# Another Excel question: Hidden rows **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118 "2017-02-17T23:03:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/1 "2017-02-17T23:03:49Z")
My beloved old Excel 2003 decided to go weird yesterday. Somehow all rows 1 thru 51 in a particular spreadsheet got hidden (not by me - must have been an alien flyby), and the usual method of unhiding them don’t seem to work. I can select and drag the cursor over the area, and it won’t bring up the usual options of “hide” and “unhide”. As this method is the only way I know of unhiding something, this has got me somewhat stymied. Columns A and B also got hidden, but I can unhide those OK. Any advice? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/2 "2017-02-18T00:22:12Z")
CTRL+9 Hides the selected Rows. CTRL+0 Hides the selected Columns. CTRL+SHIFT+9 Unhides the hidden rows within the selection. CTRL+SHIFT+0 Unhides the hidden columns within the selection. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/3 "2017-02-18T03:20:30Z")
Is it possible they aren’t actually hidden, but with row height set to 0? Try highlighting before and after the section and changing the row height. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/4 "2017-02-18T03:37:22Z")
To JeffB: There are no “before” rows. The first numbered row shown is 51. I tried your suggestion by selecting from the very top (where the Column designations are), to no avail. To bob++: Nothing happens when I use the CTRL etc approach. Thanks for your efforts, but no luck so far. I’m beginning to think that the problem is EVIL SPIRITS. Any priests available for an exorcism? ---
**Author:** ![Blunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Blunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blunt)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/5 "2017-02-18T03:47:08Z")
Maybe frozen panes? If so you can select “Unfreeze Panes” from the Windows menu in Excel 2003. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/6 "2017-02-18T03:57:00Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > To JeffB: There are no “before” rows. The first numbered row shown is 51. I tried your suggestion by selecting from the very top (where the Column designations are), to no avail. Did you try selecting the entire worksheet (clicking the corner above the first row and to the left of first column) and then unhiding and/or set row height? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/7 "2017-02-18T11:46:32Z")
> [@Blunt](#): > > Maybe frozen panes? If so you can select “Unfreeze Panes” from the Windows menu in Excel 2003. If resetting the row height for all cells doesn’t work, my money is in **Blunt** ’s suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-excel-question-hidden-rows/780118/8 "2017-02-18T18:01:03Z")
**BLUNT** is the winner - “Unfreeze Panes” did the trick!!! Never had tried that one before. Now I just have to find out how they got frozen in the first place. Probably due to my habit of seeing how fast I can type in commands (called the “flying fingers syndrome”). Thanks to all you guys for your assistance