(Legacy) Microsoft Excel 2007: Hiding Columns, Rows, and Cells

Last Updated Friday, April 19, 2024, at 8:19 pm

This article is based on legacy software.

At times, there may be information in your worksheet which you no longer need to see. At other times, you might be printing your worksheet and want to print only columns A–F and columns H–J, skipping column G. Rather than rearrange your worksheet for either of these examples, you can simply hide the information. You can also hide information in specific cells.

Hiding Columns

You can hide columns of your worksheet containing information that you do not need to view or do not want to print.

Select a cell within the column(s) to be hidden.
On the Home command tab, in the Cells group, click Format.
From the Format menu, in the Visibility section, select Hide & Unhide » Hide Columns.
The column is hidden.

Hiding Columns: Quick Menu Option

Right click the column ID » select Hide.

Redisplaying Columns

Select at least one cell from both of the columns around the hidden column(s) to be redisplayed.
EXAMPLE: If column B is hidden, select a cell from both columns A and C.
HINT: If you cannot select the appropriate cells, you can use the Go To command.
On the Home command tab, in the Cells group, click Format.
From the Format menu, in the Visibility section, select Hide & Unhide » Unhide Columns.
The column reappears.

Redisplaying Columns: Quick Menu Option

This option works well for redisplaying column A, since there are not columns on both sides of column A.

Hold your cursor between column IDs on the right side of the hidden column.
The cursor will change to an open, double sided arrow as shown here.
Right click » select Unhide.

Hiding Rows

You can hide rows containing information that you do not need to view or do not want to print.

Select a cell within the row(s) to be hidden.
On the Home command tab, in the Cells group, click Format.
From the Format menu, in the Visibility section, select Hide & Unhide » Hide Rows.
The row is hidden.

Hiding Rows: Quick Menu Option

Right click the row ID » select Hide.
The row is hidden.

Redisplaying Rows

Select at least one cell from both of the rows around the hidden row(s) to be redisplayed.
EXAMPLE: If row 5 is hidden, select a cell from rows 4 and 6.
HINT: If you cannot select the appropriate cells, you can use the Go To command.
On the Home command tab, in the Cells group, click Format.
From the Format menu, in the Visibility section, select Hide & Unhide » Unhide Rows.
The row appears.

Redisplaying Rows: Quick Menu Option

This option works well for redisplaying row 1, since there are not rows on both sides of row 1.

Hold your cursor between row IDs where the hidden row is located.
The cursor will change to an open, double sided arrow as shown here.
Right click » select Unhide.

Hiding Cell Contents

You have the ability to hide the contents of individual cells if you do not need to view their contents or you simply do not want to print certain cells.

Select the cell(s) to be hidden.
From the Home command tab, in the Cells group, click Format » select Format Cells...
The Format Cells dialog box appears.
Select the Number tab.
Under Category, select Custom.
In the Type text box, type three semicolons ( ;;; ).
Click OK.
The cells are now hidden.

To redisplay cell information:

Select the cell(s) to be redisplayed.
From the Home command tab, in the Cells group, click Format » select Format Cells...
The Format Cells dialog box appears.
Select the Number tab.
Under Category, make the appropriate selection.
The dialog box refreshes to display options corresponding to the selected category.
Select the desired options.
Click OK.
The cell(s) reappear.