Excel

Copper Contributor

Column A appears to be hidden. I have used the help directions to no avail. In addition when I go to B1 the name box above it shows "A" instead of B1. This may be associated with my problem.

 

Could this be something other than a hidden column? Or do you have another solution to unhide the 1st column?

7 Replies

@joeemery 

You may use the Name box to navigate to A1 (or any cell within Column A).  From there, it's a matter of going to Home | Format | Column Width - hidden columns are set to 0.  Set the column width to the standard 8.09.


Name box for reference:

Patrick2788_0-1649615326857.png

 

Thanks Patrick2788 . I tried that and followed that with the visability/unhide. still no go.

@Patrick2788 

 

how can I attach a file to this message

The fix can be a little weird and non-intuitive. To unhide column A, or any set of columns on the far-left, select column B and, without letting go of your left mouse click, continue dragging to the left until you're over the left side of the column. Once selected you can let go of your mouse button. Then, right-click column B header (any selected column header, actually) and select Unhide.

The trick is to ensure you're selecting the hidden columns, which is difficult because, well, they're hidden. Another way would be to use the Name box to select the range. You need to be careful though, because you could name a range. Since "A" is a valid name for a range, you could actually name column B to a range name of "A". This would make things *very* confusing. If you were to use the Name box to select columns A through B, you would need to click in it and type "A:B" which is a valid range *reference*. If a reference is typed in that box it will go to, or select, that range if it can. Then you would right-click any selected column as described above and choose Unhide from the menu.

HTH
Thanks Zack

I Tried this as per your instructions with no result. This is what makes me think there is another problem disguised as a hidden column. any thoughts?

Joe
FYI

I "Unmerged" cells and column A appeared.

IT's a mystery to me

Joe
Merging cells shouldn't prevent you from unhiding, that's strange. But, glad you got it fixed!