There are so many things that will demand that you hide, move or freeze columns in Excel. No matter your reason, there is a solution for you.
To apply certain features in Excel, you must have some data to work with. Therefore, I have generated random data for this tutorial.
Today’s article guide will you walk you all that you need to hide, move or freeze Columns in excel.
How To Hide Columns or Rows
One of the major causes of me hiding columns or rows is when I have too many columns or rows in my Excel sheet. I work faster if some of the columns or rows that I don’t need disappear without being deleted.
I know you also have your reasons for learning how to hide your columns or rows. We all have the same goal of working faster in Excel.
Hide Columns or rows.
Hide Columns or Rows In Excel – Method 1
Looking at the screenshot above, it’s a list of babies born in 2019 in Scotland. The information on row “2” is just a comment which I won’t have to look at all the time when working on the sheet. So I want to hide it.
I simply select the column or row you want to hide, right-click and select “Hide”.
How To Show Columns or Rows
Select one of the rows or columns between which your hidden row or column used to be. Make sure your cursor is exactly on the border between the two rows or columns, Right-click and Select Unhide to show.
Hide Columns or Rows In Excel – Method 2
Select the column or row you want to hide. Go to the formatting group on the “Home Ribbon” and click Format. Hover the cursor over the Hide & Unhide, Select Hide row, or Hide column.
How To Show Columns or Rows
Simply go to the Formatting group on the Home Ribbon again, select Format>>> Hide & Unhide>>> Unhide Rows, or Unhide Columns
You can also hover over the border where your hidden row or column is, the cursor which is a plus sign will split a bit, then you simply hold the borderline and drag to show the hidden row or column.
Hide Columns or Rows With Shortcut Keys
Windows: Select Column and Press Ctrl + 9 to hide – Select row and Press Ctrl + 0 to hide.
How to unhide: Press Ctrl + Shift + 9 to unhide column – Press Ctrl + Shift + 0 to unhide row.
macOS: Press Command + 9 to hide row – Command + 0 to hide column
How to unhide: Press Command + Shift + 9 to hide row – Command + Shift + 0 to hide column
I have an article on Excel shortcut keys where you can learn most of the Excel shortcut keys.
Move Columns or Rows in Excel
Since you have to interchange the position of data sometimes in your Excel work, it is just right to know how to move them without typing them all over.
Windows: Select the column or row you want to move and hover around the edge of the selection until your cursor turns into a four-headed arrow.
Drag the column or row to the desired location and release.
macOS: Select the column or row you want to move and hover around the edge of the selection until the cursor turns into a hand.
Drag and drop the column or row to the desired location.
You can check out more of Excel’s moving options from the Microsoft Website.
How To Freeze Columns or Rows
When you have lots of data in your Excel sheet, it becomes difficult scrolling up and down or back and forward just to look at the labels every time. This is exactly what makes me want another option where the labels will be visible throughout the sheet.
It is one of the many reasons why you have to learn how to freeze the columns or rows containing the labels so that they can follow you throughout the sheet no matter where you scroll to.
Freeze Columns or Rows
To freeze column or row, go to the View Ribbon tab.
Click on Freeze and select Freeze Top Row for a row or Freeze the first column for a column.
If you use Freeze Panes, it will freeze the selected column or row. If there is no selection, it will freeze both the first column and row.
Sometimes, it could happen that the column or row you want to freeze is not the first one. How do you do that?
Using the screenshot above, you will realize Row 1 is the frozen row meanwhile, the row I want to freeze is Row 6. Since Row 1 is the top row, it automatically freezes when I click Freeze Top Row.
Looking at the screenshot above, you will realize Row 6 is now the frozen row.
The way I did it is to simply hide Rows 1,2,3,4 and 5. Row 6 finally becomes the top row so when I use the Freeze Top Row function, it freezes Row 6.
Unfreeze Columns or Rows
Whenever you freeze your columns or rows, the Freeze Panes function turns into Unfreeze Panes. To Unfreeze, simply use the Unfreeze Panes function to unfreeze.
Note that it will unfreeze all your columns or rows.
You might also want to check my article on How to add columns and rows to your Excel work.
Conclusion
In short, making your Excel sheet easier and faster to work with requires that you know most of these petty tricks. The more Excel tricks you know, the easier and faster your work gets.
It takes time to become a master but becoming a master only means knowing most of the petty tricks about working in Excel.