Unhiding a Single Column

I regularly hide and unhide columns in my worksheets. If I have an entire range of columns hidden, I find it a bother to unhide a single column out of all those hidden. For instance, I may hide columns C:M and want to later unhide column F. There are a number of ways this can be done:

• Unhide the entire range and then rehide C:E and G:M.
• Enter cell F1 into the Name box and then use the controls available through the Format tool on the Home tab of the ribbon to unhide the column.
• Enter cell F1 into the Name box and then press Ctrl+Shift+0 to unhide the column.

There are a few other ways to unhide the column, as well, but (as I said) I find such approaches a bother. Unhiding either a single column or a range of columns is very easy to do through a spiffy little macro. Consider the following:

Sub UnhideSingleColumn()
    Dim Col As String
    Dim rng As Range

StartHere:
    Col = InputBox("Enter column to unhide.", "Unhide Column")
    If Col = "" Then Exit Sub
    On Error Resume Next
    ' if not a valid range, an error occurs
    Set rng = ActiveSheet.Columns(Col)
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        On Error GoTo 0
        Err.Clear
        MsgBox "Invalid input! Please input a valid column."
        GoTo StartHere
    End If

    rng.EntireColumn.Hidden = False

    MsgBox "Column " & UCase(Col) & " is now visible.", _
      vbOKOnly, "Unhide Specified Column"
    Set rng = Nothing
    On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

The macro prompts the user for which column should be made visible, and then tries to select that column. If the column cannot be selected, then an error is generated and the user is again asked for input. If the column can be selected, then its .Hidden property is turned off, thereby making the column visible.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11471) 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: Unhiding a Single Column.