A small script which generates a file that does not show any columns when opened with Microsoft Excel 2010 unless you highlight all and select the unhide option.

xlsx_test.rb

title = "Some report"

selected_columns = %w(one two three four five)

Axlsx::Package.new do |package|
  package.workbook do |workbook|
    # Disabling this will improve performance for very large documents
    workbook.use_autowidth = false

    workbook.add_worksheet(:name => 'Data') do |sheet|

      unless title.blank?
        title_format = sheet.styles.add_style({:b => true, :sz => 18})
        sheet.add_row([title], :style => title_format)
        sheet.add_row
      end

      # => Create the headers from the selected columns
      header_format = sheet.styles.add_style({:b => true, :alignment => {:horizontal => :center}, :bg_color => "FFDFDEDF"})
      headers = selected_columns.select { |column| !column.blank? }.map { |column| column.gsub('-', ' ').titleize }
      sheet.add_row(headers, :style => header_format)

      row_format = sheet.styles.add_style({:alignment => {:horizontal => :left}})
      sheet.add_row([1, 2, 3, 4, 5], :style => row_format)
    end
  end

  package.serialize("Test_file.xlsx")
end