cannot find the Mac checkbox, check Excel’s View preferences for your installed version, and use Normal view as a quick way to leave Page Break Preview. Excel for the web does not expose the same Advanced worksheet display control as desktop Excel. If the lines persist in a browser, open the workbook in the desktop app to change the worksheet’s Show page breaks setting.

Why the setting may seem not to work

Most cases come down to the active view or worksheet selection. Check these points before changing print settings or deleting anything:

You are still in Page Break Preview. Choose View > Normal, then check whether dotted lines remain.
You changed a different worksheet’s option. Return to Advanced and verify the sheet selected under Display options for this worksheet.
You are looking at another sheet. The display preference is worksheet-specific, so repeat the change for each sheet that needs it.
You are using Excel for the web. Open the workbook in desktop Excel to access the full worksheet display setting.
You are seeing ordinary cell formatting. Borders applied to cells remain visible even after page break indicators are hidden. Check the Home tab’s Borders control or select a cell to see whether the line follows a cell edge.

Also distinguish page breaks from gridlines. Gridlines form a regular pattern around cells; page break indicators usually cross the sheet at a particular row or column to show a print division. Turning gridlines off under View > Gridlines changes the worksheet’s cell grid, not its page break display. It may make the sheet look cleaner, but it is not the setting to use when only page break lines are the problem.

Hiding lines versus changing printed pages

Choose the action that matches what you want to fix. If the worksheet looks cluttered but prints correctly, hide the page break indicators. If a printed page splits a table in an inconvenient place, adjust the print layout instead. These actions affect different things, and confusing them can lead to unnecessary changes.

Hide indicators: Clear Show page breaks for the worksheet. The print pagination remains in place.
Leave Page Break Preview: Select View > Normal. This changes the view, not the print layout.
Change a manual break: Use Page Layout > Breaks to insert or remove a break, or use Reset All Page Breaks to remove manual breaks and return to automatic pagination.
Fit content onto fewer pages: Review the scaling options in the Page Layout tab, such as fitting a sheet to a specified number of pages. Scaling can shrink text, so check readability before printing.
Change which cells print: Set or clear the print area from the Page Layout tab. A print area changes the range Excel prints; it is not a way to hide display guides.

For example, if a wide sales report is split across two printed pages horizontally, hiding the dotted line will not make the columns fit on one page. You would need to change the orientation, margins, scaling, or page breaks and then inspect the result in Print Preview. If the report prints correctly but the dotted guide distracts from data entry, leave the print setup alone and turn off Show page breaks.

What controls where page breaks appear

When the goal is to improve printing, page break positions can change after you alter the paper size, orientation, margins, print area, or scaling. The selected printer and its settings can also affect pagination. As a result, a line that appears in one setup may move when the workbook is opened on another computer or printed with a different paper size.

Excel generally creates automatic breaks to fit the printable worksheet area onto pages. Manual breaks take precedence where they have been inserted. In Page Break Preview, you can drag a break to adjust the page division; a manual adjustment can change how much content fits on neighboring pages. If you choose Reset All Page Breaks, Excel removes manual breaks on that worksheet, but it does not switch off the display of break indicators.

Before changing a layout to chase a line, use File > Print to inspect the print preview. Confirm the paper size, orientation, margins, and scaling shown there. This helps determine whether the line signals a real pagination issue or is merely an unwanted on-screen guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does hiding page break lines stop Excel from printing page breaks?
No. Clearing Show page breaks hides the indicators in the worksheet window. Excel still divides the printed output into pages using the current print settings and page breaks.

Why did page break lines appear after I printed?
Excel may display page break indicators in Normal view after you use print-related commands or inspect print layout. Clear Show page breaks for that worksheet to hide the dotted lines, or choose Normal if the sheet is in Page Break Preview.

How do I remove page breaks instead of hiding the lines?
For manual breaks, select the relevant row or column and use Page Layout > Breaks to remove a break, or choose Reset All Page Breaks to clear manual breaks on the sheet. Automatic breaks are recalculated from the print layout; hiding their indicators does not remove them.

Why are the lines still there after I turned off Show page breaks?
Check that the correct worksheet was selected in the Advanced options section and that the sheet is in Normal view. If the lines form a regular cell grid or follow cell edges, they may be gridlines or borders rather than page break indicators.

Can I hide page break lines on every worksheet at once?
The display option is set for a worksheet, so verify and change it for each sheet where the indicators appear. Also make sure you are using desktop Excel if you need the full worksheet-level display setting, since Excel for the web does not provide the same control.

A practical way to keep the worksheet readable

For day-to-day editing, use Normal view and disable Show page breaks on sheets where the dotted indicators get in the way. When you need to prepare a printout, check the layout in Print Preview or Page Break Preview, make any necessary adjustments, and return to Normal afterward. This separates the on-screen editing preference from the actual print setup.

If a line remains after these steps, identify what it represents before changing the workbook: a page break guide, a cell border, a gridline, or a boundary in another worksheet view. That simple check prevents an accidental print-layout change when all you wanted was a cleaner worksheet.

Try it: the Date Difference Calculator: days, months, years and weekdays between two dates, with the DATEDIF formulas.

More in How-to basics

Sources: Function behaviour and menu paths: Microsoft Support documentation for Excel. Method & sources

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