Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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 Columns that are Persistently Hidden.

Unhiding Columns that are Persistently Hidden

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 8, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021


1

Jo has a co-worker who has adjusted a mutually used sheet so that columns A and B are not visible. However, they are visible on print preview and they do print out. Jo has tried unhiding them to no avail, even copying the columns and pasting them into empty columns inserted at columns C and D. However, as soon as Jo deleted the now-redundant columns A and B, the information disappeared again.

There could be several things that need to be checked with the worksheet. First, you'll want to check to make sure that the columns aren't being hidden by some macro running in the background. For instance, there could be a macro associated with an event handler, and the macro does the hiding. (Imagine a macro that hides columns A and B whenever you move from one cell to another or change a value.) The only way to fix such an issue is to either delete or edit the macro.

It is also possible that you aren't really looking at the workbook, but are looking at a custom view. These views can be set up so that certain columns are always hidden, and yet they print just fine. Check the worksheet to see if there are any custom views defined, and if that is what you are viewing.

You might also want to check to make sure that the columns are set to a visible width. It is possible that they aren't really hidden, but set to some very small width value. Selecting the columns and modifying the width to something larger should fix this problem. (To select the columns if you can't see them, press F5 to display the Go To dialog box and then specify you want to go to A:B.)

One of the most common ways to "hide" columns without really hiding them is to freeze the panes. If you freeze the panes vertically with some of the columns off the screen (in this case columns A and B), then those columns remain "frozen" off the screen and you can't get them back without unfreezing the panes.

If the columns still can't be displayed, there are still two options left. First, ask the co-worker what is going on. If the condition genuinely originated with this person, then he or she should be able to explain what is going on. Second, you may need to recreate the workbook. Copy the information from the original worksheet to a new workbook (don't copy the worksheet, just the information), where you should be able to use it with no problem.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12353) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Unhiding Columns that are Persistently Hidden.

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

Counting Records Matching Multiple Criteria

Excel provides worksheet functions that make it easy to count things. What if you want to count records that match more ...

Discover More

Page Counts for Many Documents

Need to see the page count on a large number of documents? Windows provides an easy way to see the information you ...

Discover More

Printing Row Numbers

Excel displays row numbers on-screen that help you easily see what is in each row. If you want to print these row ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel 2013 Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Hiding and Unhiding Columns

Want to hide a column so it doesn't appear in the worksheet? It's easy to do using the formatting capabilities of Excel.

Discover More

Unhiding a Single Column

In a worksheet with lots of hidden columns it is a real pain to try to unhide just one or two columns. The best solution ...

Discover More

Widening a Column to a Particular Cell's Width

Do you want to set a column's width based on whatever is in the currently selected cell? There are actually a number of ...

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 eight minus 6?

2022-10-09 14:39:33

J. Woolley

The problem might also be the worksheet's scroll area. My Excel Toolbox includes the following dynamic array function to list all properties of the formula cell's worksheet (including ScrollArea):
=ListWSProperties([SkipIgnored],[SkipHeader])
Either of the following formulas can also be used in older versions of Excel:
=VLOOKUP("ScrollArea",ListWSProperties(),2)
=VBAResult("ActiveSheet.ScrollArea") -- result is blank when none
To eliminate any scroll area, use this VBA statement:
ActiveSheet.ScrollArea = ""
The following dynamic array function will list all custom views of the formula cell's workbook:
=ListCustomViews()
The following dynamic array function will list all panes of the active window in four columns (Pane, ScrollColumn, ScrollRow, VisibleRange):
=ListPanes()
The following dynamic array function will list all properties of the active window (including freeze, split, and scroll information):
=ListWNProperties([SkipIgnored],[SkipHeader])
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/


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.