How to remove blank rows in excel

Answer

To remove blank rows in Excel, select your data range, go to the Home tab, click Find & Select, choose Go To Special, select Blanks, then right-click and delete entire rows.

Method 1: Using Go To Special

1. Select the data range containing blank rows

1. Press F5 or Ctrl+G to open the Go To dialog box

1. Click the Special button

1. Select the Blanks option

1. Click OK

1. Right-click any selected cell

1. Choose Delete from the context menu

1. Select the Entire row option

1. Click OK

Method 2: Using Filter Feature

1. Select your data range, including headers

1. Navigate to the Data tab

1. Click Filter button

1. Click the dropdown arrow in any column

1. Uncheck Select All option

1. Check only Blanks option

1. Click OK

1. Select all visible blank rows

1. Right-click and choose Delete Row

1. Remove the filter by clicking Filter button again

Method 3: Using the Sort Function

1. Select your entire data range

1. Go to Data tab

1. Click Sort button

1. Choose any column from Sort by dropdown

1. Select Values in the Sort On dropdown

1. Choose A to Z or Smallest to Largest in Order dropdown

1. Click OK

Method 4: Using Find and Replace

1. Press Ctrl+H to open the Find and Replace dialog

1. Leave Find what field empty

1. Type any temporary character (like "XXX") in Replace with field

1. Click Replace All

1. Use Go To Special method to select cells with "XXX"

1. Delete entire rows containing these cells

1. Remove temporary characters using Find and Replace again

Method 5: Using Power Query (Excel 2010 and Later)

1. Select your data range

1. Go to Data tab

1. Click From Table/Range (Windows) or From Sheet (Mac)

1. Click OK in Create Table dialog

1. Navigate to the Home tab in Power Query Editor

1. Click the Remove Rows dropdown

1. Select Remove Blank Rows

1. Click Close & Load

Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

• Ctrl+G: Opens Go To dialog

• Ctrl+Shift+End: Selects data range from current cell to last used cell

• Ctrl+- (minus): Opens the Delete dialog after selecting blank cells

• Alt+H+D+R: Deletes selected rows

Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac

• Cmd+G: Opens Go To dialog

• Cmd+Shift+End: Selects data range from current cell to last used cell

• Cmd+- (minus): Opens the Delete dialog after selecting blank cells

• Control+Option+H+D+R: Deletes selected rows

Removing Rows with Partial Blank Cells

1. Select the column range to check for blanks

1. Use Go To Special method

1. Select the Blanks option

1. Delete entire rows based on blank cells in selected columns only

Using VBA Macro for Large Datasets

1. Press Alt+F11 to open the VBA Editor

1. Insert a new module

1. Enter the macro code

1. Press F5 to run

1. Save workbook as macro-enabled format (.xlsm)

Common Issues and Solutions

Performance Considerations

• Calculations are set to manual (Formulas tab > Calculation Options > Manual)

• Conditional formatting rules are temporarily removed

• Data connections are paused during deletion

• Screen updating is disabled for VBA operations

Blank rows move to the bottom of your dataset after sorting. Select these grouped blank rows and delete them at once.

Power Query creates a new table without blank rows while preserving your original data.

Excel distinguishes between completely blank rows and rows with some blank cells. To remove rows where specific columns are blank:

For datasets exceeding 100,000 rows, VBA macros provide faster processing:

Hidden rows appear blank but contain data: Unhide all rows before deletion by selecting the entire sheet (Ctrl+A), right-clicking row headers, and choosing Unhide.

Formulas returning empty strings: Excel treats cells with formulas returning "" as non-blank. Use Find and Replace to convert formula results to values first (Copy, Paste Special, Values).

Merged cells causing deletion errors: Unmerge all cells before removing blank rows. Select the entire range, go to the Home tab, click the Merge & Center dropdown, and choose Unmerge Cells.

Protected worksheets preventing deletion: Unprotect the sheet from the review tab before removing rows. Enter the password when prompted for protected sheets.

Excel processes blank row removal faster when:

 

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