Find hidden sheets, rows and data in Excel
Drop in an .xlsx file to see every hidden and very hidden sheet, hidden rows and columns, and what's in them. Comments, author names and links to other files show up too.
Read in your browser. Your spreadsheet is never uploaded.- 1Add your file
- 2See what's inside
- 3Download a clean copy
No file to hand? Try it with an example: or
Your file stays on this device. How do we know?
How it works
To find hidden sheets in Excel, drop the .xlsx above. You'll see every hidden and very hidden sheet by name, hidden rows and columns on each sheet, and a sample of what's in them. It also lists comments, author names, the folder the file was saved in and links to other workbooks. Checking is free. With Pro, one click removes the comments and names; hidden sheets and rows stay, so you can delete them in Excel.
What the checker finds in an Excel file
| Finds | What happens when you clean |
|---|---|
| Hidden and very hidden sheets, with a sample of what's on them | Kept, so formulas keep working. Delete them in Excel |
| Hidden rows and columns on each sheet, with a sample of the values | Kept. Delete them in Excel |
| Comments and who wrote them | Removed |
| Author, last saved by, company and dates | Removed |
| The folder the file was saved in | Removed |
| Links to other workbooks, with the full file path | Kept. Break them in Excel under Data > Edit Links |
| Hidden named ranges | Kept |
Checking is free. Removing comments, names and dates is part of Pro, and your first clean each day is free.
Why hidden sheets and rows are a problem
Hiding a sheet or a row only changes what Excel shows. The data is still in the file, and anyone who gets it can unhide it in a few clicks. That's how price lists end up going out with the cost price in a hidden column, or a budget goes to a client with the internal margins on a hidden sheet. Very hidden sheets are a step further: they don't appear in Excel's Unhide list, so even the person sending the file may not know they're there.
Links to other workbooks are easy to miss too. A formula that pulls from another file keeps that file's full path, which often includes a user name and a folder like "Supplier costs".
Before you send a spreadsheet
Check the file here, then open it in Excel and delete what the reader shouldn't see: the hidden sheets you don't need, the hidden rows and columns, and links you can break. If you just want to see the data, unhide it with the steps in the questions below. Then clean the file to remove the comments and names. Our guide to removing metadata from Excel covers Excel's own Document Inspector, and the batch cleaner cleans a whole folder of spreadsheets at once.
Questions, answered
How do I unhide all sheets in Excel?
Right-click any sheet tab and choose Unhide. In Microsoft 365 you can select several sheets in that list at once; older versions unhide one at a time. Very hidden sheets don't appear in the list at all, so check the file here first to know they exist.
What is a very hidden sheet?
A sheet set to Very Hidden in the VBA editor. It doesn't show in the Unhide list, so most people never see it. To unhide it, press Alt+F11, select the sheet in the Project pane and set Visible to xlSheetVisible.
How do I unhide all hidden rows and columns?
Select the whole sheet with Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on a Mac), then go to Home > Format > Hide & Unhide and choose Unhide Rows, then Unhide Columns. The checker above tells you which rows and columns were hidden on each sheet.
Why doesn't the cleaner delete hidden sheets and rows?
Formulas often depend on them. Deleting a hidden sheet that holds a price table would break the visible numbers. So the cleaner keeps them and tells you they're there, and you decide in Excel what to delete.
How do I remove the author from an Excel file?
With Pro, the cleaner removes the author, last saved by, company, dates and the folder the file was saved in. In Excel, use File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document and remove Document Properties and Personal Information.
Does it work on .xls files?
No. It reads .xlsx and .xlsm, the formats Excel has used since 2007. Open an old .xls in Excel, save it as .xlsx, then check that copy.
Clean Word, PDF, video and audio files too
Pro removes hidden data from documents, videos and audio, and cleans whole folders at once. From $2 a month, billed yearly, and your first clean each day is free.