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Excel - Efficient Excel Tip: Hide and Unhide Multiple Columns with Grouping - Episode 482

512 views · Published 1 May 2009 · 2:33 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Efficient Excel Tip: Hide and Unhide Multiple Columns with Grouping.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! I'm Bill Jelen and today we're talking about a great tip that was sent in by one of our viewers. It's always amazing to me how much I learn from the people who attend my Power Excel seminars. And it seems like there's always someone in the room who knows a trick in Excel that I don't know. And for some reason, they always seem to be sitting in row 2. I don't know why, but it's become a running joke at my seminars. In fact, I even have special pins made up for the first person who shows me up with a new Excel tip.

Today's tip comes from Scott, who was watching podcast 449 where I talked about the hassle of hiding and unhiding columns. Scott had a brilliant idea - instead of hiding columns, why not group them? This way, you can easily hide and unhide multiple columns at once. Let's say you have a spreadsheet that's too wide and you don't need to see columns C, D, E, and F. Simply select those columns, go to the Data menu, and choose Group and Outline, then Group. Now, you'll see a new set of buttons at the top with a minus sign. Clicking on the minus sign will instantly collapse all the grouped columns, making it easier to see the columns on the left and right. And to bring the columns back, just click on the plus sign or use the group and outline buttons. This is much easier than using the Format Column option to hide and unhide columns individually.

I have to admit, this is a great idea and it's much more efficient than the traditional method. So, thank you to Scott for sending in this tip! And if you ever see something in one of our podcasts and think there's a better way to do it, please don't hesitate to send me an email at [email protected]. We love hearing from our viewers and we'll make sure to feature your tip in a future podcast. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time for another podcast from MrExcel. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more Excel tips and tricks!

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Today, Scott W sends in a better way to hide and unhide columns. After watching podcast 449, Scott sent in a suggestion that is much better than the typical Format Column Hide and Format Column Unhide methods. Episode 482 shows you how.

This blog is the video podcast companion to the book, Learn Excel from MrExcel. Download a new two minute video every workday to learn one of the 277 tips from the book!

Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction to MrExcel netcast
(00:25) Surprising discoveries at Power Excel seminars
(00:41) Special pins for Excel Masters
(00:55) Email about a previous podcast
(01:05) Scott's great idea for hiding columns
(01:24) New Group and Outline buttons
(01:36) Easy way to show or hide columns
(02:03) Audience participation and email address
(02:13) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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