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Simple Way to Hide Excel Data

BY STANLEY ZAROWIN

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2008. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

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 Is there a way to hide the numbers in certain Excel cells without a lot of formatting fuss or the use of passwords? I need to be able to print versions of a spreadsheet without showing certain data. Likewise, I don’t want them showing in the worksheet, but I do want to be able to access them easily.

I know one way, and it surely is simple. Select the cell you want to hide and right-click on it. Choose Format Cells . Be sure you’re in the Number tab and scroll down to Custom and in the Type space, enter three semicolons (; ; 😉 as shown in the screenshot below and click on OK .

While you can’t see the information in the cell, its contents are displayed in the Formula bar (see screenshot).