When working with complex financial models or inherited client workbooks, you often encounter multiple hidden or ‘very hidden’ worksheets. Unhiding them manually in Excel requires right-clicking and selecting each tab individually, which becomes tedious when dealing with dozens of sheets.

In this guide, you will learn how to use a simple 5-line Excel VBA macro to instantly unhide all hidden and very hidden worksheets in your workbook with a single click.

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Why Use VBA to Unhide Worksheets?

Standard Excel UI limitations make bulk worksheet management inefficient. Automating this step provides key benefits:

• Instant Batch Execution: Unhide 5, 20, or 100+ sheets in less than a second.
• Unhide ‘Very Hidden’ Sheets: Reveals sheets set to xlSheetVeryHidden that do not even appear in the standard Excel Unhide dialog box.
• Time Savings: Eliminates repetitive right-click clicks during workbook auditing and reviews.

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Step 1: Open the Visual Basic Editor

1. Open the Excel workbook containing the hidden sheets.
2. Press Alt + F11 (Option + F11 on Mac) to launch the VBA Editor.
3. In the top menu, click Insert ➔ Module to open a new code window.

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Step 2: Copy and Paste the Unhide VBA Code

Copy the code block below and paste it directly into your module window:

Sub UnhideAllWorksheets()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim unhiddenCount As Long
    
    unhiddenCount = 0
    
    ' Pause screen updating for faster execution
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    
    ' Loop through every sheet in the workbook
    For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
        If ws.Visible <> xlSheetVisible Then
            ws.Visible = xlSheetVisible
            unhiddenCount = unhiddenCount + 1
        End If
    Next ws
    
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
    
    ' Completion notification
    If unhiddenCount > 0 Then
        MsgBox unhiddenCount & " hidden sheet(s) have been successfully unhidden!", vbInformation, "Excel Owl Automation"
    Else
        MsgBox "No hidden sheets were found in this workbook.", vbInformation, "Excel Owl Automation"
    End If
End Sub

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Step 3: Run the Macro Using Alt + F8

Trigger the script directly from your Excel window:

1. Switch back to your main Excel window.
2. Press Alt + F8 (or Option + F8 on Mac) to open the Macro dialog.
3. Select UnhideAllWorksheets and click Run. All hidden tabs will immediately appear!

💡 Pro Tip: Need to Hide All Sheets Again?
To do the reverse and hide all sheets except the active one, simply change ws.Visible = xlSheetVisible to ws.Visible = xlSheetHidden inside a conditional check!

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Step 4: Save as Macro-Enabled Workbook (.xlsm)

If you plan to reuse this macro inside this workbook in the future, save your file via File ➔ Save As and select Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm).