Making cell borders invisible?

[Jonny]

Hi,

I'm creating a doc with some tables. In print preview and as printed, it
looks great at the borders are completely invisible, exactly as they should.

But when viewing "as is" in Word, the otherwise invisible cell borders
are visible in light gray to make it easier to edit, etc.

The thing is that I'm supposed to send this doc some people who will
view in their computers, and will not print out the doc. I don't want
them to see the borders, but instead see the doc exactly as it looks in
print preview.

Questions:

How can I make the table cell borders invisible and be sure they stay
invisible even in another computer with other preference setting?

Can I lock the doc so that they can't make the borders visible?

TIA
Jonny

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Jonny-

What you are seeing are called Gridlines. In addition to turning off the
Borders, go to the Tables Menu & select Gridlines to remove the check. That
will turn them off.

HTH |:>)

 

[Jonny]

Hi Jonny-

What you are seeing are called Gridlines. In addition to turning off the
Borders, go to the Tables Menu & select Gridlines to remove the check. That
will turn them off.

HTH |:>)

Taz,

Yes, it certainly helped. Thanks. I hadn't a clue it was that easy....
<blush />

But when I'm done, can I in some way lock the entire shebang so that the
recipients of the file can't make those gridlines visible again, or any
other "editing help" for that matter? What I'm after is to make it look
exactly as in print preview, with no possibility what so ever for anyone
change that, regardless of preference settings or anything else.

Is that possible?

TIA
Jonny

 

[Elliott Roper]

Taz,

Yes, it certainly helped. Thanks. I hadn't a clue it was that easy....
<blush />

But when I'm done, can I in some way lock the entire shebang so that the
recipients of the file can't make those gridlines visible again, or any
other "editing help" for that matter? What I'm after is to make it look
exactly as in print preview, with no possibility what so ever for anyone
change that, regardless of preference settings or anything else.

Is that possible?

Print as PDF, and send them the PDF. Print preview *is* the PDF snuck
up to you inside Word.
I always send both when I want the recipient to edit it, yet see what
it was supposed to look like before his incarnation of Word wrecked it.
;-)

 

[Jonny]

Print as PDF, and send them the PDF. Print preview *is* the PDF snuck
up to you inside Word.
I always send both when I want the recipient to edit it, yet see what
it was supposed to look like before his incarnation of Word wrecked it.
;-)

Thanks Elliott,

But that's not an option. In this case, they're not allowing anything
but .doc to be sent through their website. And they use the format to
add the content to some database. That's why I'm in this mess: I already
have a PDF, made through InDesign, but can't use it and trying to make a
word doc look the same...

Suggestions appreciated.

Cheers,
Jonny

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Jonny,

There may be a better way but I just tried this and it worked:

1. Be sure there's a section break somewhere in the document. If you
haven't used one, insert one somewhere (I did it at the end of the
document).

2. Go to Tools>Protect Document

3. In the dialog box, tick Forms

4. Click on Sections and be sure all sections are checked.

5. Enter a password before exiting the Protect Document dialog (so the
recipient can't check Unprotect Document without the password).

As far as I can tell, that should do it.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Jonny]

Hi Jonny,

There may be a better way but I just tried this and it worked:

1. Be sure there's a section break somewhere in the document. If you
haven't used one, insert one somewhere (I did it at the end of the
document).

2. Go to Tools>Protect Document

3. In the dialog box, tick Forms

4. Click on Sections and be sure all sections are checked.

5. Enter a password before exiting the Protect Document dialog (so the
recipient can't check Unprotect Document without the password).

As far as I can tell, that should do it.

Thanks Beth,

I tried a similar approach before, without success, and your suggestion
doesn't seem to work the way I have in mind either. It appears as if the
user can show gridlines and linebreaks (when clicking that thingy that
looks like a "P") anyway. That's what I want to avoid, if possible.

Any other suggestion, or do I have to accept the way it is?

TIA
Jonny

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

But that's not an option. In this case, they're not allowing anything
but .doc to be sent through their website. And they use the format to
add the content to some database. That's why I'm in this mess: I already
have a PDF, made through InDesign, but can't use it and trying to make a
word doc look the same...

I can't imagine anyone allowing a .doc (which might contain a virus) and not
a .pdf (which can't contain anything, is neutral). I know that idiots
usually decide these things, but you don't think you could speak to the
idiot, or the idiot's supervisor, and get them to allow .pdf? What harm
could it ever possibly do to anyone?

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

I tried a similar approach before, without success, and your suggestion
doesn't seem to work the way I have in mind either. It appears as if the
user can show gridlines and linebreaks (when clicking that thingy that
looks like a "P") anyway. That's what I want to avoid, if possible.

Well, that's just display. If that happens, all anyone has to do is click
the ¶ button again and the proper display will show. Not good enough?

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[CyberTaz]

Based on all the (seemingly needless, as per Paul's replies) restrictions
you are looking to impose, the last resort I can suggest is to copy the
content and Paste Special into a new doc as Picture or Microsoft Word
Document Object. Note that if the original is more than 1 page, however, you
will have to copy & paste 1 page at a time.

Good Luck |:>)

 

[Klaus Linke]

Any other suggestion, or do I have to accept the way it is?


Hi Jonny,

You could make the borders white.

OTOH, some people (me included) have set the default background to some
non-white color (say gray, beige, or light blue) because they are sick and
tired of being fooled by white table borders...

Klaus