Office Settings & Configuration

How to Fix Word Selection Pane Cannot Hide Objects on a Drawing Canvas

Maira Mehtab Sep 22, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user is unable to hide or unhide shapes, groups, or nested groups on a Word drawing canvas using the Selection Pane eye icon.

Product: Word for Microsoft 365
Device & OS: Windows and macOS
Scenario: Trying to manage object visibility for grouped shapes on a drawing canvas using the Selection Pane.
Observed behavior: Clicking the eye icon in the Selection Pane fails to hide or unhide the targeted shapes or groups on the drawing canvas.

Before you start

Ensure you have the latest updates installed for Microsoft Word, as this is a recognized bug affecting drawing canvases in certain builds of Word for Microsoft 365.

Solution 1Recommended

Ungroup the Shapes on the Drawing Canvas

Since the bug primarily affects grouped or nested objects on the drawing canvas, ungrouping them restores the Selection Pane visibility functionality.

This is the quickest temporary workaround entirely within Microsoft Word. By removing the group wrapper, Word can properly process the visibility toggle for individual shapes.

Select the grouped object

Click on the grouped shapes located inside your drawing canvas in the Word document.

Ungroup the shapes

Right-click the selected group, hover over 'Group' in the context menu, and click 'Ungroup'. Alternatively, go to the Shape Format tab and click the Ungroup icon.

Toggle visibility in the Selection Pane

Go to the Layout tab and click 'Selection Pane'. Click the eye icon next to the individual shapes to successfully hide or unhide them.

Regrouping Notice: If you group the shapes again after making your visibility changes, the Selection Pane bug may return. Keep them ungrouped while actively editing.

Solution 2

Manage Object Visibility in PowerPoint or Excel

The Selection Pane bug is specific to Word. You can copy the objects to PowerPoint or Excel, hide what you need, and copy them back.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Selection Pane eye icon work in Excel but not in Word?

This is a known software bug specific to the drawing canvas feature in Word for Microsoft 365 on both Windows and macOS. Excel and PowerPoint handle graphic rendering differently, which is why the bug does not manifest in those applications.

Can I permanently fix the drawing canvas hiding issue in Word?

Until Microsoft releases an official patch to resolve this Microsoft 365 defect, there is no permanent settings fix. You must use workarounds such as ungrouping the objects or managing their visibility in PowerPoint before pasting them back into Word.

Does ungrouping shapes affect my document formatting?

Ungrouping separates nested objects into individual shapes. While the visual layout remains the same, you will need to move, scale, or format each shape individually instead of as a single combined unit, unless you group them again later.

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