Hi All,

Thanks for the replies - but I am still having problems. I should also
mention, the original spreadsheet used borders extensively, and adding lite
gray borders to simulate the gridlines will destroy them.

To see what I am talking about, try this. Open a blank work sheet.
Highlight a square block of cells. Format Cells... Patterns and click a
color OK. Then, highlight a larger square area that includes the colored
cells. Format Cells... Patterns and click a pattern OK. Now, highlight all
the same cells from step 2 and remove the pattern. You'll see the gridlines
are no longer visible.

I think the problem is that when removing the pattern, I want the checkbox
to show greyed out (like it is originally before you select pattern) instead
of picking the empty white "pattern".

Maybe I can do this through VBA.