Forum Discussion

Alanatabz's avatar
Alanatabz
Copper Contributor
Apr 08, 2025

Excel autohide row based on 4 cells if blank

Hello.   I am looking to autohide a row if four columns are blank..   Is this easy to do?
excel
HansVogelaar's avatar
HansVogelaar
MVP
Apr 08, 2025

This would require VBA, so it will only work in the desktop version of Excel for Windows and Mac.

If that is OK, please provide more detailed information.

KevinCarter's avatar
KevinCarter
Copper Contributor
Apr 08, 2025

For Excel Online (without VBA), you'll need to use Power Automate integration to achieve automatic row hiding when four columns are blank. Here's how to set it up:

1. Prepare Your Excel File

  • Save your workbook to OneDrive/SharePoint (required for Power Automate integration)
  • Identify the 4 columns to monitor (e.g., Columns A, B, C, D)

2. Create a Power Automate Flow

  1. Go to https://make.powerautomate.com/
  2. Create a new Scheduled Cloud Flow
    • Trigger: Choose "Recurrence" (e.g., run every 15 minutes)
  3. Add Step: List rows present in a table (Excel Online connector)
    • Select your file and worksheet
  4. Add Step: Apply to each (loop through rows)
    • Use this formula in "Condition" to check blank cells:@and(empty(item()?['ColumnA']), empty(item()?['ColumnB']), empty(item()?['ColumnC']), empty(item()?['ColumnD']))
  5. Add Step: Run script (Office Scripts - limited Excel Online automation)
    • Use this TypeScript code:function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook) { let sheet = workbook.getActiveWorksheet(); let range = workbook.getSelectedRange(); range.getEntireRow().setRowHidden(true); }
  • Alanatabz's avatar
    Alanatabz
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 09, 2025

    Is there a way to do this, in Excel running on a local machine?

    • KevinCarter's avatar
      KevinCarter
      Copper Contributor
      Apr 12, 2025

      if you are running it on a local machine, then VBA would be better

      Dim NextRun As Double  

      Sub ScheduleRowHiding()  
          NextRun = Now + TimeValue("00:15:00") ' 15-minute interval  
          Application.OnTime NextRun, "CheckAndHideRows"  
      End Sub  

      Sub CheckAndHideRows()  
          Dim ws As Worksheet  
          Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1") ' Change to your sheet name  
          Dim lastRow As Long  
          lastRow = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row  
          
          Application.ScreenUpdating = False  
          On Error GoTo CleanUp  
          
          For i = 1 To lastRow  
              If IsRowEmpty(ws, i) Then  
                  ws.Rows(i).Hidden = True  
              End If  
          Next i  
          
      CleanUp:  
          Application.ScreenUpdating = True  
          ScheduleRowHiding ' Reschedule  
      End Sub  

      Function IsRowEmpty(ws As Worksheet, rowNum As Long) As Boolean  
          IsRowEmpty = Application.CountA(ws.Range("A" & rowNum & ":D" & rowNum)) = 0  
      End Function  

      Sub CancelSchedule()  
          On Error Resume Next  
          Application.OnTime NextRun, "CheckAndHideRows", , False  
      End Sub  

    • HansVogelaar's avatar
      HansVogelaar
      MVP
      Apr 09, 2025

      Could you attach a small sample workbook demonstrating the problem (without sensitive data), or if that is not possible, make it available through OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or similar?

      Or post a screenshot in which we can see the row numbers and column letters.

Resources