Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Unhiding Multiple Worksheets.

Unhiding Multiple Worksheets

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 28, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365

3

When you choose to hide worksheets in a workbook, Excel allows you to hide multiple sheets with one action: all you need to do is select the sheets before actually doing the hiding. Unhiding worksheets is a different story, however. Excel only allows you to unhide one at a time. If you have many worksheets you want to unhide, this can be very tedious.

The only way around this is to use a macro to unhide the worksheets. The following VBA macro will unhide all the worksheets in the current workbook:

Sub UnhideAllSheets()
    Dim wsSheet As Worksheet

    For Each wsSheet In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
        wsSheet.Visible = xlSheetVisible
    Next wsSheet
End Sub

If you would rather not unhide all the worksheets at once, you can cause the macro to ask about each hidden worksheet and then unhide each that you agree to unhide. The following macro will handle this task:

Sub UnhideSomeSheets()
    Dim sSheetName As String
    Dim sMessage As String
    Dim Msgres As VbMsgBoxResult

    For Each wsSheet In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
        If wsSheet.Visible = xlSheetHidden Then
            sSheetName = wsSheet.Name
            sMessage = "Unhide the following sheet?" _
              & vbNewLine & sSheetName
            Msgres = MsgBox(sMessage, vbYesNo)
            If Msgres = vbYes Then wsSheet.Visible = xlSheetVisible
        End If
    Next wsSheet
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9636) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Unhiding Multiple Worksheets.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is one less than 9?

2023-08-28 17:16:25

Bob Ama

You can unhide multiple sheets using Excel 97 commands:
Alt-o-h-u will bring up the Unhide box where you may select multiple worksheets and then [OK].

2021-04-03 05:20:18

Wiz

Update: Unhiding multiple sheets in Excel is now possible. See https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/excel-blog/unhide-multiple-worksheets/ba-p/2234073

2019-12-14 09:38:34

Roy Taylor

I have found the free "Excel Utilities" that you prompted in one of your other tips a useful aid. APSPRO.COM
It has a button that does what this tip is all about and unhides all hidden sheets.
There are lots of other features that I still have to investigate but for this feature alone it is worth the down load.

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