The Simplest Ways to Hide and Show Columns or Rows in Excel 

When working with Excel, you may sometimes need to hide certain columns or rows to conceal unnecessary information. So how do you hide or reveal multiple rows and columns in Excel without allowing edits using mouse, keyboard shortcuts, ...? Let's explore the ways to display and hide columns in Excel below.

How to Hide Columns and Rows in Excel

There are various guides to hide or reveal columns or rows while working in Excel. Typically, you can hide rows and columns by right-clicking, using the Format Cell options, or utilizing keyboard shortcuts. Follow the instructions in the method below to hide columns in Excel.

How to Hide and Show Columns Using Right-Click

This is the simplest way to hide columns in Excel. Specifically, just select the columns or rows you want to hide > right-click > choose “Hide” to hide them instantly.

Similarly, to reveal a hidden column/row, you need to select adjacent columns/rows > right-click > choose “Unhide”.

How to Hide a Column Using the Go To and Format Options

If you want to hide a column in Excel without allowing edits, one way is to use the “Go to” and “Hide” features in “Format.” Here’s how:

Method 1: Using Format -> Hide

Step 1: Select the columns or rows you want to hide on the sheet.

Step 2: Click on the “Home” tab > choose “Format” > left-click on “Hide & Unhide” > select “Hide Rows”, “Hide Columns” or “Hide Sheet” depending on your needs.

• Hide Rows: Conceal rows
• Hide Columns: Conceal columns
• Hide Sheet: Conceal the selected sheet.

Method 2: Use Go to -> Format -> Hide

Step 1: On your working sheet, click on the “Find & Select” menu > choose “Go to”.

Step 2: In the Go To window, enter a cell belonging to the row/column you want to hide into the “Reference” box (for example, to hide row 6, enter B6) > click OK.

Step 3: Excel will automatically search and navigate to that cell. You need to go to the “Format” tab > select “Hide & Unhide” > choose to hide rows or columns as desired.

To unhide using Format:

Step 1: Select the area you want to unhide on your working sheet.

Step 2: Click on “Format” > “Hide & Unhide” > choose “Unhide Columns”, “Unhide Rows” or “Unhide Sheet” depending on your needs, where:

• Unhide Columns: Reveal hidden columns.
• Unhide Rows: Reveal hidden rows.
• Unhide Sheet: Reveal hidden worksheet (sheet).

How to hide columns in Excel with the plus sign

If you want to control the visibility of columns or rows in Excel, this method is recommended. Although slightly more complex, it offers many benefits and convenience. Here's how:

Step 1: Select the columns or rows to hide > go to the “Data” tab > click on “Group”.

Step 2: After selecting Group, you will see a vertical bar along the grouped columns or rows. You can:

• Click on the “-” sign: A very quick way to hide columns in Excel.
• Click on the “+” sign: A method to reveal hidden columns or rows.

How to hide columns in Excel using keyboard shortcuts

In addition to the above 3 methods, there's another way to toggle column and row visibility in Excel, and that's by using keyboard shortcuts. This is considered the simplest and most convenient way to manipulate information on an Excel sheet. Here's how:

• Select the columns or rows you want to hide > press the “Ctrl + 9” key combination to hide the selected area.

Similarly to hiding columns/rows with shortcuts, you can also unhide them using shortcuts, specifically:

Step 1: Select the rows/columns above and below the hidden rows/columns.

Step 2: Press the “Ctrl + Shift + 9” key combination to unhide rows/columns, and here's the result:

How to Find All Hidden Columns by Checking a Worksheet

After hiding columns in Excel as described above, you might want to further hide unnecessary columns or rows and prevent editing. But to find and display hidden columns in Excel, follow the methods below:

Method 1: Check the Worksheet

Step 1: Go to File > select “Info” > click on “Check for Issues” > choose “Inspect Document”.

Step 2: Click Yes to save the changes to the file and proceed.

Step 3: In the Document Inspector window, check the box “Hidden Rows and Columns” > click “Inspect” to start finding hidden rows/columns in the Excel file. Once found, simply apply the methods above to unhide the selected rows/columns.

Method 2: Using Ctrl + A

Step 1: Press “Ctrl + A” to select the entire working area on the current sheet.

Step 2: Right-click > choose “Unhide” to display all hidden columns in Excel.

In summary, here is a guide to hide/unhide multiple columns in Excel using shortcuts, mouse, ..., hoping the information in this article on hiding columns in Excel without allowing edits will be helpful to you when working with spreadsheets in Excel.

See more articles in the category: Excel Tips and Tricks