Tables enable you to neatly structure complex data sets, reports, and other critical information in your Google Docs documents. But sometimes, those default black table borders end up limiting flexibility or distracting readers.
According to recent surveys, over 85% of office documents contain at least one table. And industry research indicates that nearly half of professionally designed documents completely remove borders to maximize visual hierarchy and keep the focus on content.
Luckily, with some simple adjustments, you can delete borders from tables in Google Docs with ease. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive deep on how and why to remove lines from your tables.
Table Borders Can Visually Distract Readers
Before jumping into the step-by-step guidance, let‘s explore why you may want to ditch borders in the first place. While tables traditionally rely on boundaries to organize information, these thick black lines often end up limiting layout flexibility and distracting readers.
Direct Attention to Important Data
According to UX design experts like Steve Krug, any visual elements that don’t directly contribute to key information run the risk or reducing document scanability. And as a technical writer, I‘ve seen firsthand how traditional borders fight against the content for attention. Removing them helps single out the data and facts that truly matter to readers.
Create Modern, Minimalist Layouts
Tables crammed with data already feel visually busy. Eliminating boundaries helps declutter the look and feel—lending a clean, minimalist aesthetic. This can feel especially important for public-facing documents like reports, sales sheets, and press releases where perception is key.
Remove Accessibility Barriers
While borders provide structure for certain users, for those with cognitive or visual disabilities like dyslexia, lines can feel visually overwhelming. According to WebAIM guidelines, eliminating boundaries where possible improves accessibility for a wider range of abilities.
As you can see, deleting borders opens up new creative possibilities while removing unnecessary distractions for your readers. Now let’s tackle how to actually get rid of them in Google Docs.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Removing Borders
Ready to free your tables from the shackles of lines and boundaries with just a few clicks? Follow these simple steps:
- Click within any existing table in your Google Docs document to select the full table.
- In the toolbar, locate the Border width dropdown menu.
- Select 0pt from the border width selections:
- The cell borders disappear instantly, leaving you with a clean, distraction-free set of content:
And that‘s seriously all you need to banish borders for good!
Power User Tip: You can bring back borders at any point by returning to the Border width control and choosing a new measurement like .5pt or 1pt. Think of it like a toggle switch.
Inserting a Brand New Borderless Table
We just saw how easy it is to remove existing borders in Google Docs. But what if you want to build a table from scratch that‘s borderless from the start?
Simply follow the exact same insertion process, but proactively set the border width to 0pt beforehand:
- Place cursor where you want your crisp, beautiful new table to live.
- Navigate to Insert > Table (or use the Table tab shortcut on Mac).
- Set rows and columns as needed.
- Change Border width field to 0pt. Don‘t skip this vital step!
- Insert that borderless data powerhouse into your doc.
And that’s seriously all it takes to prevent borders from ever messing up your sleek, modern table aesthetic.
Creative Styling for Borderless Tables
Congratulations—it only takes seconds to banish borders for good in Google Docs. But removing those lines is just the first step towards building stunning, reader-focused layouts.
Without stylized boundaries competing for attention, you have immense creative flexibility to customize the presentation exactly as needed.
A few highlighting and formatting ideas to try with your boundary-free tables:
- Cell highlighting with unique background colors to establish visual hierarchy
- Variable inner cell padding for magazine-style whitespace and flow
- Column width adjustments for optimal text sizing and data presentation
- Gridlines toggled on for subtle vertical/horizontal guides (View > Show gridlines)
- Custom text formatting with fonts, colors, justification, and more!
Unleash your inner designer. Ditching boundaries frees up your content for boundless (pun intended) formatting creativity.
Considerations Around Accessibility, Publishing, and Collaboration
Removing table borders in Google Docs is simple. Yet as you prepare borderless tables for publishing, collaboration, and public usage, a few key considerations arise:
Accessibility Implications
According to WebAIM guidelines, a lack of clear visual boundaries can limit context and navigation cues for low vision and motor impaired users. Where necessary, consider adding header rows or structural markup to improve screen reader narration.
Unexpected Issues When Publishing
Prevent surprises by previewing border settings across different publishing mediums. For example, exported PDF conversions can sometimes show erased borders if the table markup still contains hidden traces.
Collaborating With Teammates
Change can creating confusion. When passing borderless tables between co-authors, call attention to this stylistic choice to prevent accidental “fixes”. Treat non-borders as an intentional format, not a missing piece.
Proactively thinking through adjacent workflows prevents hiccups down the road.
Conclusion
As we’ve explored in this comprehensive guide, removing table boundaries in Google Docs opens up immense potential for communicators and designers alike. With borders eliminated from the equation, tables transform into focused, distraction-free canvases where high value information takes the spotlight.
We just barely scratched the surface of customizing borderless tables to match reader needs. For even more guidance, explore Google’s Docs training resources or connect with the templates community. The world of boundaryless tables awaits. What will you create?
