Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Hiding and Unhiding Worksheets.
There may be times when you want to hide a particular worksheet so that it cannot be easily accessed. This is often done to protect information on a worksheet or keep it from prying eyes. To hide a worksheet, follow these steps:
The worksheet is immediately hidden. Once hidden, there is no way to tell it is "missing," as there is with hidden rows and columns. If you later want to unhide the worksheet, follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Unhide dialog box.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2806) 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 and Unhiding Worksheets.
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2012-09-24 11:03:18
Nancy
Dave !
Your tip for viewing hidden sheets is great ! Thanks for sharing
Steve -
While hiding unhiding is great, I find it tedious for multiple hidden sheets, this is where I find Dave's tip helpful!
2012-07-09 22:09:51
An interactive google document was created where data updates are required every month by users. The users have the option to choose from drop-down lists. The list is maintained separatly in another excel sheet in the same document. Then the data sheet was seleced and the font colour was changed to "white" and the cells moved towards the right end. Next the columns were frozed to keep away from 'prying eyes'. Share and edit restriction was given to 'Owner Only' option. This is one way to hide without macros. Anybody with more suggestions, plz mail me
2012-07-07 05:41:28
There's not much point in trying to hide information from "prying eyes" if those very people can use the Unhide command to see the information. It is also necessary to Protect the Workbook with a password
2012-06-01 17:51:41
Curtis Terry
In many of the models I work with, "Table" formatting is used. When table formats are used, "Custom Views" in excel are disabled. The only way to create a "working sheet view" and "presentation view" is through a macro. Has anyone encountered this problem and created a macro to work around it.
2012-06-01 09:55:22
Dave Roberts
Sometimes you have some sheets that need to be visible for massaging the data and then hide them. If you do this with the same workbook often enough, it gets to be a pain to hide and unhide individually.
Use Views. With all sheets visible, go to the View tab and press Custom Views. Press Add and call the view "Working sheets" or whatever is appropriate.
Then hide the extra sheets. Again go to the View tab, press Custom Views and press Add. Call this view, "Display sheets" or whatever is appropriate.
Now you can go back forth easily by press Show from Custom Views.
2012-06-01 07:03:02
Your tips are great as always, but isn't right clicking on the sheet tab and choosing Hide / Unhide the easiest way to achieve this?
2012-06-01 07:01:06
John C. Vander Linden
I know that you are not talking about macros here, but this may be a good place to mention VeryHiddenSheets. Since very few people know about them, they offer a little more protection "from prying eyes".
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: 
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