By default, all fields in a view are displayed in the view's Explores. If you want a field to be available for modeling but not shown to users, you can hide the field from the Explore field picker by adding the hidden: yes parameter to the field.
If you want to hide most of the fields in a view, you can instead add the fields_hidden_by_default: yes parameter to the view. This sets the default for all the view's fields to hidden:yes. Then, if you want to display a field in the view, you can add the hidden:no parameter to the field.
Hidden fields can still be accessed in the UI if they are manually added to the URL. Therefore, the hidden value is a way to keep the field picker clean; it is not a security feature.
Examples
This example airports view has the fields_hidden_by_default: yes parameter, so all fields are hidden in the view's Explores by default. The country dimension is defined with hidden:no, so it will be displayed in the view's Explores. The id dimension has no hidden parameter, so it will take the default value and will be hidden in the view's Explores.
view: airports {
sql_table_name: flightstats.airports ;;
fields_hidden_by_default: yes
dimension: id {
primary_key: yes
type: number
sql: ${TABLE}.id ;;
}
dimension: county {
type: string
sql: ${TABLE}.county ;;
hidden: no
}
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14 UTC."],[],[],null,["# fields_hidden_by_default\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nUsage\n-----\n\n```\nview: view_name {\n fields_hidden_by_default: yes \n}\n```\n\nDefinition\n----------\n\nBy default, all fields in a view are displayed in the view's Explores. If you want a field to be available for modeling but not shown to users, you can hide the field from the Explore field picker by adding the [`hidden: yes`](/looker/docs/2512/reference/param-field-hidden) parameter to the field.\n\nIf you want to hide most of the fields in a view, you can instead add the `fields_hidden_by_default: yes` parameter to the view. This sets the default for all the view's fields to `hidden:yes`. Then, if you want to display a field in the view, you can add the `hidden:no` parameter to the field.\n\u003e Hidden fields can still be accessed in the UI if they are [manually added to the URL](https://community.looker.com/lookml-5/using-urls-and-query-parameters-620). Therefore, the `hidden` value is a way to keep the field picker clean; it is not a security feature.\n\nExamples\n--------\n\nThis example `airports` view has the `fields_hidden_by_default: yes` parameter, so all fields are hidden in the view's Explores by default. The `country` dimension is defined with `hidden:no`, so it will be displayed in the view's Explores. The `id` dimension has no `hidden` parameter, so it will take the default value and will be hidden in the view's Explores. \n\n view: airports {\n sql_table_name: flightstats.airports ;;\n fields_hidden_by_default: yes\n\n dimension: id {\n primary_key: yes\n type: number\n sql: ${TABLE}.id ;;\n }\n dimension: county {\n type: string\n sql: ${TABLE}.county ;;\n hidden: no\n }"]]