Applies ToExcel for Microsoft 365 Excel 2024 Excel 2021 Excel 2019 Excel 2016

If you can't see the worksheet tabs at the bottom of your Excel workbook, browse the table below to find the potential cause and solution.

Note: The image in this article are from Excel 2016. Your view might be slightly different if you have a different version, but the functionality is the same (unless otherwise noted).

Cause

Solution

The window sizing is keeping the tabs hidden.

  • If you restore multiple windows in Excel, ensure that the windows are not overlapping. Perhaps the top of an Excel window is covering the worksheet tabs of another window.

    Top portion of the worksheet overlaps the tabs of another worksheet
  • The status bar has been moved all the way up to the Formula Bar.

    Worksheet tabs disappear when the Status Bar is dragged all the way upto the Formula Bar
  • Tabs can also disappear if your computer screen resolution is higher than that of the person who last saved the workbook.

Try maximizing the window to reveal the tabs. Simply double-click the window title bar.

If you still don't see the tabs, click View > Arrange All > Tiled > OK.  

The Show sheet tabs setting is turned off.

First ensure that the Show sheet tabs is enabled. To do this,

  • For all other Excel versions, click File > Options > Advanced—in under Display options for this workbook—and then ensure that there is a check in the Show sheet tabs box.

    Show sheet tabs in Excel options

The horizontal scroll bar obscures the tabs.

Hover the mouse pointer at the edge of the scrollbar until you see the double-headed arrow (see the figure). Click-and-drag the arrow to the right, until you see the complete tab name and any other tabs.

Drag the double-headed arrow to the right to reveal one or more tabs

The worksheet itself is hidden.

To unhide a worksheet, right-click on any visible tab and then click Unhide. In the Unhide dialog box, click the sheet you want to unhide and then click OK.

Unhide sheet

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