Delete data

Delete data using the Toolbar

To delete some of the data in a cell, follow these steps:

1.Switch to cell editing mode and select the data.

2.Run the command to delete the data using one of the following methods:

•On the Home tab, in the Edit group, click  Delete.

•On the Home tab, in the Edit group, click  Clear. In the drop-down menu that appears, select Clear all.

To delete all data in cells without clearing the formatting, follow these steps:

1.Select the cell or range in which you want to delete the data.

2.Run the command to delete the data using one of the following methods:

•On the Home tab, in the Edit group, click  Delete.

•On the Home tab, in the Edit group, click  Clear. In the drop-down menu that appears, select Delete contents.

When selecting cells in a pivot table, the Clear all and Delete contents commands delete the entire table.

To delete all the data in the cells and clear their formatting, follow these steps:

1.Select the cell or range in which you want to delete the data.

2.On the Home tab, in the Edit group, click Clear. In the drop-down menu that appears, select Clear all.

Delete data using the keyboard keys

To delete one or more characters in a cell, use one of the following methods:

•Place the cursor after the characters you want to delete. When working on Windows or Linux, delete characters by pressing Backspace as many times as needed. When working on macOS, press Delete.

•Move the cursor to the characters you want to delete. When working on Windows or Linux, delete characters by pressing Delete as many times as needed. When working on macOS, press Fn+Delete as many times as needed.

To delete a part of a word or a word in a cell, use one of the following methods:

•Place the cursor after the part of the word or the after the entire word you want to delete. Press Ctrl+Backspace (Windows, Linux),  Cmd+Delete or  Option+Delete (macOS).

•Place the cursor before the part of the word or word that you want to delete. Press Ctrl+Delete (Windows, Linux),  Cmd+Fn+Delete or  Option+Fn+Delete (macOS).

To delete some of the data in a cell, follow these steps:

1.Select the required data.

2.Press Delete or Backspace (Windows, Linux), Delete, or Fn+Delete (macOS).

To clear the contents of the cells, follow these steps:

1.Select the cell or range that needs to be cleared of data.

2.Press Delete or Backspace (Windows, Linux) or Delete (macOS).

If filters are applied or columns or rows are manually hidden, the data is deleted only in visible cells.