In some cases, you may want to hide certain rows in Excel.
This is particularly useful if you don’t want your spreadsheet users to see certain information or if you need to print a report without showing all the details.
Below are some steps you can use to hide rows and columns in Excel.
How to hide rows in Excel
Method 1:
- Select the row or rows you want to hide. To select a row, click the row header at the left side of the sheet. If you want to hide several rows, press down the Ctrl key whilst clicking the row headers you wish to hide, one after the other. Alternatively, click and drag over the multiple row headers you wish to hide.
- Then right-click to display the shortcut menu, and select Hide from the list. The selected rows will disappear.
Excel displays a narrow row heading to indicate that there is a hidden row. Also, when a row is hidden, say row 4, the heading number also disappears. After row 3, row 5 follows, skipping row 4 since it is a hidden row.
How to unhide rows in Excel
- To unhide the hidden rows using this method, right-click the narrow row heading and choose Unhide from the shortcut menu. The hidden row will unhide itself.
Method 2:
- Select a cell or cells that’s part of the row or rows you wish to hide. For example, if you want to hide row 7, then select any cell on row 7, either cell A7, B7 or C7.
- Now press Ctrl+9 on your keyboard to hide the rows.
- Alternatively, use the commands on the Home→Cells→Format→Hide & Unhide drop-down list to hide and unhide rows.
- Follow the same steps and select Unhide Rows to display the hidden rows.
Excel hides rows by reducing its height to zero. When a row is hidden, you can’t use the navigation keys to move to a cell in that row. However, you should also know that a narrow row heading is shown to indicate a hidden row.