Hide columns one one tab same way as they were in another place [quick tip]

One of the regular reporting tasks I do involves a manual step I hated. It goes like this:

• Dump several columns of data in the template file.
• Hide a particular set of columns (these are not together, so must be done one at a time or with CTRL+selection)
• Save and publish the file.

After doing this manually for last few fortnights, today I wanted to automate the column hide process. I was about to write a VBA macro to clone the hide settings from one workbook to another. But then I thought, may be paste special can be of use.

And what do you know. It does exactly that.

1. Copy a row of cells in original report, doesn’t matter which ones
2. Paste special > column widths (ALT+ESW) on the new report
3. Any hidden columns in original will be set to ‘0’ width, thus becoming hidden in new report.
4. Bingo!

Here is a quick demo of this in action. Check it out and apply next time you are doing something tedious like this.

There you go. Paste prevents painful problems.

Other ways Paste Special saves the day

Paste special is one of the top time saving features in Excel.  Here are few of my favorite paste special tricks.

• Format faster with paste special & double click
• Remove data validation rules with paste special
• Speed up chart formatting (yes, you read it right) with paste special
• Convert numbers stored as text with paste special
• More awesome paste special tips

What is your favorite Paste Special moment?

Let’s get personal. What is your favorite paste special moment? Share it in the comments.