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: Skipping Hidden Rows in a Macro.

Skipping Hidden Rows in a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 18, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365


When using a worksheet, it is not uncommon to hide rows that contain data you don't want displayed at the current time. If you have written a macro that processes the data in the worksheet, you may have wondered how to skip over and not process the rows that you have marked as hidden.

The way you accomplish this is to check the Hidden property of each row. If the property is True, then the row is hidden; if False, then row is visible.

As an example of how this works, assume that you have a worksheet that you use to track clients. Some of these clients are considered active and others inactive. To mark a client as inactive, you hide the row containing the client. At some point, you want to number the active clients, and you want to do it using a macro. The following macro will do the trick for you:

Sub NumberClients()
    Dim c As Range
    Dim j As Integer

    If Selection.Columns.Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox "Only select the cells you want numbered"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    j = 0
    For Each c In Selection
        If Not c.Rows.Hidden Then
            j = j + 1
            c.Value = j
        Else
            c.Clear
        End If
    Next c
End Sub

To use the macro, simply select the cells in which the numbering will be done. The macro checks, first of all, to make sure you have only selected cells in a single column. Then, it steps through each cell in the selected range. If the row containing the cell is not hidden, then the counter (j) is incremented and stored in the cell. If the row containing the cell is hidden, then the contents of the cell are cleared. The key to this macro is the If ... End If structure that tests the value of the Hidden attribute.

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 (12552) 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: Skipping Hidden Rows in a Macro.

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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