With this in mind, if you are working with Excel files with hidden columns, it’s important to learn how to unhide columns in Excel to extract maximum data. So get your spreadsheets ready and let’s jump in!
How Does Hiding Columns Work in Excel?
Including data points for calculations and summaries is common when working on Excel. While all that is important, you don’t want your viewers to see that mess. That is where hidden columns come in handy. This feature allows you to hide information such as formulas from your view while keeping it in the spreadsheet. Hiding columns makes your spreadsheet easy to understand and enhances its overall aesthetics. READ MORE: How to Hide Columns in Excel – 6 Ways With Easy Steps ➜
How to Identify Hidden Columns
One of the easiest ways to identify hidden columns is by looking for a double line or a gap between the top column headers. Another way to identify hidden columns is by checking for missing column letters. This gives users a visual cue that some of the columns are hidden.
5 Ways to Unhide Columns in Excel
When bringing back hidden columns to your spreadsheet, you have 5 different ways to help you get the job done. Let’s break all of them down individually:
1. Unhide Columns in Excel Using the Context Menu
This method allows you to reveal hidden columns directly from the context menu. Here’s a quick rundown to unhide columns using the context menu: READ MORE: How to Get Dark Mode in Google Sheets – Desktop & Mobile ➜
2. Unhide Columns in Excel Using Keyboard Shortcuts
Another quick way to unhide columns in Excel is by using keyboard shortcuts allowing you to save the time and effort of manually going through different tabs and sections. When using shortcuts, you have two options that offer the same purpose:
ALT + H + O + U + LALT + O + C + U
Apart from a few different keys, both these combinations serve the same purpose and will reveal all hidden columns from your spreadsheet. READ MORE: How to Fix Keyboard Automatically Doing Shortcuts While Typing? ➜
3. Unhide Columns in Excel Using the Ribbon
The second method to unhide columns in Excel is by using the Ribbon menu which also refers to the tools at the top of your page that help manage your data. Here’s how that’s done: READ MORE: 3 Ways to Open Microsoft Excel in Safe Mode ➜
4. Unhide Columns in Excel Using Width Increase
This method isn’t one of the most conventional ways to unhide columns and is often used by beginners as it takes up a lot of time when manually doing it. However, it’s good to have it in your mind when working with someone who doesn’t know Excel adequately. READ MORE: VLOOKUP vs XLOOKUP: Which is the better Excel Formula? ➜
5. Unhide Columns Using Excel VBA
Excel VBA (Virtual Basic for Applications) is a great way to automate tasks and customize certain operations. However, to use this method properly, you will need to have a basic grip on applying VBA codes. Here’s how to unhide columns using Excel VBA: If you want to unhide a specific column, type in this command: If you want to unhide a range of columns, type in this command: And that’s pretty much it. While using VBS is good for automating even the most complex tasks, we don’t suggest it for unhiding columns considering you have easier alternatives at hand.
How to Unhide Column A in Excel (First Column)
When working on spreadsheets with a hidden first column, it can be tricky to unhide it as there’s no manual way to select the A column as you can with others. To work around that, here’s how to unhide column A in Excel: Additionally, you can also try increasing the width of the first column by dragging the line to unhide it and bring it to your view. READ MORE: How To Solve #Div/0 Errors in Excel (with Examples) ➜
Bonus: How to Unhide Rows in Excel
Just like hidden columns, hidden rows can also be identified by a double-line marker between rows. Additionally, you will also see row number labels skip the usual numerical order and appear randomly. Once you have your hidden rows identified, follow these steps: While this is the most basic and simplest way to do it, you can also try out the above-mentioned steps to unhide columns and they will work the same way for hiding rows. READ MORE: How to Calculate Standard Error in Excel? ➜
Bonus: How to Unhide Row 1 in Excel (First Row)
Similar to the A column, you can also unhide the first row to reveal important information regarding column headers. Here’s how to unhide the first row in Excel: READ MORE: How to Fix #Name Error in Excel (with Examples) ➜
Unhide All Columns and Rows in Excel
If your spreadsheet has several hidden columns and rows, manually unhiding them through different methods can be a hassle. However, you can make things convenient by selecting the entire spreadsheet to unhide all columns and rows. To carry it out all you need to do is first select the entire spreadsheet by clicking on the small grey downward-facing triangle at the top left corner of your screen. Once it turns green, right-click anywhere on the column header and select the Unhide option from the context menu. READ MORE: How to Make a Line Graph in Google Sheets [2024] ➜
Disable the Option to Unhide Columns in Excel
If you don’t want users to unhide hidden columns, Excel also gives you the option to protect your sheet from others accessing sensitive data. With this setting enabled, anyone (including you) will not be able to unhide columns and you’ll have to enter a password to make these options accessible again. Here’s how to disable the option to unhide columns in Excel: READ MORE: What’s the ROUNDDOWN Function? How to use it?
Find Any Hidden Rows and Columns in the Workbook
Another interesting feature that comes with Excel is the built-in Workbook tool that allows users to inspect a document for all hidden rows and columns. Here’s how to find any hidden rows and columns in the workbook:
Alternative to Hiding and Unhiding Columns — Grouping
In Microsoft Excel, Hiding columns and Grouping them are two different features with different purposes. Hiding columns allows you to make certain information invisible without deleting it. On the other hand, Grouping organizes your data into collapsible sections making them useful for creating a structured and navigable layout for sheets with large datasets. Additionally, hidden columns are hard to spot when quickly scrolling through a spreadsheet, whereas Grouping is much more distinct with a bold line above the grouped section that can be expanded or collapsed with just a click. To use the grouping feature all you have to do is select your columns and either use the shortcut keys “ALT + SHIFT + Right Arrow” or head to the Data Ribbon and use the Group and Ungroup options. After grouping columns in Excel, you can expand or collapse the grouped section by clicking the “+” or “–” icon. READ MORE: How to Password Protect or Encrypt Excel Files ➜
Conclusion
To unhide columns in Excel, you have several different ways to get the job done. Once you master this feature you can not only improve the quality of your sheets but also protect data. Additionally, if you want to make enhance your content’s visibility, you can also try using the Grouping alternative to add collapsible sections to your project.
