In Excel: select the row numbers, right-click and choose Hide; to bring them back, select the rows around the gap (or Ctrl+A for the whole sheet) and choose Unhide, or use Home ▸ Format ▸ Hide & Unhide.
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Click a row number and drag (or Ctrl-click) to select the whole rows you want to hide.
Right-click the selection and choose Hide, or use Home ▸ Format ▸ Hide & Unhide ▸ Hide Rows.
To unhide a few, select the rows immediately above and below the gap, right-click and choose Unhide.
To unhide every row at once, press Ctrl+A, then Home ▸ Format ▸ Hide & Unhide ▸ Unhide Rows.
What this does
Hiding a row collapses it out of view without deleting anything — the data, formulas and any totals that reference it all keep working, the row is simply not shown. You select whole rows by their numbers, right-click and pick Hide, and a doubled border marks where rows are missing. Unhiding reverses it: select the rows on either side of the gap and choose Unhide. To reveal every hidden row at once, select the entire sheet with Ctrl+A first. Before you run it on a workbook other people depend on, try it on a copy or a few rows first. Undo only reaches back through the current session, so a quick trial run is the cheapest way to see exactly what will change before the file is saved and shared. Treat “unhide rows in excel” as a small repeatable workflow rather than a one-off click you hope to remember next time. Use a small test block before the live file, so any surprise in the affected rows shows up while it is still harmless. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. That turns a layout choice that keeps the sheet readable and sortable into a method you can reuse, explain, and defend when the workbook leaves your screen.
A worked example
A report has detail in rows 5–8 you want out of the way. Click row header 5, drag to row 8 to select all four, right-click and choose Hide — rows 5 to 8 vanish and the numbering jumps from 4 straight to 9. Later, to bring them all back, press Ctrl+A to select the whole sheet, then Home ▸ Format ▸ Hide & Unhide ▸ Unhide Rows, and rows 5–8 reappear exactly as they were. Hide rows to tuck away detail, helper calculations or seasonal entries without losing them — a cleaner print-out, a tidier review, a report that shows only the summary. Because nothing is deleted, you can unhide and get every row back exactly as it was whenever you need it. A practical tip: try it on a copy of the sheet or a handful of sample rows first and check the result before you apply it to the real data. That one habit catches almost every surprise while it is still cheap to reverse.
In Google Sheets
This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. Nothing on this page is behind a login or a download: the exact answer is at the top, and the detail below it is there for when you need it. That is the whole promise here — the answer first, and just enough context to make it stick. If you take one thing from this page on “unhide rows in excel”, make it the order of checks rather than the individual clicks: confirm what is selected, apply the step, and look at the result before moving on. That small routine is what keeps Excel work predictable when the same task comes back in a slightly different workbook.
Common mistakes
- Selecting cells instead of whole row headers, so Hide is greyed out or hides the wrong thing.
- Forgetting hidden rows still count in
SUMand other ranges — hiding does not exclude them from formulas. - Trying to unhide row 1 by selecting around it (there is no row above) — instead select from row 1 down, or use the Name Box and Unhide Rows.
- Confusing hiding with filtering; a filter hides rows by condition and is cleared differently from a manual Hide.
Frequently asked questions
How do I unhide all rows at once?
Select the entire sheet with Ctrl+A (or click the corner box above row 1), then Home ▸ Format ▸ Hide & Unhide ▸ Unhide Rows reveals every hidden row in one step.
Do hidden rows still affect my totals?
Yes — SUM and most functions still include hidden rows. Use SUBTOTAL or AGGREGATE if you need a total that ignores hidden rows.
How do I unhide the very first row?
There is no row above row 1 to select, so type A1 in the Name Box to land there, then Home ▸ Format ▸ Hide & Unhide ▸ Unhide Rows.
Other ways people ask this
On the way here you may have searched this as “how do you unhide rows in excel”, “how do i unhide excel rows”, “how to unhide a row in excel” and “unhide row in excel” — it is all the same task, and this page is the single, complete answer to it.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “how do you unhide rows in excel”, “how do i unhide excel rows”, “how to unhide a row in excel” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.