How to Show Hidden Columns in an Excel Spreadsheet

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Plus, how to unhide column A when it's not visible

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: August 1, 2025 Fact Checked

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• Using Right Click
|
• Dragging Hidden Columns
|
• Unhiding One Column
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• Unhiding All Columns
|
• Video
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• Q&A
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• Tips

|Show more |Show less

Are you having trouble viewing certain columns in your Excel workbook? This wikiHow guide shows you how to display a hidden column in Microsoft Excel. You can do this on both the Windows and Mac versions of Excel, as well as on Excel on the web. There are multiple simple methods to unhide hidden columns. You can drag the columns, use the right-click menu, or format the columns. Read on to learn how to show hidden columns in Excel, including the first column (column A).

Easy Ways to Unhide Columns in Excel

• To unhide a column, select the column headers of the columns on either side of the one you want to show, right-click the selection, and choose Unhide.
• To unhide column A, or just one column that's in a group of many hidden columns, you can use the name box.
• You can also unhide columns by hovering your cursor to the right of the hidden columns, then clicking and dragging to the right to unhide them.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Right-click to Unhide

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1. 
   1
   Select the columns on both sides of the hidden columns. To do this, hold down the ⇧ Shift key as you click the letter of the column to the left of the hidden column, and then the column to its right.

   • For example, if you want to unhide column D, hold down ⇧ Shift as you click the column C and column E headers.
     • Don't hold down Ctrl. This won't work.
   • Note: If the column you want to unhide is column A (the first column), or you only want to unhide one column that's in the middle of a bunch of other hidden columns, jump down to Unhiding One Column with the Name Box to learn how to unhide it.
2. 
   2
   Right-click or control-click either of the selected column labels. This will open the dialog menu.
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3. 
   3
   Select Unhide in the menu. Any columns that were hidden between the two selected columns are now unhidden.

   • For more helpful Excel tricks, check out our intro guide to Excel.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Dragging to Show Hidden Columns

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1. 
   1
   Hover your cursor directly to the right of the hidden columns. When your cursor is between the column letters adjacent to the hidden columns, the cursor will change into two parallel lines with two arrows pointing horizontally.

   • You can identify hidden columns by looking for two lines between column letters.
   • Your cursor needs to be to the right of the two lines for this method. Placing the cursor to the left will increase the column size of the left adjacent column.
2. 
   2
   Click and drag to the right. This will unhide the hidden columns between the adjacent columns.

   • Alternatively, you can double-click to unhide the hidden column immediately.
3. 
   3
   Release the mouse button. This will confirm the size of the unhidden columns. You’re ready to move some columns, sort your data, and add up column values!

   • If multiple columns are hidden between the selected columns, drag slowly to only show the hidden columns you want to see without unhiding all columns at once.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Unhiding One Column with the Name Box

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1. 
   1
   Click the Name Box. If only the first column (column A) is hidden, it's difficult to unhide since you can't select the column to its left. You can use this method to unhide column A, or any individual column, without unhiding multiple columns at once.

   • The Name Box is to the left of the formula field.
   • If you are using Excel in your web browser, not in the desktop application, you can easily unhide column A by right-clicking the column B header and selecting Unhide Columns.
2. 
   2
   Type A1 in the Name Box and press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. If you're unhiding column A, that's the cell address you'll need to type. To unhide a different column, enter that cell address now.

   • For example, if you want to unhide column Y without unhiding a bunch of hidden columns on either side of it, enter Y1 into the Name Box.
3. 
   3
   Click the Home tab. It's in the upper-left corner of the Excel window.
4. 
   4
   Click Find & Select. This is in the "Editing" group in the Home tab. A drop down menu will open.

   • If you don't see this option, click the Editing drop-down menu tile, or just maximize your Excel window to display more options.
5. 
   5
   Select Go To. This will open the "Go To" window.
6. 
   6
   Type A1 in the "Reference" box and click OK. The box will disappear.
7. 
   7
   Click Format on the Home tab. This button is in the "Cells" section of the Home tab; you'll find this section on the right side of the toolbar. A drop down menu will appear.

   • If you don't see this option, click the Cells menu at the top of the window, or maximize your window to show all options.
8. 
   8
   Select the Hide & Unhide menu. This option is below the "Visibility" heading in the Format drop-down menu. More options will appear.
9. 
   9
   Click Unhide Columns. It's near the bottom of the Hide & Unhide menu. Doing so will immediately unhide the column you entered into the Name Box.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Unhiding All Columns

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1. 
   1
   Click the triangle in the top left corner of the spreadsheet. This is next to the row 1 label and column A label. Clicking the triangle will select the entire spreadsheet.
2. 
   2
   Click the Home tab and select Format. This button is in the "Cells" section of the Home tab; you'll find this section on the right side of the toolbar. A drop down menu will appear.

   • If you don't see this option, click the Cells menu at the top of the window, or maximize your window to show all options.
3. 
   3
   Select Hide & Unhide. This option is below the "Visibility" heading in the Format menu. Selecting it will open another menu.
4. 
   4
   Click Unhide Columns. It's near the bottom of the Hide & Unhide menu. Doing so will immediately unhide every hidden column in the sheet.
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Community Q&A

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• Question

  What do I do if the hidden columns are A and B?

  

  Community Answer

  You can select the whole document and do the steps above to retrieve all hidden columns.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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  Not Helpful 70 Helpful 47
• Question

  What do I do if I've followed the instructions provided, but I still cannot unhide column A in Excel?

  

  Community Answer

  Try unfreezing the column and unhiding, or freezing then unfreezing then unhiding. This process will work.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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  Not Helpful 11 Helpful 78
• Question

  If column A is hidden in excel, how do I find it?

  

  Community Answer

  Just use the search bar on top and type there "A1" the hidden column should appear.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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Tips

• If you want to unhide all hidden columns on an Excel spreadsheet, click on the "Select All" button, which is the blank rectangle to the left of column "A" and above row "1." You can then proceed with the remaining steps in this article to unhide those columns.
  Thanks

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• Hiding columns can be useful when you have data you don’t need at the moment, but want to keep in the spreadsheet. For example, if you’re tracking your bills in Excel, you might want to hide purchase categories when you’re only working with the sum totals.
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• For more cool things to do in Excel, check out our guides to VLOOKUP and the IF function.
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