It's time to stop hiding and start deleting. That Reddit user who asked how to permanently remove columns AA through AC and beyond has put a finger on one of the most persistent frustrations in modern spreadsheet work: the illusion that hiding unused cells makes your file any leaner. It doesn't. Hiding is a cosmetic fix. The data is still there, the formulas still reference it, and your machine still has to inventory every empty cell before it can render the sheet. That lag the user describes? It's not a mystery. It's the cost of carrying dead weight.
We understand the instinct to hide rather than delete. Spreadsheets grow organically over time, and the fear of breaking something, a formula, a macro, a reference buried in a distant column, keeps people from cleaning house. But that fear has a price. Every hidden column, every empty row that you keep "just in case," adds to the computational load. Your file doesn't run faster because you swept the clutter under the rug. It runs slower because the clutter is still under the rug. The user's note about knowing they will never need those cells is the key insight. Trust that knowledge. If you are certain the data has no future use, remove it. Permanently.
The practical steps are straightforward, and they don't require a plugin or a macro. In most spreadsheet applications, you can select the columns from AA through the end of the sheet, right-click, and choose "Delete." That action does what hiding cannot: it removes the cells from the file structure. The file size shrinks. The recalculation engine has fewer cells to track. The lag diminishes. If you're worried about formulas that might reach into those distant columns, use the "Find" feature to check for references first. Nine times out of ten, there are none. And if there are, you can update them before you delete.
The broader lesson here is about ownership. Spreadsheets are tools, not archives. Keeping every cell you've ever created is like keeping every scrap of paper in your desk drawer because you might need it someday. You won't. The user who asked this question already knows the answer. They just needed permission to act on it. So here it is: stop hiding. Start deleting. Your file will run faster, and your workflow will thank you for it.