How to Hide or Unhide Excel Worksheets (and Unhide All Sheets)

Hide or Unhide Excel Worksheets

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated September 14, 2023

Applies to: Microsoft^® Excel^® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can hide or unhide Excel worksheets using the Ribbon, the right-click menu or keyboard shortcuts. If you hide worksheets, you can still reference them in other worksheets or workbooks. If you have Excel 365, you can now quickly unhide multiple worksheets or all worksheets. If you have trouble hiding or unhiding a worksheet, protection may have been enabled or a user has used VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) to hide the sheet.

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The following are several methods to hide or unhide worksheets in Excel.

Hide a worksheet by right-clicking

To hide a worksheet in an Excel workbook by right-clicking:

1. Right-click the worksheet tab that you want to hide.
2. From the drop-down menu, choose Hide.

Hide a worksheet tab using the Ribbon and a mouse

To hide a worksheet in an Excel workbook using the Ribbon and a mouse (or track pad):

1. Select the worksheet that you want to hide.
2. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Cells group, click Format. A drop-down menu appears.
4. In the drop-down menu, under Visibility, select Hide & Unhide and then choose Hide Sheet.

Below is the Cells group in the Ribbon:

Hide a worksheet using the Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts

To hide a worksheet in an Excel workbook using the Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts (key tips):

1. Display the worksheet that you want to hide.
2. Press Alt. The Ribbon should appear with key tips.
3. Press H > O > U > S. This is a sequential shortcut so press each key in order.

Below is the cells group in the Ribbon with key tips displayed:

Unhide a worksheet by right-clicking

To unhide a worksheet by right-clicking:

1. Right-click any worksheet tab.
2. From the drop-down menu, choose Unhide. A dialog box appears.
3. Select the worksheet you want to unhide.
4. Click OK.

If Unhide is disabled, there are no hidden sheets.

Unhide a worksheet using the Ribbon and a mouse

To unhide a worksheet in an Excel workbook using the Ribbon and a mouse (or trackpad):

1. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Cells group, click Format. A drop-down menu appears.
3. In the drop-down menu, under Visibility, select Hide & Unhide, and then choose Unhide. A dialog box appears.
4. Click the sheet you want to unhide and click OK.

If Unhide is disabled, there are no hidden sheets.

Unhide a worksheet using the Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts

To unhide a worksheet in an Excel workbook using the Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts (key tips):

1. Press Alt. The Ribbon should appear with Key Tips.
2. Press H > O > U > H (press H then O then U then H). A dialog box appears.to activate the Home tab.
3. Use the up and down arrow keys to select the sheet you want to unhide.
4. Press Enter to select OK.

Unhide all worksheets or multiple worksheets

If you have Excel 365, you can now unhide multiple sheets or all sheets:

To unhide all worksheets by right-clicking (or unhide multiple sheets):

1. Right-click any worksheet tab. A drop-down menu appears.
2. Choose Unhide. A dialog box appears.
3. Click the first worksheet and Shift-click the last worksheet if you want to unhide all worksheets. Alternatively, Ctrl-click specific sheets if you want to unhide some of the worksheets.
4. Click OK.

You can use this method if you access the dialog box through the Ribbon as well.

This article was first published on January 15, 2015 and has been updated for clarity and content.

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