Gridlines in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Along with rulers and guides, gridlines let you position and snap slide objects in place so that you can easily line a set of slide objects uniformly. Gridlines are intersecting parallel and vertical dotted lines displayed on the slide forming almost a dotted graph-like mesh, as shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Gridlines on a slide

By default, these gridlines are not be visible at all. However, it is helpful to make them visible while working with complicated slide arrangements.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to show or hide these gridlines in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Launch PowerPoint. Typically, the program opens a new presentation with a blank slide, as shown in Figure 2, below. As you can see, there are no gridlines visible by default.
2. 
   Figure 2: Default PowerPoint interface with no gridlines visible
2. To enable the gridlines, select the View tab of the Ribbon, locate the Show group, and check the option that says Gridlines, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
3. 
   Figure 3: Gridlines check-box within View tab
3. The Gridlines check-box now shows a check mark to indicate that it has been turned on, as shown in Figure 4, below. Conversely, you can also uncheck this option to turn off the gridlines.
4. 
   Figure 4: Gridlines check box selected

Keyboard Shortcut for Gridlines

To turn on the visibility of the gridlines, you can use the keyboard shortcut Shift + F9. Use the same shortcut key to toggle it away.


PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

Do you want more keyboard shortcuts?

Explore our PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts and Sequences Ebook that is updated for all PowerPoint versions.

4. Now, you will see gridlines displayed on the slide, as shown in Figure 5, below.
5. 
   Figure 5: Gridlines made visible on PowerPoint slide

More Gridlines Options

Once your gridlines are visible on the slide area, you can make them work for you! First, tweak the Snap to Grid settings as per your requirements, and then explore our Working with Snap to Grid in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.