Cannot unhide several columns???

[JenniferMurphy]

I just encountered another weird condition that I cannot explain or correct. I have a sheet to track some medical conditions that I've used for years. I froze the cell, or the row, just below the table header so that I could scroll down and see the last row in the table and still see the headers. This morning, I noticed that rows 2-12 appear to be hidden. The row numbers in the left column go from 1 to 13. That is, the row after Row 1 is Row 13. But if I select the top few rows, the Unhide button is grayed out. Can anyone help me understand what I did and, more importantly, how to correct it?

 

[BradleyS]

What happens when you go to the Home tab> Format > Hide & Unhide > Unhide rows. Does that fix it?

 

[JenniferMurphy]

What happens when you go to the Home tab> Format > Hide & Unhide > Unhide rows. Does that fix it?
View attachment 123119

Wow! That worked. But then why was the Unhide button grayed out in the Window section of the View tab?

 

[BradleyS]

Wow! That worked. But then why was the Unhide button grayed out in the Window section of the View tab?

That the workbook unhide, not the row/column unhide

 

[JenniferMurphy]

That the workbook unhide, not the row/column unhide

Interesting. I would have sworn that I'd used what you call the “Workbook Hide/Unhide” on rows in the past.

In my opinion, it's another Microsoft failing that the Hide/Unhide buttons that apply to the book should be so labeled.

PS: I also found another solution searching online that suggested that I select the “hidden” rows, right-click, and set the row height to something like 15. That also worked. So, I'm not sure which solution is the “correct” solution, unhiding or resetting row height. They both seem to work. I'll mark your solution as the solution. Thank you

 

[BradleyS]

Interesting. I would have sworn that I'd used what you call the “Workbook Hide/Unhide” on rows in the past.

In my opinion, it's another Microsoft failing that the Hide/Unhide buttons that apply to the book should be so labeled.

PS: I also found another solution searching online that suggested that I select the “hidden” rows, right-click, and set the row height to something like 15. That also worked. So, I'm not sure which solution is the “correct” solution, unhiding or resetting row height. They both seem to work. I'll mark your solution as the solution. Thank you

You can also highlight the rows above and below the hidden rows and position the mouse cursor over the hidden section to change it to up/down arrow, then double-click. Which will automatically unhide your selected hidden rows.

 

[JenniferMurphy]

Yes, you are correct. My addled brain was confusing what I thought I had done in the past. What I actually did, when I wanted to hide rows, was to right-click the selected rows and select Hide.

 

[MARK858]

In my opinion, it's another Microsoft failing that the Hide/Unhide buttons that apply to the book should be so labeled.

Just for info it is not hide the workbook, it is hide the window and it is in the Window section, so in my opinion it is correctly labelled.
Do you not get a message telling you what it does when you hover your mouse over it (it is also the same button/icon you would have used to hide your personal workbook if you have one)?

I

 

[Peter_SSs]

and it is in the Window section and so in my opinion it is correctly labelled.

I agree.

 

[JenniferMurphy]

Just for info it is not hide the workbook, it is hide the window and it is in the Window section, so in my opinion it is correctly labelled.
Do you not get a message telling you what it does when you hover your mouse over it (it is also the same button/icon you would have used to hide your personal workbook if you have one)?

Yes, you are correct. Thanks for that clarification.

The hover text for the Hide button does say “Hide window”, and if any windows are hidden, the Unhide button says “Unhide window”. So, this was clearly my screw up. I was operating on autopilot and appear to have landed the plane upside down.

I did discover another little Excel “feature”. If I set the row height to anything between 0 and .07, Excel seems to consider those rows “hidden”. If I select the surrounding rows and then right-click anywhere within those rows, the Unhide button will restore them to their previous height. But if I set the row height to .08 or larger, the Unhide button is a NOP. Curious, but not surprising.