To hide a column in Excel, select its column header (or several by holding Ctrl), right-click the selection, and choose Hide; a thin double line appears where the column used to be. To bring it back, select the columns on both sides of that double line, right-click, and choose Unhide. Rows work exactly the same way from the row headers down the left edge.
Hiding takes a column or row off the screen without removing its contents, so a hidden column still travels inside the workbook. That sets it apart from two features it gets confused with. Keeping a column or row in view while you scroll the rest of the sheet is freezing, which freeze panes covers. And switching rows in and out of view from the header arrows, as a toggle you can turn back off, is AutoFilter. This page is about the manual hide, the group and outline feature that folds sections away on demand, and the two headers that are genuinely awkward to recover: column A and row 1.
How do I hide a column or a row?
Select one or more column headers along the top of the grid, then right-click any of the selected headers and choose Hide. To hide columns that are not next to each other, hold Ctrl as you click each header first, then hide them in one action. Rows are identical: select the row headers on the left edge, right-click, and choose Hide. Either way Excel closes the gap and leaves a double line between the neighboring headers, which is the cue that something is hidden there.
The same commands sit on the ribbon. On the Home tab, in the Cells group, select Format, then Hide & Unhide, and pick the hide or unhide command for rows or columns.
| A | B | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Region | Jan | Mar | Apr |
| 2 | East | 100 | 130 | 150 |
| 3 | West | 250 | 300 | 280 |
How do I unhide a column or a row?
Select the columns on both sides of the double line, right-click either header, and choose Unhide, and the hidden column reappears between them. A quicker route is to double-click the double line itself, which unhides the column behind it. Rows come back the same way: select the rows above and below the gap, right-click, and choose Unhide, or double-click the double line between the two row headers.
On the ribbon, these live at Home > Cells > Format > Hide & Unhide, where the two unhide items are named Unhide Columns and Unhide Rows.
How do I bring back column A or row 1?
Column A and row 1 are the two that resist this, because there is no header to the left of column A or above row 1 to serve as the second side of the selection. So the select-both-sides trick has nothing to grab, and Excel gives you two ways around it.
The first uses the Name Box, the small box just left of the formula bar. Type A1 there and press Enter: even though the cell is out of sight, this selects it. Then on the Home tab, in the Cells group, select Format, point to Hide & Unhide, and choose Unhide Columns to bring back column A, or Unhide Rows to bring back row 1. (Reaching the same cell through Home > Find & Select > Go To, typing A1 in the Reference box, and selecting OK works too.)
The second route is a right-click on the visible neighbor. Right-click the column B header and choose Unhide, and column A slides back into place; right-click the row 2 header and choose Unhide to recover row 1. If the menu does not show those items, make sure you are right-clicking inside the header label itself.
You could instead select the whole sheet and unhide everything from Home > Cells > Format > Hide & Unhide, but that reveals every hidden row and column at once, which is usually more than you were after.
How do I group rows or columns instead of hiding them?
Hiding is a flat on or off. If you keep folding the same sections away and opening them again, grouping is the smoother tool. Select the rows (or columns) you want to fold together, then go to Data > Outline > Group > Group. In the Group dialog, choose Rows or Columns and select OK. If you select whole rows rather than just cells, Excel groups by row without even opening that dialog.
Grouping adds outline controls next to the headers: a stack of numbered buttons, 1, 2, 3, in the corner, plus a + or - button for each group. Select a level number to collapse the sheet to that depth, so 1 shows only the top summary and the highest number shows every detail row. Select a group’s - button to fold it away, or its + button to open it back up; ALT+SHIFT+- collapses the selected group and ALT+SHIFT+= expands it. You can nest groups inside groups, up to eight levels deep.
To take a grouping apart, select the rows or columns and go to Data > Outline > Ungroup, or use Data > Outline > Ungroup > Clear Outline to strip the whole outline in one move. Nothing is deleted either way. If the numbered buttons and the +/- controls are missing in the Windows desktop app, turn them on under File > Options > Advanced, in the display options for the worksheet, with Show outline symbols if an outline is applied.
The short version
- Hide: select the column or row headers, right-click, and choose Hide; a double line marks the gap. Hold Ctrl to pick nonadjacent ones first.
- Unhide: select the headers on both sides of the double line, right-click, and choose Unhide, or double-click the double line. On the ribbon: Home > Cells > Format > Hide & Unhide.
- Column A or row 1: nothing sits to their left or above, so type
A1in the Name Box, then Home > Format > Hide & Unhide > Unhide Columns or Unhide Rows; or right-click the column B or row 2 header and choose Unhide. - Group instead: Data > Outline > Group > Group folds sections into collapsible levels; use the 1/2/3 buttons and the +/- controls (or ALT+SHIFT+= and ALT+SHIFT+-) to open and close them. Data > Outline > Ungroup removes a group.
- Not the same as freezing or filtering: freeze panes keeps rows or columns in view while you scroll; AutoFilter hides rows as a toggle you can switch off. To change where a column sits in the order rather than take it off the screen, see how to move columns.
