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Unhide specific columns on a sheet

Rachel Wrobel
Rachel Wrobel ✭✭
edited 07/15/24 in Smartsheet Product Feedback & Ideas

Instead of unhiding all columns to find one or two that are needed, it'd be great to be able to unhide specific ones, like Excel does with Tabs.

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On Wishlist · Last Updated

We agree this is a great idea and would make for a valuable improvement to sheets with lots of columns. We are working on incorporating this into the new Table View, which will first be released to members of the Early Adopters Program (EAP).

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  • Vanessa Scott
    Vanessa Scott ✭✭✭✭
    edited 02/06/23

    The ability to unhide a single or range of hidden columns without having to unhide all of them.

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  • Sequoia S.
    Sequoia S. ✭✭

    It seems this is a perennial request. I've found comments on this issue back to 2015, at it is no better in 2023. Very clunky interface. In Excel, if I know Column H is hidden I can use GoTo to go to H1 and then Alt+Col+Unhide. There is no equivalent in Smartsheet. I'm currently working on a project where, to unhide a column just to the right of a known column, I have to drag about 8 other columns unhidden, finally revealing the column I want. Then I have to hide those 8 columns again.

    Come on Smartsheet, y'all can do better.

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  • MariaCurtis
    MariaCurtis ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited 03/27/23

    Please yes!

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  • Sarah123
    Sarah123 ✭✭✭✭

    This would be a GREAT feature. If you have the Control Center option on your plan you could potential do this by going to Global Update and selecting to modify an existing column and in the Advanced section uncheck the hidden box. It's not a great workaround - but if you wanted to unhide the same column (and you could do the same to rehide one) in multiple projects this is an option. But I agree, being able to unhide one column within a sheet would be ideal.

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  • Josh W
    Josh W ✭✭✭✭

    Here is a trick I just figured out;

    Let's say you have multiple groups of columns hidden, and you want to see just one groups. Rather than unhiding the entire sheet, or dragging the width of the hidden columns one by one, you can do this:

    Highlight the two columns that straddle the hidden group you want to see. Slightly adjust the width of the column on the right. This will cause the hidden columns in between the two selected ones to unhide all at once, without disturbing the rest of the sheet.

    Not a bad workaround, as long as you know where the column is that you want to view and it's not buried in a huge group of hidden cells :-)

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  • Ian Cooper
    Ian Cooper ✭✭✭✭

    The unhide feature in Smartsheet needs some work. With the amount of help cells necessary for time formulas, I end up with several hidden columns. Any time maintenance or trouble shooting is needed, instead of just unhiding the column that is needed, everything gets shown. This makes it incredibly frustrating.

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  • MichaelTCA
    MichaelTCA ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    Hello,

    Having to unhide all columns at once can be overwhelming for new users. From a developer stand point, it's horrible. I usually have to unhide all columns to develop automations and procedures through multiple sheets and reports. Just to properly set up a lookup function can be difficult for new employees who haven't used our procedures much.

    It's not a big problem if 1 person is running the show, but as soon as multiple brains get put together and want to start developing procedures within their own departments, data can be easily forgotten and duplicated.

    Some sort of task manager to show a list of the columns with the ability to possibly check/uncheck the individual columns that you want to be shown would be great! It can be set up on the right side bar and operate the same as the rest, within that bar, having the window that slides out after making a selection.

    Like I mentioned above, as soon as there's more than 1 person working within the same sheet, confusion can easily be caused by a mis-click and the feeling of "starting over" the task (hiding columns) comes on.

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  • Nik Fuentes
    Nik Fuentes ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    I won't pretend to know how difficult it would be to implement this feature, but I can assure you that it is desperately needed. The frustration of navigating around hidden columns by unhiding all is immense [especially since the unhide 1 option undoes column width settings].

    Having a tool on the taskbar with the list of columns, their type [text/num, date, formula, locked, etc], their status [hidden/unhidden], and the option to change their status would alleviate all of my problems.

    I work with big sheets with a lot of helper columns with a bunch of other admins. Unhiding all every time is intensely frustrating. Please give this higher priority, it has ben a problem for years now.

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  • Adrian Mandile CHESS
    Adrian Mandile CHESS ✭✭✭✭✭

    This idea is related to the following post:

    https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/95450/hidden-columns-list

    Let's try to combine our votes, so we get some Smartsheet action!

    Adrian Mandile
    CHESS Consulting Australia - Smartsheet Solution Provider Gold Partner
    Collaborative | Holistic | Effective | Systems | Solutions

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  • Mike Jungers
    Mike Jungers ✭✭

    I've seen two types of solutions that work well for hiding/unhiding columns in other software I use:

    • Set up pre-defined "views" using drop-down lists of column names with checkboxes for visibility within that each view. UDA ConstructionSuite uses this method but the pre-defined views cannot be renamed. The ability to name views would be superb.
    • A simple "Hide" drop-down menu with nice, large radio buttons like Asana. Each has to be toggled individually but the large buttons are easy to select quickly.

    If SS would implement either approach I would be be happy. On a positive note, SS will print to PDF exactly what I'm seeing on screen, which makes it easy to generate one-off reports using column visibility and widths. This works far faster and more predictably than other platforms I use.

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  • NickStaffordPM
    NickStaffordPM ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    This would be so, so impactful. Our community within our business has noted this several times to me. Cannot WAIT to see this implemented in future updates (and fingers crossed EAP gets an early peak!)

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  • PMChristine
    PMChristine ✭

    I would love the be able to unhide 1 column and not all columns. Maybe from a dropdown list of columns that are hidden. I know you can stretch the columns but that doesn't always work and if you have multiple columns hiding in a row it is very frustrating to find what you are looking for.

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  • spauliszyn
    spauliszyn ✭✭✭
    edited 02/21/24

    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

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  • A.J.
    A.J. ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    This would be so very helpful and there is not a status update in over a year!?!?!?!?!?

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  • VirtixIT
    VirtixIT ✭✭✭
    edited 05/17/24

    I Would Like To Be Able to Unhide Specific Columns, Not All Columns. I Have a Lot of Columns Hidden and Certain Columns I Need to Look At. However, I Do Not Like Having To Go Through My Sheet and Re-Hide Every Single Column When I Have Completed My Updates on Hidden Columns.

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