How to Unhide a Tab in Excel

In Microsoft Excel, the terms “tab,” “sheet,” “sheet tab,” and “worksheet tab” are used interchangeably. They all refer to the worksheet on which you’re currently working. But no matter what you call them, depending on the project you’re editing, you might have too many tabs open and will need to hide a few to focus on your work.

However, at some point, you’ll probably need to see those hidden tabs again. Excel allows users to hide tabs and unhide them through a similar process.

In this article, we’ll explain how to unhide worksheet tabs, individually or all at once. We’ll also cover several common questions regarding the tab unhiding process in Excel.

How to Unhide a Tab in Excel

Before we go into the details on how to unhide a worksheet tab, let’s see what you need to do to hide it in the first place. To do this, you must have at least two tabs open. Note that you can’t hide all tabs at the same time; one needs to be unhidden at all times. Here’s what you do:

1. Press “Ctrl” (or “Command” on Mac), and with the cursor, select the tabs you want to hide.
2. Right-click on the selected tabs and click “Hide” from the menu.
   

This will automatically hide the tabs you no longer want to see. When you want to unhide a single tab, right-click on any tab and choose and follow these steps:

1. Select “Unhide” from the menu.
   
2. From a pop-up window, choose the tab you want to unhide.
   
3. Select “OK.”
   
   
4. The tab will appear immediately among other visible tabs.

How to Unhide All Tabs in Excel

Hiding and unhiding tabs in Excel individually is a straightforward process. But if you’ve hidden a lot of tabs at once, unhiding each separately can be a time-consuming process.

Unfortunately, Excel doesn’t give you the option to press a button and unhide all tabs. You need to implement a workaround solution for that. All you need is to create a Custom View of your Workbook in Excel. Here’s how it works:

1. Before you hide any tabs in Excel, go to the main toolbar and select “View.”
   
2. Then, select “Custom Views,” click on “Add,” name your view, and click “OK.”
   
3. Proceed to hide tabs.
4. To unhide them, go to “Custom Views” in the toolbar, select the view you saved and click “Show.”
   

Right away, you’ll be able to see all the hidden tabs again.

How to Unhide Tab Bar in Excel

If you’ve opened an Excel Workbook and you can’t see your sheet tabs, that means that the tab bar is hidden. Not to worry, unhiding it takes only a few clicks. Follow these steps to unhide the tab bar in your Workbook:

1. Go to “File” in the main toolbar and select “Options” at the left bottom corner.
   
2. From the pop-up window, select the “Advanced” option and scroll to the “Display options for this workbook” section.
   
3. Make sure that the “Show sheet tabs” box is checked.
   
4. Select “OK.”
   

You will be able to see your tab bar in the Workbook again.

How to Unhide a Table in Excel

The easiest way to unhide a table in Excel is to ensure you first save it in a separate sheet and hide it as such. From a worksheet, copy the table you want to hide and follow the instructions above to do so. Then, unhide it as with any other tab.

Alternatively, you can hide and unhide multiple rows and columns in Excel at the same time. Here’s how:

1. Select the rows and columns you wish to hide/unhide.
   
2. Go to the “Home” tab and then to the “Cells” section.
   
3. Select “Format” and, from the drop-down menu, use the “Hide & Unhide” option under the “Visibility” section.
   

How to Unhide Pivot Tables in Excel

A Pivot table is a useful feature in Excel that helps users sort through massive amounts of data. If you’re working on a Pivot table and the Field List disappears, you can get it back by following these quick steps.

1. Right-click anywhere on your Pivot table.
2. Select “Show Field List” from the menu.
   

If you need to hide the Field List again, follow the same steps, but choose “Hide Field List” this time.

How to Unhide a Tab in Excel VBA

If you want another option to show more than one hidden tab at a time, you can use the Visual Basic for Applications editor or VBA in Excel. Here’s what that process looks like:

1. Click on the worksheet tab and instead of “Unhide,” select “View Code.”
   
2. The VBA editor window will launch. In the editor, you’ll see the “Immediate” window. If you don’t see it, go to “View>Immediate Window.”
   
3. In the Immediate Window, enter the following code: “For each Sheet in Thisworkbook.Sheets: Sheet.Visible=True: Next Sheet”
   

The code will be executed immediately, and you’ll see your hidden tabs again.

How to Unhide a Workbook in Excel

You can hide or unhide the Workbook window in Excel and, by doing so, manage your workspace to your advantage. Workbooks are displayed in the taskbar by default, but here’s how you can hide or unhide them:

1. Go to the “View” tab in the main toolbar and then to the “Window” group.
   
2. Select “Hide” or “Unhide.”
   
3. When you need to unhide, select the name of the Workbook and then “OK.”
   

You’ll be able to see the hidden Workbook again.

Additional FAQs

1. How Do You Do a Global Unhide in Excel?

You can also hide or unhide all the rows and columns in Excel to click on the space where the first row and first column meet. It’s in the top left corner.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eThis will select all rows and columns, and then all you need to do is click on the “Hide” or “Unhide” option in the “Window” group in the “View” tab.

2. How Do You Show Hidden Tabs in Excel?

If you want to show hidden tabs in Excel, follow the instruction provided above regarding how to do it for separate tabs and multiple tabs at the same time.

3. How Do I Unhide Tabs in Excel 2016?

If you’re an Excel 2016 user, the steps to hide and unhide tabs are identical to Excel 2019. So, all you need to do is apply the same steps we’ve provided above.

Seeing Only the Tabs You Need

When you’re navigating through dozens, sometimes hundreds, of tabs in your Excel Workbook, you can waste a lot of time opening the tabs you don’t need. You can’t delete them because you’ll likely need them later. The best solution is to hide them.

But if you’re not sure how to unhide them later, you’ll probably be reluctant to take that step in the first place. Hopefully, this tutorial will help you navigate hiding and unhiding tabs in Excel and become more efficient in using this feature.

How many tabs do you usually have open when working in Excel? Let us know in the comments section below.