How to Show a Tab in Excel

In Microsoft Excel, the terms "tab", "sheet", "sheet tab", and "worksheet tab" are used interchangeably. They all refer to the spreadsheet you are currently working on. But whatever you call them, depending on the project you're editing, you might have too many tabs open and need to hide a few to focus on your work.

However, at some point, you'll probably need to revisit those hidden tabs. Excel allows users to hide tabs and unhide them through a similar process.

In this article, we will explain how to show worksheet tabs individually or all at once. We will also cover several common questions regarding the process of displaying tabs in Excel.

How to Show a Tab in Excel

Before going into details on how to show a worksheet tab, let's see what you need to do to hide it in the first place. To do this, you must have at least two tabs open. Note that you cannot hide all tabs at once; must be visible at all times. Here is what you do:

1. Press "Ctrl" (or "Command" on Mac), and with the cursor, select the tabs you want to hide.
2. Right-click on the selected tabs and click "Hide" from the menu.
   

This will automatically hide the tabs you no longer want to see. When you want to view only one tab, right click on any tab, choose and follow these steps:

1. Select "View" from the menu.
   
2. In a pop-up window, choose the tab you want to display.
3. Select "OK".
   

The tab will immediately appear among the other visible tabs.

How to Show All Tabs in Excel

Hiding and showing tabs in Excel individually is a simple process. But if you have hidden many tabs at once, unhiding them separately may take a long time.

Unfortunately, Excel doesn't give you the option to press a button and view all tabs. You need to implement a workaround for this. All you need is to create a custom view of your workbook in Excel. This is how it works:

1. Before hiding tabs in Excel, go to the main toolbar and select "Show".
   
2. Next, select "Custom Views", click "Add", name your view and click "OK".
   
3. Continue to hide tabs.
4. To view them, navigate to "Custom Views" in the toolbar, select the view you saved, and click "View".
   

Right away, you will be able to see all hidden tabs again.

How to Show Tab Bar in Excel

If you've opened an Excel workbook and you can't see your sheet tabs, that means the tab bar is hidden. Don't worry, the display only takes a few clicks. Follow these steps to show the tab bar in your workbook:

1. Go to "File" in the main toolbar and select "Options" in the lower left corner.
   
2. In the pop-up window, select the "Advanced" option and scroll down to the "Display options for this workbook" section.
   
3. Make sure the "Show sheet tabs" box is checked.
   
4. Select "OK".
   

You will be able to see your tab bar again in the workbook.

How to display a table in Excel

The easiest way to show a table in Excel is to make sure you save it in a separate sheet first and hide it as such. From a spreadsheet, copy the table you want to hide and follow the instructions above to do so. Then display it as with any other tab.

You can also hide and show multiple rows and columns in Excel at the same time. Here's how:

1. Select the rows and columns you want to hide/show.
   
2. Go to the "Home" tab and then to the "Cells" section.
   
3. Select "Format" and from the drop-down menu use the "Hide and Show" option in the "Visibility" section.
   

How to View Pivot Tables in Excel

A pivot table is a useful feature in Excel that helps users sort huge amounts of data. If you're working on a PivotTable and the list of fields disappears, you can recover it by following these quick steps.

1. Right-click anywhere on your PivotTable.
2. Select "Show Field List" from the menu.
   

If you need to hide the field list again, follow the same steps, but this time choose "Hide Field List".

How to display a tab in Excel VBA

If you want another option to show multiple hidden tabs at once, you can use the Visual Basic for Applications or VBA editor in Excel. Here's what that process looks like:

1. Click on the spreadsheet tab and instead of "View", select "View Code".
   
2. The VBA editor window will open. In the editor, you will see the “Immediate” window. If you don't see it, go to "View > Immediate Window".
   
3. In the Immediate window, type the following code: "For each sheet in this workbook.Sheets: Sheet.Visible=True: Next sheet"
   

The code will be executed immediately and you will see your hidden tabs again.

How to View a Workbook in Excel

You can hide or show the workbook window in Excel and in doing so, manage your workspace to your advantage. Workbooks are displayed on the taskbar by default, but here's how you can hide or show them:

1. Go to the "View" tab of the main toolbar, then to the "Window" group.
   
2. Select "Hide" or "Show".
   
3. When you need to display the mask, select the name of the workbook, then "OK".
   

You will be able to see the hidden workbook again.

Additional FAQs

1. How to make a global display in Excel?

You can also hide or unhide all rows and columns in Excel to click the space where the first row and the first column meet. It's in the upper left corner.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eThis will select all the rows and columns, then all you have to do is click the 'Hide' or 'Show' option in the 'Window' group of the ' Display ".

2. How to show hidden tabs in Excel?

If you want to show hidden tabs in Excel, follow the instructions given above on how to do this for separate tabs and multiple tabs at the same time.

3. How to display tabs in Excel 2016?

If you are an Excel 2016 user, the steps to hide and show tabs are same as Excel 2022, so you just need to apply the same steps as above.

See only the tabs you need

When browsing dozens, sometimes hundreds of tabs in your Excel workbook, you can waste a lot of time opening tabs you don't need. You can't delete them because you'll probably need them later. The best solution is to hide them.

But if you don't know how to view them later, you'll probably be reluctant to take this step in the first place. Hopefully this tutorial will help you navigate hidden and displayed tabs in Excel and become more efficient in using this feature.

How many tabs do you typically have open when working in Excel? Let us know in the comments section below.