So, last week I received an Excel spreadsheet in an email and I needed to extract some data and make some changes.

I created a new spreadsheet and copied the cells into it and started working on it.

The following day I came back to it and noticed that the first column (A) wasn’t showing.  I couldn’t scroll over to it so I assumed it was Hidden.  I set about trying to unhide it – but with absolutely no success.  I checked the original spreadsheet but the columns were quite visible there.

As usual, I then tried Googling for an answer and came across various ways to “select” and then “unhide” the missing column – it seems lots of people have had the same issue either with the first column or first row.

Only then did the cause of the problem finally hit me.  Another one of those “Doh!” moments.

The spreadsheet was a large table of data with headings across the top rows and key fields in the first two columns, and, being a clever-clogs I decided to use the Freeze Frames feature so that as I scrolled across or down I could still see the headings and key fields.

And unfortunately, when I froze the sheet, column A was already scrolled off to the left.  It was then Frozen in place.