Say Goodbye to Clutter: How to Delete Highlighted Cells in Excel?

As we all know, MS Excel is commonly used for data analysis, organization, and visualization. Users can create workbooks and worksheets to store & manipulate data, create graphs and charts, perform calculations, etc. Under various situations, users need to highlight the cells in their workbook to draw attention & later need to clear them. In this tutorial guide, I will explore every aspect of how to delete highlighted cells in Excel and concise datasets.

So, let’s dive into this blog…

What Are Highlighted Cells in Microsoft Excel?

In MS Excel, the highlighted cells refer to the cells that have been selected. These cells are highlighted using several formatting options, like background color, cell borders, or font color. You can even select the multiple cells via clicking & dragging your mouse pointer to select & highlight all the cells in that box.

In simple words, highlighting cells is a vital part of working with Microsoft Excel, as it allows you to accomplish various actions like entering data, copying & pasting data, applying functions/formulas, and formatting cells to the selected cells.

How to Delete Highlighted Cells in Excel?

Below I have categorized the cell deletion process into 3 different ways-

1. Using Keyboard “Delete” key
2. Via Clear Contents
3. Using Clear All

So, let’s check them out in detail:

Way 1- Using Keyboard “Delete” key

How to Clear a Single Cell in Excel?

To delete a single cell in Excel workbook, you need to select a particular cell & then hit on “Delete” key. But do remember that, pressing the Delete key will only remove the cell contents, but it’ll not clear any formulas or formatting of the cell.

To clear formatting & formulas in the cell, you have to right-click on that cell >> choose Clear Contents option from a context menu.

How to Clear a Range of Cells in Excel?

If you want to delete a range of cells along with the contents, then simply select the cells and hit on “Delete” key. Doing this will clear the contents of the selected cell, but it’ll not clear any formulas or formatting of the cells.

To delete formatting & formulas in the cell, you have to right-click on a range >> choose Clear Contents option from a context menu.

Also Read: How to Add/Remove Watermark from Excel Sheet?

Way 2: Delete Highlighted Cells in Excel Via Clear Contents Option

How to Clear Selected Cell Contents?

In order to delete selected cells in Excel, you can use Clear Contents option. It is a proven & straightforward method to get your job done. Follow the below steps to do this:

• Select cells that you need to delete (click & drag over them).
• Next, make right-click on the chosen cells (Rows or Columns) >> select Clear Contents option from a context menu.

• Now, the contents of the selected cells’ will be deleted while retaining their formulas or formatting.

How to Clear an Excel Worksheet?

Well, if you need to clear the contents of the entire Excel worksheet, then you have to select all the cells.

• You can do this by tapping on a Select All option (a button with triangle in an upper-left side corner of your worksheet).
• After that, right-click any of the cells & choose Clear Contents option from a context menu.
• Now, the contents will be removed of all the cells within the Excel worksheet. But it’ll not delete any formulas or formatting.

Way 3- Delete Formatting & Formulas Using Clear All Command

In the above two ways, I have discussed how to remove highlighted cells in Excel that hold contents. But in this solution, I show you how you can clear the formatting & formulas of a worksheet using Clear All command.

For this:

• Select all cells via clicking on the option ‘Select All’.

• Next, right-tap on any of the cell & choose Clear All option from a context menu.
• Doing this will delete all the contents, formulas, and formatting from your worksheet.

Clear Highlighted Cells in The Google Sheets

Nowadays, users prefer Google Sheets to maintain their data online rather than using offline Excel spreadsheets. This means they can access their Google Sheets data from any device such as PCs, tablets, or smartphones. It is a very convenient way that employ robust security to protect the data & ensure privacy.

Thus, if you are a Google Sheets user and want to delete all highlighted cells in the spreadsheets, follow the below steps:

Step 1- Open your Google Sheets.

Step 2- Go to the Data menu >> choose Create a filter.

Step 3- Next, in a dropdown list of one of your column headers, choose Filter by color >> Fill Color & then select color of the cells you want to remove.

Step 4- Select rows of a filtered data >> under an Edit menu, you have to select Delete option then Selected rows.

After completion of these steps, the filter is automatically cleared, and the lasting data is displayed in the spreadsheets.

Also Read: How to Insert Checkbox in Excel (Step-by-Step Guide)

Related FAQs:

What Is the Shortcut to Delete Highlighted Cells in Excel?

You can use the below shortcut keyboard keys to delete highlighted dells in Excel:

• Shift + Delete – Using Shift + Delete keys simultaneously will clear the selected cells, row, or column and shift remaining cells up or left.
• Ctrl + Delete – Using Ctrl + Delete shortcut keys will clear the selected cells, row, or column.

How Do I Remove Shaded Cells in Excel?

In order to remove shaded cells in Excel or any background colors, fill effects, or patterns from cells, then select the cells. After that, go to Home >> click on the arrow next to the Fill Color >> select No Fill.

Summing Up

Deleting highlighted cells in MS Excel is a pretty common job that can be performed quickly. But how? Well, by applying the methods mentioned above in this post, you can easily delete highlighted cells in Excel. Whether clearing a single cell or a complete worksheet, these solutions can help you overcome this situation in no time.

Thanks for reading!