Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 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: Hiding and Unhiding Rows.

Hiding and Unhiding Rows

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 15, 2022)

Excel allows you to easily hide a row, meaning it will not be shown on the display or printed when you print the worksheet. The row is not deleted; its height is simply reduced to 0. To hide a row, follow these steps:

  1. Select any cell in the row (or rows) you want to hide.
  2. Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
  3. In the Cells group, click the Format tool. Excel displays a number of formatting options.
  4. Click Hide & Unhide and then Hide Rows.

You can also hide rows by selecting those you want to hide, right-clicking on the selected rows, and choosing Hide from the resulting Context menu.

When you hide rows in a worksheet, you will notice that the other rows are not renumbered. Instead, a thick bar appears in the row header area (at the left side of the screen) to indicate that there are hidden rows at that point. You can unhide previously hidden rows by following these steps:

  1. Select the rows on both sides of those that are hidden. For instance, if rows 7 through 11 are hidden, select rows 6 and 12.
  2. Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
  3. In the Cells group, click the Format tool. Excel displays a number of formatting options.
  4. Click Hide & Unhide and then Unhide Rows.

You can also unhide rows by selecting the rows on both sides of those you want to unhide (see step 1 for an example), right-clicking on the selected rows, and choosing Unhide from the resulting Context menu.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6292) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Hiding and Unhiding Rows.

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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