Clear cells of contents or formats

You can clear cells to remove the cell contents (formulas and data), formats (including number formats, conditional formats, and borders), and any attached comments. The cleared cells remain as blank or unformatted cells on the worksheet.

1. Select the cells, rows, or columns that you want to clear.

   Tip: To cancel a selection of cells, click any cell on the worksheet.

2. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click the arrow next to the Clear button , and then do one of the following:

   • To clear all contents, formats, and comments that are contained in the selected cells, click Clear All.

   • To clear only the formats that are applied to the selected cells, click Clear Formats.

   • To clear only the contents in the selected cells, leaving any formats and comments in place, click Clear Contents.

   • To clear any comments that are attached to the selected cells, click Clear Comments.

Notes: 

• If you click a cell and then press DELETE or BACKSPACE, you clear the cell contents without removing any cell formats or cell comments.

• If you clear a cell by using Clear All or Clear Contents, the cell no longer contains a value, and a formula that refers to that cell receives a value of 0 (zero).

• If you want to remove cells from the worksheet and shift the surrounding cells to fill the space, you can select the cells and delete them. On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the arrow next to Delete, and then click Delete Cells.