Don't Hide and Unhide Columns in Excel—Use Groups Instead

Excel efficient grouping: say goodbye to hidden columns and embrace flexible data management!

While hidden columns can temporarily remove unnecessary data, grouping columns are often a better choice when dealing with large data sets or pursuing flexibility. This article will explain in detail the advantages and operation methods of Excel column grouping to help you improve data management efficiency.

Why is grouping better than hiding?

Hiding columns (right-click on the column title and select "Hide") can easily lead to data forgetting, even the column title prompt is not reliable because the title itself can be deleted. In contrast, grouped columns are faster and more convenient to expand and fold, which not only improves work efficiency, but also enhances user experience, especially when multi-person collaboration.

Additionally, grouping columns allow creation of subgroups, which cannot be achieved by hidden columns. This adds flexibility to data presentation, showing or hiding details at different levels with just a click.

How to group columns?

The following shows how to collapse column B to Q (monthly data) with only column A (store number) and R (annual total).

First, select Column B to Column Q (click the column B title and drag to Column Q).

How to create a subgroup?

In order to create quarterly subgroups, you need to insert empty columns or total columns between each subgroup. Directly adjacent columns cannot create independent subgroups, and Excel treats them as a continuous group.

In this example, columns E, I, M, and Q (quarterly total) are used as delimiters to create subgroups of BD, FH, JL, and NP columns respectively.

Select the BD column and click Outline > Group in the Data tab.

Excel adds a grouping indicator line and a minus sign above the subgroup.

Repeat this step to create the remaining quarterly subgroups.

Click the minus sign to collapse quarterly subgroups, and only the total column is displayed; click the plus sign to expand.

The number on the left side of the indicator line indicates the grouping level. Clicking the number can quickly switch different grouping views.

Click the highest level number to display all data; click the lowest level number to display only the most streamlined group.

Click on the "2" level to collapse all subgroups to display only annual and quarterly totals.

Click "1" level to display only the annual total.

In addition to clicking the add or minus sign, you can also click the level number to expand or collapse all groups at the same level at the same level at the same time.

How to ungroup?

To restore the original state of a column or to retain certain data visibility when collapsed other groups, you can use the Ungroup feature.

Select the column you want to ungroup and click "Ungroup" in the "Data" tab Outline drop-down menu.

Or after selecting the column, press the Alt Shift left arrow.

In the figure below, the Q4 data packet has been cancelled, and even if it is collapsed to level 2, the Q4 data is still visible.

To remove all columns (and rows) grouping, click the Data tab Outline > Ungroup > Clear Outline.

Delete some columns in the group, and the remaining columns remain grouped; delete all columns in the group, and the group disappears.

In addition to column grouping, freezing the title rows and columns, chart visualization, cell notes and other methods can also improve the readability of the table.

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