Skip to main content

How to hide and unhide columns in Excel

tips to make email more productive less burdensome on computer
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sometimes hiding certain columns in an Excel spreadsheet can be helpful: Doing so can make spreadsheets easier to read or you may have other reasons to hide them. In any case, hiding columns in Excel is actually pretty easy and only involves a few clicks. And if you decide later, that you want to see them again? It's even easier to bring them back.

Either way, we've got your column needs covered with this guide. Keep reading and we'll show you how to hide columns and how to unhide columns in Excel in a flash.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • Microsoft Excel

  • A PC

How to hide columns in Excel

Hiding columns in Excel is pretty straightforward and quick. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Select the column you want to hide. Doing so depends on how many columns you want to hide at once:

If you only need to hide one column: Just click on the column heading letter at the top of your desired column.

If you need to hide multiple columns at once: Click on the column heading letter at the top of any of your desired columns and then press and hold the CTRL key on your keyboard as you click on the column heading letters of the rest of the columns you want to hide.

how to unhide columns in excel hide screenshot 1
screenshot

Step 2: Then right-click on any of the column heading letters of the columns that are selected. (Don't right-click anywhere else, just right-click on the letter headings. Clicking anywhere else will result in a different menu popping up that won't have the option you need.)

how to unhide columns in excel hide screenshot 2
screenshot

Step 3: From the menu that appears, choose Hide.

Your selected columns should now be hidden from view.

How to unhide columns in Excel

If you're ready for your hidden columns to reappear in your spreadsheet, here's how to unhide columns in Excel:

Step 1: All of the column headings have borderlines that separate them from the next column's heading. When a column is hidden, the borderline between the columns that normally neighbor the hidden column becomes thicker and more noticeable. Mouse over this borderline until you see a set of black arrows appear that are pointing in opposite directions and have a space between them. These arrows should not look connected to each other.

how to unhide columns in excel screenshot 1
screenshot

Step 2: Once the arrows described in the previous step appear, double click that borderline.

Your once hidden columns should automatically reappear. (If you hid multiple columns at once, they all should reappear at the same time, but if they don't, you should still be able to make them reappear one at a time by double-clicking on each of their respective border lines.)

Step 3: Alternatively, you can also right-click that same borderline (after those arrows appear), and a menu will pop up. From that menu, you can choose Unhide. Your columns should reappear with this method as well. (If you hid multiple columns at once, they all should reappear at the same time, but if they don't, you should still be able to make them reappear one at a time by right-clicking on each of their respective borderlines and choosing Unhide.)

how to unhide columns in excel screenshot 2
screenshot

Step 4: And if you hide a column and then immediately afterward decide that you want to unhide it, you can also just hit CTRL + Z on your keyboard and Excel will automatically undo it and your column will appear again.

Anita George
Anita has been a technology reporter since 2013 and currently writes for the Computing section at Digital Trends. She began…
How to create a pivot table in Excel to slice and dice your data

Microsoft Excel is arguably the greatest spreadsheet application from Redmond, and there's a good reason so many number crunchers use it for all of their number crunching needs. While using Microsoft Excel is fine for simple spreadsheets to track expenses or build calendars, it comes into its own when you need to slice and dice and then present complex data. Here, we show you how to create a pivot table in Excel to take advantage of one of the application's most powerful tools.

Before we start, just what exactly are pivot tables good for? Simply put, pivot tables let you look at the same data in different ways and from different angles, to make it easier to perform in-depth analysis and to spot important trends. When you're evaluating sales results, for example, you may want to look at an individual person, a specific product, or a specific timeframe. With a pivot table, you can create one pool of information and then easily change your focus from one thing to another -- an analysis that would be tedious to perform manually.

Read more
How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams
Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

The following steps will work whether you use Microsoft Teams online or on the desktop.

Read more
How to delete or hide chats in Microsoft Teams
Running Microsoft Teams on the Galaxy Tab S8.

Microsoft Teams is a terrific workplace platform for keeping the camaraderie strong. Featuring collaborative messaging, video conferencing, and file-sharing tools, it’s your one-stop-shop for in-office, hybrid and at-home workers alike. But anyone with a long history of using Microsoft Teams will tell you how clogged up your message stockpile can get. Fortunately, deleting and hiding these exchanges is relatively easy to do, and we’ve put together this guide to help.

Read more