Hiding and Unhiding Columns

Excel allows you to easily hide columns in your worksheet. Once a column is hidden, it will not be shown on the display or printed when you print the worksheet. The column is not deleted; its width is simply reduced to 0. To hide a column, follow these steps if you are using Excel 2007:

1. Select any cell in the column (or columns) you want to hide.
2. Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
3. Click the Format tool in the Cells group. Excel displays a series of options.
4. Click Hide & Unhide and then click Hide Columns.

If you are using an older version of Excel then you should follow these steps:

1. Select any cell in the column (or columns) you want to hide.
2. Choose the Column option from the Format menu. This displays a submenu.
3. From the submenu, choose the Hide option.

The columns disappear from the display. Notice, however, that the other columns do not change; they still retain the same column labels. Excel does, however, leave a thick bar in the column header area to indicate where the hidden columns would normally appear.

To later unhide the columns, Excel 2007 users should follow these steps:

1. Select the columns on either side of those that are hidden.
2. Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
3. Click the Format tool in the Cells group. Excel displays a series of options.
4. Click Hide & Unhide and then click Unhide Columns.

Users of older versions of Excel should, instead, follow these steps:

1. Select the columns on either side of those that are hidden.
2. Choose Column from the Format menu. This displays a submenu.
3. From the submenu, choose the Unhide option.