You can hide any worksheet in a workbook to remove it from view. You can also hide the workbook window of a workbook to remove it from your workspace. The data in hidden worksheets and workbook windows is not visible, but it can still be referenced from other worksheets and workbooks. You can display hidden worksheets or workbook windows as needed.
By default, all workbook that you open are displayed on the taskbar, but you can hide or display them on the taskbar as needed.
Note: The screen shots in this article were taken in Excel 2016. If you have a different version your view might be slightly different, but unless otherwise noted, the functionality is the same.
Hide or unhide a worksheet
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Select the worksheets that you want to hide.
How to select worksheets
To select
Do this
A single sheet
Click the sheet tab.
If you don't see the tab that you want, click the scrolling buttons to the left of the sheet tabs to display the tab, and then click the tab.
Two or more adjacent sheets
Click the tab for the first sheet. Then hold down Shift while you click the tab for the last sheet that you want to select.
Two or more nonadjacent sheets
Click the tab for the first sheet. Then hold down Ctrl while you click the tabs of the other sheets that you want to select.
All sheets in a workbook
Right-click a sheet tab, and then click Select All Sheets on the shortcut menu.
Tip: When multiple worksheets are selected, [Group] appears in the title bar at the top of the worksheet. To cancel a selection of multiple worksheets in a workbook, click any unselected worksheet. If no unselected sheet is visible, right-click the tab of a selected sheet, and then click Ungroup Sheets on the shortcut menu.
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On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format > Visibility > Hide & Unhide > Hide Sheet.
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To unhide worksheets, follow the same steps, but select Unhide. You'll be presented with a dialog box listing which sheets are hidden, so select the ones you want to unhide.
Note: Worksheets hidden by VBA code have the property xlSheetVeryHidden; the Unhide command will not display those hidden sheets. If you are using a workbook that contains VBA code and you encounter problems with hidden worksheets, contact the workbook owner for more information.
Hide or unhide a workbook window
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On the View tab, in the Window group, click Hide or Unhide.
On a Mac, this is under the Window menu in the file menu above the ribbon.
Notes:
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When you Unhide a workbook, select from the list in the Unhide dialog box.
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If Unhide is unavailable, the workbook does not contain hidden workbook windows.
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When you exit Excel, you will be asked if you want to save changes to the hidden workbook window. Click Yes if you want the workbook window to be the same as you left it (hidden or unhidden), the next time that you open the workbook.
Hide or display workbook windows on the Windows taskbar
Excel 2013 introduced the Single Document Interface, where each workbook opens in its own window.
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Click File > Options.
For Excel 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button
, then Excel Options. -
Then click Advanced > Display > clear or select the Show all windows in the Taskbar check box.
Hide or unhide a worksheet
-
Select the worksheets that you want to hide.
How to select worksheets
To select
Do this
A single sheet
Click the sheet tab.
If you don't see the tab that you want, click the scrolling buttons to the left of the sheet tabs to display the tab, and then click the tab.
Two or more adjacent sheets
Click the tab for the first sheet. Then hold down Shift while you click the tab for the last sheet that you want to select.
Two or more nonadjacent sheets
Click the tab for the first sheet. Then hold down Command while you click the tabs of the other sheets that you want to select.
All sheets in a workbook
Right-click a sheet tab, and then click Select All Sheets on the shortcut menu.
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On the Home tab, click Format > under Visibility > Hide & Unhide > Hide Sheet.
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To unhide worksheets, follow the same steps, but select Unhide. The Unhide dialog box displays a list of hidden sheets, so select the ones you want to unhide and then select OK.
Hide or unhide a workbook window
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Click the Window menu, click Hide or Unhide.
Notes:
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When you Unhide a workbook, select from the list of hidden workbooks in the Unhide dialog box.
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If Unhide is unavailable, the workbook does not contain hidden workbook windows.
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When you exit Excel, you will be asked if you want to save changes to the hidden workbook window. Click Yes if you want the workbook window to be the same as you left it (hidden or unhidden) the next time that you open the workbook.
Sheet tabs are helpful for organizing and identifying the worksheets in a workbook. You’ll find them along the bottom of your workbook.
To avoid clutter or to display only specific worksheets to others, you can hide as many sheets as you want, as long as at least one sheet remains in view. Just right-click the sheet tab for the sheet you want hidden, and click Hide.
Unhide worksheets
If you want to see a hidden worksheet, here’s how you unhide it:
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Right-click any sheet tab and select Unhide.
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In the Unhide box, select the sheets you want to unhide, and select OK.
To check for hidden worksheets, right-click any sheet tab and verify if Unhide is available. If it isn’t available, like in this picture, your workbook doesn’t have any hidden worksheets.
Working with sheets
In addition to hiding and unhiding worksheets, you can insert a new sheet, or delete, rename, and reorder existing worksheets using the sheet tabs. Here’s how:
Delete sheet tabs
Important: If you delete a sheet tab, you’re also deleting the worksheet and its data. To avoid losing your data, if you don’t want to display it, consider hiding the sheet tab instead.
Right-click the sheet tab of the worksheet you want to delete and click Delete.
Rename sheet tabs
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Right-click the sheet tab of the worksheet you want to rename.
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Click Rename and type a new name.
Tip: Sheet tabs resize automatically to fit the name.
When you have many sheet tabs with long names, you may not be able to see all of them. Scroll to the last visible sheet tab, and try clicking theActivate the next hidden sheet button (the three dots after the last visible sheet tab).
Reorder sheet tabs
Here’s how you can reorder one worksheet at a time so that you have a customized sheet order:
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Right-click the sheet tab of the worksheet you want to move and pick Reorder.
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In the Move selected sheet box, click the sheet before which you want to move the selected sheet and click OK.
In this example, Sheet 6 appears after Sheet 8 and the reordering will move it before Sheet 7.
Need more help?
You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community, get support in the Answers community, or suggest a new feature or improvement on Excel User Voice.
