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Sometimes it's the little things...

My dad emailed today asking a question about Excel that seems simple, but it's one of those little things that can drive you crazy. If you've hidden a column in an Excel chart, where's the tool that enables you to unhide it? How can you select it once it's gone? What do you do to get it back?

I knew this one because once upon a time I went searching for the same solution in a panic after I'd hidden a couple of vitally important columns in a spreadsheet. I was rushing to meet a deadline and couldn't remember how to get the columns back. Just in case you ever experience that same kind of mind-blanking adrenalin rush, here are the steps:

1. Select a range of columns, including the ones you've hidden.

2. Right-click the selected area. The context menu appears, showing Unhide as one of the options.

3. Click Unhide, and those suppressed columns reappear.

Simple, but important. The line between visible and invisible is very thin. :)