"Cannot shift objects off sheet" error when trying to hide a colum

[Susan Carrier]

I have a large spreadsheet (168 columns). When I try to hide some columns,
Excel will randomly refuse to hide the columns and pop up an error message
"Cannot shift objects off sheet".

I am a MOUS certified Expert in Excel, so I know most of the usual tricks. I
have tried ClearAll on the blank columns and rows, tried deleting the empty
columns, I even tried to copy and paste the filled cells to a new worksheet.
I give up! Any suggestions?

 

[Susan Carrier]

I figured out how to work around this, but this is very strange and perhaps
someone can shed some light on this.....

Apparently, there is some limit as to the columns you can hide, but not in
the number of columns hidden, but in the width of the columns which remain
unhidden.

Basically, Excel would not let me hide anymore columns, but if I widen some
of the unused columns off to the right, it now allows me to hide columns
again?????? This seems odd to me. I still have dozens of columns unhidden.

So, what are the rule here? What is the magic number of inches or characters
that must remain unhidden????? Is this some sort of a programming glitch or
is there really a reason for this?????

Susan Carrier

 

[Cheryl Hodge]

Hi Susan, Sometimes when I encounter this, and the ,methods you used do not
work, I open a new workbook, and highlight the data only, then copy/paste it
into a fresh workbook's sheet. It has worked well for me.