# Excel "cannot shift objects off sheet" Error



## dhayes1963 (May 19, 2002)

I am trying to hide or delete some columns in an Excel Spreadsheet (using Excel 2003). Often I cannot perform these functions because I get the "error cannot shift objects off sheet". I understand that this is usually associated with Comments in a cell in the column or adjacent columns. I have followed an MS Knowledgebase article and still can't resolve the problem. It also affects a heap of adjacent columns with no comments in them. Any ideas as to what I can do to hide or delete the columns ?


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## bomb #21 (Jul 1, 2005)

I don't know about comments, but this is usually down to "stray" data (i.e "right-most" columns or "bottom-most" rows).

Press CTRL+End, where the cursor goes to is the extent of your used columns/rows -- at least as far as Excel "thinks".

In essence, deleting any unrequired columns and/or rows and *then* saving _should_ reset the used space.


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## dhayes1963 (May 19, 2002)

Thanks Bomb #21. I deleted some blank rows at the base of the file, and now I am able to delete and hide columns. No error messages. Much obliged.


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## bomb #21 (Jul 1, 2005)

:up: -- have a good one.


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## Zack Barresse (Jul 25, 2004)

Don't forget to mark your thread as Solved, you can do so by going to Thread Tools | Mark Solved | Perform Action.


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## glbcpa (Oct 31, 2007)

I just found this post, tried these suggestions and they did not work.

However, I did figure out that ALL ROWS & COLUMNS need to be "un-hidden" before attempting to track down this error. After unhiding, no longer received error messages when trying to hide a couple rows.


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