5/09/2016

How to Quickly and Easily Delete Blank Rows and Columns in Excel 2013

00_lead_image_deleting_row_manually
If you have a lot of blank rows in your Excel spreadsheet, you can delete them by right-clicking each once separately and selecting “Delete,” a very time-consuming task. However, there’s a quicker and easier way of deleting both blank rows and blank columns.
First, we’ll show you how to delete blank rows. Deleting blank columns is a similar process that we’ll show you later in this article.
Highlight the area of your spreadsheet in which you want to delete the blank rows. Be sure to include the row just above the first blank row and the row just below the last blank row.
01_selecting_area_for_row_deletion
Click “Find & Select” in the “Editing” section of the “Home” tab and select “Go To Special…” on the drop-down menu.
02_selecting_go_to_special_editing_section
On the “Go To Special” dialog box, select “Blanks” and click “OK.”
03_selecting_blanks_for_row_deletion
All the cells in the selection that are not blank are de-selected, leaving only the blank cells selected.
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In the “Cells” section of the “Home” tab, click “Delete” and then select “Delete Sheet Rows” from the drop-down menu.
05_deleting_sheet_rows_cells_section
All the blank rows are removed and the remaining rows are now contiguous.
06_deleted_blank_rows
You can also delete blank columns using this feature. To do so, select the area containing the blank columns to be deleted. Be sure to include the column to the left of the leftmost column to be deleted and the column to the right of the rightmost column to be deleted in your selection.
07_selecting_area_for_column_deletion
Again, click “Find & Select” in the “Editing” section of the “Home” tab and select “Go To Special…” from the drop-down menu.
08_selecting_go_to_special_again
Select “Blanks” again on the “Go To Special” dialog box and click “OK.”
09_selecting_blanks_for_column_deletion
Again, all the cells in the selection that are not blank are de-selected, leaving only the blank cells selected. This time, since there are no blank rows selected, only blank columns are selected.
10_highlighted_blank_columns
Click “Delete” in the “Cells” section of the “Home” tab and then select “Delete Sheet Columns” from the drop-down menu.
11_deleting_blank_columns
The blank columns are deleted and the remaining columns are contiguous, just as the rows are.
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This method for deleting blank rows and columns is quicker, especially if you have a large workbook containing large and multiple worksheets.