How to Restore Closed Web Parts in MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007)?

Many times developers instead of deleting a web part from SharePoint page end up clicking on the cross (X) mark on the top right corner of the web part Chrome. This will not delete Web Part from the page instead it will hide the web part.

So now the question is "How to unhide hidden Web Parts in SharePoint Page?". This article covers the steps for unhiding/restoring the hidden/closed Web Parts. The article also covers approaches for deleting Web Part from the SharePoint Page.

To list all the closed web parts on a SharePoint page type the following in the browsers address bar:

http://MySite/Pages/Page.aspx?contents=1

In the above link replace "MySite" with name of your site.

To restore any of the closed web parts follow these steps:

1. Open the SharePoint page which has hidden/closed web parts
2. Go To "Site Actions" > "Edit Page"
3. Select "Add Web Part" in one of the web part zones on the page
4. In the "Add Web Part Page" Click on "Advanced Web Part Gallery and Options" in the bottom right corner
5. Drag the Closed Web Part(s) to the desired Web Part Zone

There are two ways for deleting a Web Part from the SharePoint page. These are as follows:

Approach 1:

1. Type http://MySite/Pages/Page.aspx?contents=1 in the browsers address bar (replacing "MySite" with the name of your site)
2. Selected the Web Part(s) which you want to delete and Click on the "Delete" button

Approach 2:

1. Open the SharePoint page which has from which you want to delete the Web Parts
2. Go To "Site Actions" > "Edit Page"
3. Click on the top right corner in the Web Part Chrome and Choose "Delete" from the drop down
4. Click "OK"