Hi,

It is currently hard to unhide columns in Calc by dragging the column separator line between headers.
It needs pixel precision to distinguish between two actions : change width of previous row and unhide next row.
I think the ergonomics of hide/unhide column should be improved.

The same functionnality in Excel is done by two column separator lines spaced by a few pixels and it is much more user friendly.
However, I want to propose another solution to correct:
- the difficult ergonomics needing pixel precision,
- and the fact that you cannot unhide columns in any order by dragging: if there are more than one column hidden between two columns you have to drag/unhide the last hidden column then the preceding column and so on.

Since we need handles to drag columns limits, I think whenever one or more columns are hidden between two columns, there should be some icon.
Maybe just a small colored circle
                   _
or a triangle like V  (poor ascii art attempt :) )
above the limit between the two visible columns.

You could click this icon to expand a small "popup" of handles for hidden columns.
Without using the "popup", the behavior would be unambiguous :
a)- change the width of column previous to the column line separator by dragging
Using the "popup" would give more possibilities :
b)- unhide each column separately by a click (the width of the unhidden column would be the max of previous non-zero width and some constant for a minimum width)
c)- unhide each column separately by dragging

Alternatively, since the limit between the two visible columns around the hidden columns is already bold, one could click the limit instead to open the popup (thus no icon would be required).

It provides new functionnalities because :
- Selecting cell/range with Menu/Format/Column - Hide/Show.
- Selecting column(s) before+after the hidden column(s), right-clik Show, or Menu/Format/Column - Show.
Both alternatives unhide all hidden columns between the two visibles columns.
You can also right click the limit between the two visibles columns and choose unhide but this alternative has the same problem of pixel precision than the actual dragging and doesn't permit to unhide in any order.

In summary we need : 
- handles for the continuous feature of unhiding by dragging and 
- buttons for unhiding with the original width
I'll try to give an idea of the popup :
- two layers : upper layer is for buttons (rectangular), lower layer is for handles (ellipsoids)
    _   _
   |H| |I|
    _   _
   (H) (I)
    \   / (on this line I tried to represent some branch from the ellipsoids to the limit)

Let me know what you think of it.

Best regards,
   Laurent Lyaudet