Hiding Objects

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 3, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Excel allows you to place quite a few different objects in your worksheets. For instance, you can place graphic objects, drawings, sound files, and the like in your workbook. Sometimes these can become distracting, however. A quick way to hide the non-Excel objects is to follow these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the View tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

  3. Make sure the Hide All check box is selected.
  4. Click on OK.

If you hide the graphic objects, not only are they no longer visible, but they also won't print. Don't worry; they haven't been deleted from your workbook. If you later want to see the objects again, simply follow the same procedure, selecting "Show All" instead of "Hide All" in step 3.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2936) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Clearing Large Clipboard Entries

Need to clear out a large amount of information saved on the Clipboard? All you need to do is to replace it with a small ...

Discover More

Creating a Hanging Indent

One of the more common formatting tasks for paragraphs is to create hanging indents. This tip explains what they are and ...

Discover More

Highlighting Every Thousandth Character

Not satisfied with the detail provided by the Word Count feature in Word? Perhaps you want to actually know where every ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Editing Graphic Objects

Want to change the way that a graphic object appears in your worksheet? You need to edit it, then, using the techniques ...

Discover More

Adding AutoShapes

The graphics features of Excel allow you to add a number of predefined AutoShapes to a workbook. If you want to add ...

Discover More

Pop-Up Comments for Graphics

Excel allows you to add comments to individual cells in a worksheet, but what if you want to add comments to graphics? ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 8 - 4?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.