Excel Remove Blank Rows, Columns or Cells Software

Developer’s Description

Blank rows aren’t bad, but in most sheets, they’re definitely undesirable. Excel uses blanks to determine data ranges, and a blank row in the wrong place will inhibit many built-in features. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to remove blank rows from a data range, but this easy technique has the potential to destroy data, so you must be careful.

After selecting the data range in Excel, continue as follows:

1. Press [F5].
2. In the resulting Go To dialog box, click Special.
3. Click the Blanks option and click OK. Doing so selects the blank cells (what you might think of as rows) in the selected range. In this case, that’s A7:E7 and A10:E10.
4. Now you’re ready to delete the selected cells. On the Home tab, click the Delete dropdown in the Cells group and choose Delete Cells. Excel will display the Delete dialog box, with the Delete Cells Up option selected. Click OK. Or, press [Ctrl]+-.
5. Excel will delete the blank cells from the selected data range.

Choosing Delete Cells deletes only the blank cells in the previously selected range. If you choose Delete Sheet Rows in step 4, you could potentially destroy data (often unseen) to the right. Choose carefully when using this option to delete blank rows when you really want to delete just the blank cells. It’s easy to think in terms of rows and choose the wrong option!

Why should you remove blank rows in Excel?

Blank rows hint at incomplete or missing data. A blank row or even a blank cell in the wrong place can make Excel misunderstand data ranges and cause errors when a function is applied. Also, blank rows can be a visual annoyance.

Blank rows are not always bad, but it is easy to remove them. All Excel beginners should learn a few methods to remove blank rows in their spreadsheets.

Though having blank rows in an Excel worksheet isn’t necessarily a bad thing, sometimes they’re unnecessary, as they can make a document take up much more space than intended.

Removing blank spaces and rows in Excel is easy and can be done by using “Find & Select” for all of the blank spaces.

Here’s how to do it on a Mac or PC.

Avoid unintentionally distributing hidden information, such as the document’s author, names that are associated with comments or tracked changes, or hidden cells or worksheets, by removing hidden data.

Use the Document Inspector to Remove Hidden Data

To open the Document Inspector, click File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document. The Excel Document Inspection window shown below opens up.

Selectively Remove or Edit Comments

Microsoft Excel offers the ability to add comments to workbooks. Typically, comments contain the name of the person who created them, and they appear as a small red triangle in the upper-right corner of a cell.

To view a comment, click the cell and the comment will pop up.

To delete a comment, right-click the cell containing the comment, and then click Delete Comment on the shortcut menu.