Hiding Rows Based on Two Values

Mike, as an accountant, has a need to hide rows in a worksheet based on the values in two cells in the row. His data tables have three columns, and if a row contains a zero in columns two and three, then the row should be hidden. If either column two or three is blank or contains some other value, then the row should not be hidden.

There are a couple of ways you can approach this problem. The first is to use Excel's AutoFilter. Just create another column that contains a formula such as this:

=AND(B2=0,C2=0)

The value returned by the formula will be True only if both the second (B) and third (C) columns contain a zero value. Copy the formula to the other appropriate cells in the column, and you can then use an AutoFilter to filter the data based on that column. When you display only those rows containing a False in the column, then you have effectively hidden the rows in which there is a zero value in columns two and three.

You can also use a macro to check out the rows for you. The following macro steps through each row in the worksheet, beginning with row 1. As long as there is something in column A, then the macro checks to make sure that there is a zero value in columns B and C. If there is, then the .Hidden property for the row is set.

Sub Hide()
    Dim Criteria as Boolean
    Dim i As Integer

    i = 1
    Do Until Trim(Cells(i, 1).Value) = "" 
        Criteria = True
        Criteria = Criteria And (Cells(i, 2).Value = 0) _
          And Cells(i, 2).Value <> ""
        Criteria = Criteria And (Cells(i, 3).Value = 0) _
          And Cells(i, 3).Value <> "" 
        If Criteria Then Rows(i).EntireRow.Hidden = True
        i = i + 1 
    Loop 
End Sub

The macro runs until such time as it encounters a row where there is nothing in column A. This means that you need to make sure there is actually something in the rows before your data table. If your data table starts in row 4 of the worksheet, and cells A1 through A3 have nothing in them, then the macro will never run satisfactorily. You can, of course, adjust the macro in this situation so that it starts checking in row 4; simply change the initial assignment of the i variable to 4 instead of 1.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2416) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Hiding Rows Based on Two Values.