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How To Unhide Rows in Google Sheets (7 Easy Examples)

How to unhide rows in Google Sheets? It’s a great question, and you’ll find that there are multiple ways to solve this conundrum. The great thing with most spreadsheet software, including Google Sheets, is that you can examine your data differently and from different perspectives.

One convenient feature of Google Sheets is that it lets you hide certain rows so you can concentrate on only those that matter or in case you have empty rows. However, there’s one small problem with this, though — forgetting to unhide the hidden rows.

There’s also a possibility of forgetting which rows you had hidden in the first place! This often happens when dealing with large data sets.

If you’re sharing a Google Sheet with someone who has hidden some rows (maybe for their convenience), this might be a problem. Additionally, it can be even more frustrating since it is sometimes difficult to tell how the rows are hidden. But every problem has a solution, and that’s what we’re here for!

In this tutorial, we will take a look at how to unhide rows in Google Sheets.

How To Unhide Rows in Google Sheets

  1. Select all the row numbers and column letters by clicking on the grey block on the top left of your spreadsheet.
  2. Right-click on your selection.
  3. Choose Unhide rows.

How To Unhide Rows in Google Sheets (Smaller Datasets)

If you’re looking at a worksheet and you feel like some data is amiss, there’s a possibility that some rows are hidden. So, it’s a good idea to have Google Sheets show hidden rows.

Here are some tell-tale signs that there are hidden rows in your Google Sheet:

  1. The obvious giveaway is the absence of certain consecutive row numbers. As you can see in the image below, you get rows 1 and 2, and then it skips to row 5. That means rows 3 and 4 are not visible.
    How to unhide rows in Google Sheets—Hidden rows in a dataset
  2. Secondly, if you look at the rows in your sheet carefully, you should notice two arrows on consecutive rows (as the ones shown below) to signify that there are hidden rows in between.
    Icons to unhide the hidden rows
  3. To unhide the rows, all you need to do is click on one of the two arrows. Your hidden rows should now become visible again.
    Rows have been unhidden

How To Unhide Rows in Google Sheets (for larger datasets)

The above method is fine if you can clearly see which rows are hidden.

If you have a larger database, however, it may be harder to spot the arrows. In such cases, here’s how you can find out if there are hidden rows in the dataset. To help you understand the concepts more easily, we have used the same small dataset for our images. But this method works with larger sets, too.

Here’s how to unhide all rows in Google Sheets:

  1. Select all the row numbers and column letters by clicking on the grey block on the top left of your spreadsheet.
    Select all the cells in the worksheet
  2. Next, right-click on your selection.
  3. If any rows are hidden in the sheet, you should see a menu option that says “Unhide rows.”  If you cannot find this option, it means your worksheet does not have any hidden rows.
    Click on Unhide Rows

While you may expect to be able to click on the “Unhide” option (in step 3 above), which should unhide all the rows in the worksheet, in practice, it doesn’t work that way.

Instead, you will see the “Unhide rows” option, but you can’t click on it. All it does is let you know that there are some hidden rows in the sheet.

Once you know that there are hidden rows in your sheet, here’s a quick way to unhide all hidden rows in one go:

  1. Select the row headers for all the rows in the range.
    Select the rows that have the hidden rows
  2. Right-click and select the “Unhide rows” option.
    Right click and then click on Unhide Rows
  3. All the rows which were hidden should now become visible at the same time.
    Dataset with no hidden rows

How To Unhide Rows in Google Sheets Shortcut

Thankfully, like with most Google Sheets functions, you can use a Google Sheets unhide rows shortcut.

To unhide rows in Google Sheets using the Windows keyboard shortcut, you can click the Ctrl + Shift key + 9. To unhide rows in Google Sheets on macOS, you can use the keyboard shortcut Cmd + Shift + 9. 

How To Set Grouped Rows to Hide

When you group rows in Google Sheets, a feature makes it easy to hide and unhide them. Your rows usually hide automatically when you group them, and a plus (+) control icon appears beside the row numbers.

A control icon appears beside the row numbers.

You can click the minus (-) icon to hide them and the plus (+) icon to unhide them.

How To Check if There Are Hidden Rows

Usually, you can be able to tell if you have hidden rows by the row numbers to see if a number has been skipped. However, this can be a tedious task if you have a large volume of data. Another way you can show hidden rows in Google Sheets is to:

  1. Select the entire spreadsheet by clicking the square at the left corner under the formula box.
Select all the cells in the worksheet

 

  1. Right-click anywhere on the sheet.
  2. Check for the option “Unhide rows.”
Right click and then click on Unhide Rows

If the option is available, then it means you have some hidden rows. If not, then you don’t have any hidden rows.

If you want to find hidden information in Google Sheets, you can also use the “Find and replace” feature in the “Edit” menu.

How To Find Rows Hidden by Filters

Oftentimes, what you perceive as ‘hidden rows’ may actually be the result of filters being applied.

This is most commonly the case when users complain that they know a few rows are missing but cannot seem to find any ‘hidden’ rows that they can unhide.

So here’s how to view hidden rows in Google Sheets if there’s a filter hiding your rows:

Checking for filtered rows

 

  1. You will see a filter icon next to some of the column headers
  2. You will see the row numbers and column headers colored differently (somewhat light-bluish).
  3. You will notice a few row numbers missing.
  4. If you click on the “Data” menu from the menu bar, you should see an option that says “Turn off filter.
    Turn off Filter

 

If you see any or all of the above tell-tale signs, then it’s obvious that you’re dealing with a filter here.

How To Turn Off Filters

If you’ve diagnosed the cause of the missing rows as the presence of filters, you need to remove the filters to get back your missing rows. Here’s how:

  1. Click the “Datamenu from the menu bar.
  2. Select the option that says “Turn off filter.
    Turn off Filter
  3. This should remove filters from your sheet, and you should be able to see all your previously hidden rows again.
    Rows have been unhidden

Note: Alternatively, you can also remove the filter by clicking on the “Turn off filter icon directly from the toolbar.

Hidden rows Because of Filter View

Another common scenario is when you use the “Filter view” option.

It is possible that someone might have created a ‘filter view,’ causing some of the rows to be hidden from view. Here’s how to tell if the sheet is in filter view:

Filter View

 

  1. The row numbers and column letters will be a different color (somewhat dark greyish).
  2. You will see filter information above the column headers. This will also be colored somewhat dark greyish.
  3. You will notice a few row numbers missing.

If you disable the filter view, you should be able to get back all your hidden rows. Here are two ways to do this:

  1. When in “filter view, there’s usually a cross (x) on the right-hand side of the bar that contains information about the filter. Simply click on it to remove the filter.
    Cross to close Filter view
  2. Alternatively, you can click on the “Filter views” button on the toolbar and select “Nonefrom the drop-down menu that appears.
    Filter None

 

Either way, you should be back to the original spreadsheet view, and you should now be able to see all the previously hidden rows.

Related: If you want to upskill your Google Sheets knowledge, check out this online Google Sheets masterclass. It covers new concepts from industry experts and hands-on projects, giving you all the practice you need to become a Google Sheets specialist. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Are My Hidden Rows Not Unhiding?

If our methods for unhiding a row in Google Sheets are not working for you, then there could be a couple of reasons for this.

One of them is that you have some rows hidden by a filter. Try removing the filters and unhiding the rows. Go to “Data” > “Turn off filter.”

You may also not have access to the file or only have been granted access as a viewer, which means you can’t change the spreadsheet. If this is the case, contact the Google Sheets owner and request that they update your access.

Wrapping Up

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to find out if there are hidden rows in your sheet and how to unhide rows in Google Sheets. We have also shown you how to find the reason for the missing rows and given you examples of why some rows in your sheet are missing due to one of three reasons:

  • The rows were previously hidden
  • There might be a filter in place
  • The worksheet might be in the filter view

We hope you found the tutorial helpful and that you can now find your ‘missing’ rows easily with no problems. If you found this article useful, you can also have a look at our guide for how to hide gridlines in Google Sheets or download some of our premium templates to save time. Remember to use the code SSP to save 50% on your purchases.

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