Sometimes, you get the data with some hidden rows and columns in it and you want to make visible all the rows and columns including the hidden ones and it could be due to multiple reasons.
For example, if you want to search something in the data, the search function will not find that specific value within the hidden rows and columns, so in that case you need to unhide the hidden rows and columns.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to find hidden rows and columns and unhide them using multiple ways.
Find the Hidden Rows in the Google Sheets
Let’s assume you have the data as referred below and you never know if that data has hidden rows but you want to make sure that no row should be hidden in that data.
- If the data set is not too large, you can scroll the data down to see if there is any downward and upward arrow within the row numbers, if yes, there are hidden rows between them.
- If the dataset is large and scrolling down could be time-consuming, click on the top left corner of the spreadsheet and your sheet will get selected.
- Once selected, do not move the mouse cursor and press right click and the drop-down will get opened.
- If the drop-down shows the “Unhide rows” it means the data has some hidden rows otherwise this option will not appear in this drop-down.
Note: The above steps are just to confirm if the data has some hidden rows or not. The “unhide rows” option in the above image will not work. It is just to confirm if the data has hidden rows or not.
Find the Hidden Columns in the Google Sheets
- If there are a limited number of columns in the data, then you can scroll the data towards the right to see if there are any leftwards and rightwards arrows between the column header letters, if yes, there are some hidden columns.
- If there are many columns, then you can select the first column by clicking on the column header letter and then pressing the “Shift + Ctrl + rightwards arrow key” together to select all the columns of the data.
- Once selected, click right and if you get the “Unhide columns” option, it means your data has hidden columns otherwise this option will not get appeared in the drop-down.
Unhide the Rows Using the Arrows Option
Let’s assume you have the below data with multiple hidden rows but you only want to unhide some specific rows. Let’s say you want to unhide only the hidden rows between row 2 and row 5 and for that follow the below steps.
- Click on the Arrow in row number 5 or row number 2 and it will unhide the hidden rows between them.
- Once you click on that Arrow, the hidden rows will become unhidden.
Note: Using the Arrow, you cannot unhide all the hidden rows in the data in one go, to unhide multiple rows, you have to click on the other rows’ Arrows between the hidden rows one by one.
Unhide Specific Hidden Rows Using the Right Click
- First, go to any cell in the row above the hidden rows and press and hold the “Shift” and press the “Spacebar” tab twice to select the entire row.
- Or click on that row number to select the entire row.
- After that, press and hold the “Shift” key and press the downwards arrow key and it will select the very next row along with your selected one.
- At this point, both the above and below rows between the hidden rows will get selected.
- Now, just right click and click on “Unhide rows” and it will unhide the rows between the selected rows (row 7 and row 9).
Unhide All Hidden Rows Using the Right Click
- First, go to any cell of the first row of your data and press and hold the “Shift” key, and press the “Spacebar” tab twice to select the entire row.
- Once selected, press “Shift + Ctrl + downwards arrow key” and all the rows of your data will get selected.
- Or, click on any row number to select that entire row, and then press “Ctrl +A” and it will select all the rows of your data.
- Now, right click and click on the “Unhide rows” option and it will unhide all the hidden rows within the data.
Unhide Rows Using the Keyboard Shortcut
Google Sheets also has a keyboard shortcut by which you can unhide the specific rows and all the rows by following the below steps:
- First, to unhide the specific rows, select the two rows one above and one below the hidden rows.
- Once selected, press the “Ctrl + Shift + 9” keys and the hidden rows between that selected rows will get unhidden.
- In the case of unhiding all the hidden rows, select all the rows following the steps mentioned above.
- Once selected, press the “Ctrl + Shift + 9” keys and it will unhide all the hidden rows within the data.
Unhide the Columns Using the Arrows Option
The Arrow option to unhide the columns works the same as unhiding the rows. you must click on the arrow within the column header letter and it will unhide the hidden columns between the left and right arrow columns. If there are multiple hidden columns within different columns then you must click on other arrows individually to unhide columns between them.
Unhide Specific Hidden Columns Using the Right Click
- First, go to any cell in the column left to the hidden columns and press and hold the “Ctrl” and press the “Spacebar” tab twice to select the entire column.
- Or click on that column header letter to select the entire column.
- After that, press and hold the “Shift” key and press the leftwards arrow key to select the very next column along with your selected one.
- At this point, both the left and right columns of the hidden columns will get selected.
- Now, just right click and click on “Unhide columns” and it will unhide the columns between the selected columns (columns B and E).
Unhide All Hidden Columns Using the Right Click
- First, go to any cell in the first column of your data and press and hold the “Ctrl” key, and press the “Spacebar” tab twice to select the entire column.
- Once selected, press “Shift + Ctrl + left-side arrow key” and all the columns of your data will get selected.
- Or, click on any column header letter to select that entire column, and then press “Ctrl +A” and it will select all the columns of your data.
- Now, right click and click on the “Unhide columns” option and it will unhide all the hidden columns within the data.
