How to unhide rows in Google Sheets

In this article, we will discuss multiple approaches to unhide rows in Google Sheets.

Why hiding and unhiding rows is important.

Before we delve into the process, it’s essential to understand why hiding and unhiding rows is important.

• Google Sheets have the capability to handle extensive data sets with thousands of rows. For ease of data management, users often hide those rows that are not currently needed.
• Sometimes, accessing those hidden rows becomes more crucial, either to alter the data or to visualize the complete information. This is when you actually need to unhide those hidden rows.

How to unhide rows in Google Sheets

Let’s walk through the complete steps for unhiding rows.

Step 1: Access your Google Sheets Document

• Open the Google Sheet document where you wish to unhide rows.

Step 2: Locate the Hidden Rows

• In Google Sheets, hidden rows are denoted by some thick lines at the row headers. You will also see a discontinuity in the numbering.

Step 3: Unhide Rows

There are two ways to unhide rows in Google Sheets:

Approach-1: Using the Upward and Downward arrows

1. In the below sheet, you can able to see the rows from 4 to 6 are hidden. Next to the hidden rows, you can see one upward arrow and one down arrow as highlighted in the below screenshot.

2. Click on the upward arrow or down arrow that will successfully unhide the hidden rows. See the below image.

Approach-2: Using the Unhide option

1. Click on the Grey box at the top to select the complete rows.

2. Right-click on any of the selected rows areas –> click on the Unhide rows option as highlighted below.

Approach-3: Using the Remove Filter option

1. Sometimes, the rows are hidden due to the applied filter. You will see the filter symbol for the filtered rows below.

2. In that case, You need to turn off the filter option by navigating to the Data menu –> Choose the Remove filter option.

FAQS

Q1: Can I unhide multiple rows at once in Google Sheets?

Yes, you can unhide multiple rows at once. Click on the row number of the row above the first hidden row for selecting it, then you can hold the shift key and click the row number of the row below the last hidden row. This action will select all the rows, hidden and visible. After that, navigate to the top menu, click on “Format”, hover over “Row”, and in the dropdown menu that appears, select “Unhide rows”.

Q2: Why can’t I see the rows that I just unhidden?

There could be several reasons why you can’t see the rows you’ve just unhidden. A filter might be applied and could be hiding the rows, or there may be a conditional formatting rule in place. To check, you just need to remove filters by navigating to the “Data” menu on the top and selecting “Remove filter”. To check for conditional formatting rules, navigate to “Format” and hover over “Conditional formatting”, then review the rules that appear in the panel on the right.

Q3: Is there a way to quickly hide and unhide rows in Google Sheets?

You can use shortcuts to hide and unhide rows. To hide, select the rows you wish to hide, right-click the row numbers, and then choose “Hide rows”. To unhide, you need to select both the row above and below the hidden rows, right-click, and choose the “Unhide rows” option.

Q4: Is it possible to prevent rows from being hidden in Google Sheets?

Currently, there’s no such feature in Google Sheets that can prevent rows from being hidden. However, if you wish to restrict the editing access to your Google Sheets document to prevent accidental hiding of rows, you need to adjust the sharing settings of the document to “Can view” or “Can comment”. This way, others can see or comment on your document but cannot make any changes, including hiding or unhiding rows.

Wrapping Up

Unhiding rows in Google Sheets is a very simple and important feature that can significantly contribute to effective data management. Use the above simple approaches to unhide hidden rows in Google Sheets.