Unhide specific columns on a sheet

Ide AirTrunk

This + Grouping Columns is fundamental for the larger sheets, particularly those in finance / budgets which have commonalities across sections and also a lot of helper columns which typically are hidden!

Henry Park

I have grids with hundreds of columns with various helper columns hidden. Sometimes I need to look up the name of the column or unhide for error checking. Unhiding all is the only option if I don't know where the column was hidden. A solution could be to create a button that opens a dialog box of all columns names that is searchable and has a checkbox "hidden". This way we can simply search for the column name, if it's hidden, and where it's hidden (column position). Maybe you can rearrange columns in this box too.

jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp

I manage columns using an API tool (*) when working on large-scale developments. However, when I need to check hidden columns quickly, I use the following method:

Edit Row Menu

For example, the image below is the WBS template sheet, in which I hide columns to see necessary information in the Gannt view.

Click on "Edit" from the row menu. The menu displays all columns, including hidden ones. Click on "fx" to view the column formulas.

Smartsheet

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=a4db5dab417b4dedbaaa5527384bb825

Send Update Request Row Menu
From the row menu, click on "Send Update Request." By default, when you click "Include," only the visible columns are checked. The checked columns make it easy to see which columns are hidden and which are visible.

I hope this helps!

(*)

API Tool Image

Adrian Mandile CHESS

spauliszyn

Feb 21, 2024

Agreed.

Also, when you have to re-hide columns, it is easy to overlook columns when you have a huge sheet with lots of intermixed 'helper' columns

One way that I work-around knowing which columns should be hidden, is to use Conditional Formatting – reserving the seldom used very pale purple background and automatic or dark grey font, so that when I have to re-select the columns it is more apparent.

Darren Mullen

@jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp That's a cool trick I wasn't aware of. We've also just released a solution for this through my partnership with SSFeatures:

Darren Mullen

Nov 14, 2024

@A.J. @smartsheetluvr Ya'll seem pretty interested in this feature, and so do many others. Because of this very community thread and many others, my development partner has just released this into their browser extension and I made a demo video.

https://youtu.be/2G-goXeCaYQ

moniquecpl

@jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp - Thank you for sharing this workaround!

Josh W

I have been asking for a popup window interface to manage columns for a long time now; a tabular view where you can sort by sheet order, sort alphabetically, change column names, set the formatting, hide & unhide, change column order etc.
For small sheets it's no big deal, but when you have 350 columns and can't remember the exact names of every column it would have saved me Hours and Hours of hunting !!

sandra.love

This is DESPERATELY needed!!

harocha

100% Agree with the community members replies. Definitely, I'll follow the suggestions from Mike Jungers ; Michael TCS; and Josh W along with great comments from the participants. Thank you, gracias, obrigado, grazie…

SSFeatures

Hey everyone, based on the feedback from this thread and other similar threads, I added these features with SSFeatures so that you can hide and unhide specific columns easier.

• Click the checkboxes to hide and unhide specific columns.
• Click the arrow icons to jump to that column in your sheet.

• The filters at the top let you quickly find the column that you're looking for.
• The "Save/Load/Delete" buttons at the bottom let you save your column settings, so that you can load them again in the future.

If you have any other ideas, I would love to hear them. I'm constantly improving SSFeatures to make it as useful as possible.

Thanks!

Genevieve P.

Hi all,
Unhiding a set group of hidden columns has now been released in Table View!

I'm adding a link to the related Idea post if the release in Table View does not solve for your request: Hidden Columns List

Cheers,
Genevieve

Jon Barto

@Genevieve P. Hopefully smartsheet does a little better update on this and lets the user pick the columns we want to hide or unhide.

Because I bet most users don't have 5 columns in an exact order they want to hide/unhide. Alot of our sheets have helper columns mixed in.

This is a good idea to update. But hopefully smartsheet makes it better.

markkrebs

@Genevieve P. I dont see specific column unhide in Table view. I just see unhide all.

C. Peter Datz

markkrebs

Apr 4, 2025

@Genevieve P. I dont see specific column unhide in Table view. I just see unhide all.

I was just discussing this with my TAM this morning. This isn't adding the specific column functionality to Table view… just the ability to unhide all. So it's not really addressing what this thread is all about.

Genevieve P.

Hi @C. Peter Datz & @markkrebs

In Table View, you can now un-hide a set group of columns instead of only having the option to un-hide all columns (which is also still available).

The way to do this is to double-click on the hidden column(s) indicator! This will unfurl all of those hidden columns without expanding open the entire sheet.

You are correct, this is not a choice to individually un-hide each specific column based on title. For this request, please continue to vote on and leave your comments on the related Product Idea where updates will be posted: Hidden Columns List

Cheers,
Genevieve