Starting to see too much data in your spreadsheets? One option is to hide columns in Excel. It doesn’t remove or destroy your data, it just takes it out of view. Let’s learn how to hide columns in Excel.
How to Hide Columns in Excel
If you want to keep your spreadsheet neat, you might want to hide columns in Excel. To do that, start by highlighting any columns that you want to take out of view. You can do this with a single column or multiple columns.
Now, right-click and choose Hide. The columns are hidden, but your data is still there when you need it. Hiding columns in Excel won’t break any formulas or functions.
You’ll know that columns are hidden when you see letters missing from the columns at the top of Excel’s grid. Anytime you see a non-sequential set of columns, (like D to H in the screenshot below) you’ll know that there are hidden columns in Excel. You’ll also see a double line between columns that have hidden ones between them.
A Better Way To Hide Columns in Excel
You might want to hide columns in Excel to make your spreadsheet easy-to-read and follow. It’s certainly true that too much data clutters the spreadsheet. But, hiding columns can make a spreadsheet harder to follow.
The best way to hide columns in Excel is actually to use the Group feature.
Start by highlighting the columns you want to hide. Then, go to the Data tab and click on Group.
Now, your columns will neatly fold up into a grouped set. This makes it easy to show and hide the columns by simply clicking on the + button. Your data is still preserved, and you won’t have to right-click and find the Hide / Unhide options.
If you ever need to reverse this option, just highlight the columns and choose Data > Ungroup.
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