Skip to Content

How to hide and unhide columns in excel

In some cases, you may want to hide certain columns in Excel. This is particularly useful if you don’t want your spreadsheet users to see particular information or if you need to print a report without showing all the details.

Below are some steps you can use to hide columns and rows in Excel.

How to hide a column in Excel

Method 1:

  • Select the column or columns you want to hide. To select a column, click the column header at the top of the sheet. If you want to hide several columns, press down the Ctrl key whilst clicking the column headers you want to hide, one after the other. Alternatively, click and drag over the multiple column headers you wish to hide.
  • Then right-click the selected column or columns to display the shortcut menu, and select Hide from the list. The selected columns will disappear. Follow the same steps to unhide the hidden columns.

See screenshot:

Excel displays a narrow column heading to indicate that there is a hidden column. Also, when a column is hidden, say column D, the heading letter also disappears. After column C, column E follows, skipping column D since it is hidden.

How to unhide columns in Excel

To unhide hidden columns:

  • Highlight multiple columns including the hidden column.
  • Right-click on the columns you highlighted and choose Unhide from the shortcut menu. The hidden column will all unhide.

Method 2:

This is another way to hide and unhide columns in Excel:

  • Select a cell or cells that’s part of the column or columns you wish to hide. For example, if you want to hide column D, then select any cell on column D, for example, cell D7, D4 or D9.
  • Now press Ctrl+0 (Ctrl + the number zero) on your keyboard to hide the columns.
  • Alternatively, use the commands on the Home→Cells→Format→Hide & Unhide drop-down list to hide and unhide columns.
  • Follow the same steps and select Unhide Columns to display the hidden columns.

Excel hides columns by reducing its height to zero. When a column is hidden, you can’t use the navigation keys to move to a cell in that column. However, you should also know that a narrow column heading is shown to indicate a hidden column.