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 Columns.

Hiding and Unhiding Columns

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 2, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

Excel allows you to easily hide columns in your worksheet. Once a column is hidden, it will not be shown on the display or printed when you print the worksheet. The column is not deleted; its width is simply reduced to 0. To hide a column, follow these steps:

  1. Select any cell in the column (or columns) you want to hide.
  2. Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
  3. Click the Format tool in the Cells group. Excel displays a series of options.
  4. Click Hide & Unhide and then click Hide Columns.

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

The columns disappear from the display. Notice, however, that the other columns do not change; they still retain the same column labels. Excel does, however, leave a thick bar in the column header area to indicate where the hidden columns would normally appear.

To later unhide the columns, follow these steps:

  1. Select the columns on both sides of those that are hidden.
  2. Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
  3. Click the Format tool in the Cells group. Excel displays a series of options.
  4. Click Hide & Unhide and then click Unhide Columns.

You can also unhide columns by selecting the columns on both sides of those you want to unhide, right-clicking on the selected columns, and choosing Unhide from the resulting Context menu.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6864) 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 Columns.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Creating Unnumbered Endnotes

Endnotes are indispensable in some types of writing. You may want to create endnotes, however, that don't follow the ...

Discover More

Using Text Boundaries

Text boundaries can help you better visualize where text can appear in your document. The feature is easy to turn on and ...

Discover More

Changing What Follows a Footnote Number

Word makes it easy to insert footnotes in your document. It doesn't, however, make it easy to change the format in which ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Sizing Columns and Rows Using the Keyboard

Are you a keyboard-only user wondering how you can set column width or row height without using the mouse? This tip ...

Discover More

Hiding Columns Based on a Cell Value

Need to hide a given column based on the value in a particular cell? The easiest way to accomplish the task is to use a ...

Discover More

Unhiding a Limited Number of Columns

If you have a bunch of hidden columns in your worksheet, you might want to unhide only a portion of those columns. This ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 5 - 0?

2022-07-02 08:39:30

Franklin

I thinknit would be a worthwhile note in the discussion about hiding columns ti mention how gro I ping works and can e used to hide/unhide c I mns.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.