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How to Delete Blank Columns in Excel?

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Deleting blank columns and rows is a tedious task when you are working with a large set of data. And manual deletion is not even an option. In this article, you’ll learn to delete the blank columns in excel in some simple steps using Excel built-in tool named Go To Special. It is a quick and easy way to remove the blank columns. While this makes it a simple alternative to implement, be aware that it may cause your document to become misaligned. Always save a backup copy of your document before you start deleting cells to be safe. 

There are two ways to delete the blank columns in excel:

  1. Manual selection and deletion
  2. Deleting columns using Go To in-built tool from excel

Note: The tutorial is for Microsoft Excel 2013. You may find the same or different steps in other Microsoft Excel versions. 

Deleting blank columns in Excel using manual selection and deletion

We can delete blank columns in Excel using manual selection and deletion. This method works with all types of data but it is time taking, here I would suggest to use this method only when your data is less. If you have a large number of columns to delete then move on to the second method. Now we understand this method with the help of an example. So consider the example

Selected Data to delete columns

Step 1: Select the blank columns, to select the blank columns press Shift and press the down arrow to the row upto you want to select the column. 

Select-the-blank-columns

Step 2: Then right-click on the selected column. A drop-down will appear (as shown below). Select the Delete button. The selected column will be deleted.

Select-the-Delete-button

Repeat the same steps for all the blank columns left in the required worksheet and delete them.

Deleting blank columns in Excel using Go To

We can also be deleting blank columns in MS Excel using Go To. So follow the following steps:

Step 1: Open the required Excel where you want to delete the blank columns.

Step 2: Select all the data by selecting the required rows and columns and press F5 from the keyboard. A dialogue box will appear(as shown below) and select Special. The special feature allows users to select all that has matching criteria as selected such as blanks, numbers, formulas. 

Select-all-the-data Go-To-dialogue-box

Step 3: After selecting special, a window (as shown below) will appear. Click on Blanks (as shown) and then select OK. This operation will select all the blank columns from the selected data.

Go-to-special

Step 4: Then go to the Home tab>Cells Group>Delete i.e go to the Home tab and in the Cells group click on Delete(as shown below). The delete will help to delete the selected row, column, cell, and entire sheet.

Cells-Group

Step 5: After selecting Delete a drop-down will appear (as shown in the image). Select Delete Cells.

Delete-cells-dialogue-box

Step 6: After selecting Delete Cells, a pop-up window will appear(as shown below). Select Shift cells left. This option will shift all the leftover cells left after deleting the blank columns. Click OK.

Delete-Cells-options

All the blank columns from the selected range will be deleted.


Last Updated : 24 Mar, 2022
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