How to Hide & Unhide Rows & Columns in Excel

The video guide shows two methods to show and hide rows and columns in Excel. The faster method is typically to select entire rows/columns and right-click to show or hide the rows/columns. In modern Excel, an alternative method for hiding a row or column is to set the row height or column width to zero. This can be even faster but does not let you preserve a row or column's existing height or width settings.

The method of selecting to show or hide rows or columns using the Format Cells menu on the Home ribbon looks slow but has the advantage that you do not need to select the entire rows and columns in order to use it. So you can select cell A1 and click to hide the entire row from the Visibility sub-menu. This can be the quickest method when the row headings on a sheet have been hidden. If you can remember the keyboard shortcut of ALT + HOUR (pressing the four keys in that order) then that can always be quicker than the cursor methods. Unfortunately the keystroke required to hide columns (C), unhide rows (O) or columns (L) does not spell a word after ALT + HOU.

Note there are two other ways of showing and hiding rows and columns which may cause some confusion. The first is through a filter. If data has been filtered then you will not be able to unhide the rows in question using the normal methods; instead you will need to remove the filter from the Data ribbon.

The second is through grouped rows and columns. Where rows are grouped, you can show or hide them very quickly by selecting the + or - on the left edge of the screen. Whether you choose to group or hide columns depends on how accessible you want the hidden data to be. If you are using the SUBTOTAL function to exclude hidden rows from calculations, you will need to ensure you use a function number over 100 if manually hiding rows. If you are hiding grouped cells, then all function numbers should work.

By Ed Bolton, founder of Excel4Business Ltd. Last reviewed October 2026.