20 Keyboard Shortcuts for Deleting in Excel: A Comprehensive List

Excel is a powerful tool for data analysis and management, but navigating through its various features can be time-consuming. One of the most common tasks in Excel is deleting data, and knowing the right shortcuts can significantly boost your productivity. Below are the delete and clear shortcuts that work in current versions of Excel, for Windows and Mac. For a wider list of Mac shortcuts, see essential Excel shortcut keys for Mac.

Deleting data in Excel is a frequent task, whether you’re removing unnecessary information, clearing formatting, or starting fresh with a new dataset. While using the mouse and navigating through menus is an option, it can be slow and cumbersome. By mastering a few simple keyboard shortcuts, you can streamline your workflow and delete data quickly and easily.

Delete Shortcuts for Windows

Shortcuts written with commas, like Alt, H, D, S, are pressed one after another, not together.

Rows, Columns and Cells

Task	Shortcut
Delete the selected row(s)	Shift + Space, then Ctrl + -
Delete the selected column(s)	Ctrl + Space, then Ctrl + -
Delete cells and choose Shift up / Shift left	Ctrl + - with part of a row selected
Delete sheet rows of the selected cells	Alt, H, D, R
Delete sheet columns of the selected cells	Alt, H, D, C
Delete the current worksheet	Alt, H, D, S

Clearing Without Deleting Cells

Task	Shortcut
Clear contents, keep formatting	Delete
Clear the active cell and start typing in it	Backspace
Clear everything (contents, formats, notes)	Alt, H, E, A
Clear formats only	Alt, H, E, F
Clear comments and notes	Alt, H, E, M
Remove hyperlinks, keep the text	Alt, H, E, R
Clear conditional formatting from selected cells	Alt, H, L, C, S
Clear conditional formatting from the whole sheet	Alt, H, L, C, E

Other Delete Tasks

Task	How
Remove duplicate rows	Alt, A, M (Data > Remove Duplicates)
Delete a named range	Ctrl + F3, select the name, click Delete
Delete a pivot table	Click in it, PivotTable Analyze > Select > Entire PivotTable, then Delete
Delete several worksheets	Ctrl-click the sheet tabs, then Alt, H, D, S

Delete All Blank Rows

Excel has no single shortcut for this, but four keystrokes do it:

1. Select the data range.
2. Press F5, click Special, choose Blanks and click OK.
3. Press Ctrl + -, choose Entire row and click OK.

Only use this when blank rows are completely empty. If a row has just one blank cell, it gets deleted too, so check first or filter the rows instead.

Delete Shortcuts for Mac

Task	Shortcut
Clear contents, keep formatting	Delete (or Fn + Delete)
Delete selected cells, rows or columns	⌘ + - (Command + hyphen), or right-click > Delete
Clear formats or everything	Home > Clear > Clear Formats / Clear All
Remove duplicates	Data > Remove Duplicates

Excel for Mac doesn’t show Alt key tips, so ribbon sequences such as Alt, H, D, S don’t work there. Select a whole row by clicking its number, then press ⌘ + - to delete it.

Final Thoughts

The two shortcuts worth memorizing are Delete to clear cells and Ctrl + - to remove them. Combine Ctrl + - with Shift + Space or Ctrl + Space to delete whole rows or columns, and use the Alt, H, E sequences when you only want to strip formatting, notes or links. Remember that deleting rows, columns or sheets can break formulas that refer to them, so check for #REF! errors afterwards.

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