How to Hide and Unhide Worksheets in Excel

This article explains how to hide and unhide worksheets using the contextual menu and the ribbon in Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, and 2010. 

Data Use in Hidden Worksheets

An Excel worksheet is a single spreadsheet that contains cells. Each cell can hold text, a number, or a formula, and each cell can reference a different cell on the same worksheet, the same workbook, or a different workbook.

By default, all open Excel workbooks display worksheet tabs on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, but you can hide or display them as needed. At least one worksheet must be visible at all times.

Hiding worksheets doesn't mean you're deleting them, and you can still reference them in formulas and charts located on other worksheets or other workbooks.

Hide Worksheets Using the Contextual Menu

The options available in the contextual menu — the right-click menu — change depending on what is selected.

If the Hide option is inactive or grayed out, most likely, the current workbook has only one worksheet. Excel deactivates the Hide option for single-sheet workbooks because there must always be at least one visible sheet.

How to Hide a Single Worksheet

1. Click the worksheet tab to select it.

2. Right-click on the worksheet tab to open the contextual menu.

3. In the menu, click the Hide option to hide the selected worksheet.

   How to Hide Multiple Worksheets

4. Click the tab of the first worksheet to be hidden to select it.

5. Press and hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard.

6. Click the tabs of additional worksheets to select them.

7. Right-click on one worksheet tab to open the contextual menu.

8. In the menu, click on the Hide option to hide all the selected worksheets.

Hide Worksheets Using the Ribbon

Excel has no keyboard shortcut for hiding worksheets, but you can use the ribbon bar to accomplish the same task.

1. Select one or more worksheet tabs at the bottom of an Excel file.

2. Click the Home tab on the ribbon.

3. Select Format in the Cells group.

4. Click on Hide & Unhide.

5. Select Hide Sheet.

Unhide Worksheets Using the Contextual Menu

You can unhide tabs using the contextual menu, just as you can hide them.

1. Right-click a worksheet tab to open the Unhide dialog box, which displays all the currently hidden sheets.

2. Click the sheet you want to unhide.

3. Click OK to unhide the selected worksheet and to close the dialog box.

Unhide Worksheets Using the Ribbon

As with hiding worksheets, Excel has no keyboard shortcut for unhiding a sheet, but you can still use the ribbon.

1. Select one or more worksheet tabs at the bottom of the Excel file.

2. Click the Home tab on the ribbon.

3. Select Format.

4. Click Hide & Unhide.

5. Select Unhide Sheet.

6. Click the sheet you want to unhide from the list that pops up.

7. Click OK.