How to Delete Blank Rows in Excel: Easy and Perfect Guide

Blank rows in Excel are like potholes in a smooth road—they mess up your data flow, break formulas, and make sorting a nightmare. Whether you inherited a messy spreadsheet from a colleague or your data export came through with random empty rows, knowing how to delete blank rows in Excel is a skill that’ll save you hours of manual clicking.

The good news? It’s not complicated. You’ve got multiple methods depending on your situation: simple manual deletion, the Go To Special trick, sorting, or filtering. Some take 10 seconds. Others are more powerful for massive datasets. Let’s walk through each one so you can pick the approach that fits your spreadsheet.

Why Blank Rows Matter (And Why You Should Care)

Before we jump into deletion methods, let’s talk about why this actually matters. Blank rows aren’t just cosmetic annoyances—they actively break your work.

When you run a sort or filter on data with blank rows scattered throughout, Excel gets confused about where your data ends. Formulas that reference ranges might skip over sections. Pivot tables choke. If you’re trying to identify duplicates in Excel or alphabetize in Excel, blank rows will throw off your results or make the process way harder than it needs to be.

Think of blank rows like debris in a water filter—they slow everything down and reduce efficiency. Clean data = clean results.

Blank rows typically come from:

• Exporting data from systems that add spacing
• Copying and pasting from poorly formatted sources
• Manual data entry with accidental line breaks
• Deleted rows that left gaps behind
• Merged cells that create phantom empty rows

Method 1: Manual Selection and Delete

This is the simplest approach—best for small spreadsheets with just a few blank rows.

1. Click on the row number of the first blank row you want to delete (the entire row will highlight in blue)
2. Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) and click on additional blank row numbers to select multiple rows at once
3. Right-click on any selected row and choose Delete
4. Select Entire row from the dialog
5. Click OK

That’s it. The rows disappear, and everything shifts up. This method works great when you’ve got 5-10 blank rows you can visually spot. For anything beyond that, you’ll want a smarter approach.

Real talk: If you’ve got 100+ blank rows, manual selection will drive you crazy. Move to Method 2.

Method 2: Go To Special (The Power Move)

This is the nuclear option for deleting blank rows. It’s fast, it’s reliable, and it works on massive datasets. Here’s how:

1. Select the entire data range (or press Ctrl + A to select all)
2. Press Ctrl + Home to go to the beginning
3. Open the Find & Replace dialog (Ctrl + H)
4. Leave the Find field empty
5. In the Replace field, leave it empty too
6. Click Options and check Regular expressions
7. In the Find field, enter: ^$
8. Click Replace All

Wait—that’s Find & Replace. Let me give you the actual Go To Special method (it’s cleaner on Windows):

1. Select your data range (including the blank rows)
2. Press Ctrl + G (or F5) to open Go To dialog
3. Click Special
4. Choose Blanks
5. Click OK

Now every blank cell in your selection is highlighted. Here’s the trick: you’ve selected the blanks, but you need to select the blank rows. This method is more useful in combination with sorting—see Method 3 for a cleaner approach.

For Mac Excel: The Go To Special dialog is buried deeper. Use Method 3 instead—it’s more intuitive on Mac anyway.

Method 3: Sort and Filter Method

This is probably the most reliable, visual method that works consistently across Windows and Mac. It’s also the safest because you can see exactly what you’re deleting before you do it.

1. Click any cell in your data range
2. Go to Data menu → Sort
3. Make sure “My data has headers” is checked (if applicable)
4. Click OK

When you sort, Excel automatically pushes all blank rows to the bottom. Blank rows will cluster together, making them super easy to spot and delete as a group.

Once they’re grouped:

1. Select all the blank rows at the bottom (click the first blank row number, then Shift+click the last one)
2. Right-click and choose Delete
3. Select Entire row
4. Click OK

Done. Your data is now clean and sorted.

Pro Tip: If you don’t want your data re-sorted, take a screenshot of the original order first, or add a temporary “Order” column with numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. Then after deleting blanks, re-sort by that column to restore the original sequence.

Method 4: Find & Replace Technique

This method uses Find & Replace with regular expressions to target entire blank rows. It’s powerful but requires a bit of setup.

1. Select your data range (or Ctrl + A for all)
2. Press Ctrl + H to open Find & Replace
3. Click Options (bottom left)
4. Check the box for Regular expressions
5. In the Find field, enter: ^$ (this means “empty cell”)
6. Leave the Replace field blank
7. Click Replace All

This deletes the content of blank cells, but it doesn’t delete the rows themselves. For actual row deletion, you’ll need to combine this with sorting or use the manual method afterward.

Heads up: Regular expressions can be finicky. If the above doesn’t work, make sure you’re using the correct syntax for your Excel version. This method is more reliable on Windows than Mac.

Method 5: VBA Macro (For Heavy Lifting)

If you’re working with massive spreadsheets (thousands of rows) and need to delete blank rows regularly, a VBA macro is your friend. It’s automated, fast, and you only write it once.

1. Press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor

2. Go to Insert → Module

3. Paste this code:

Sub DeleteBlankRows()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim lastRow As Long
    Dim i As Long
    
    Set ws = ActiveSheet
    lastRow = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
    
    For i = lastRow To 1 Step -1
        If Application.CountBlank(ws.Rows(i)) = ws.Columns.Count Then
            ws.Rows(i).Delete
        End If
    Next i
End Sub

4. Press Ctrl + S to save

5. Close the editor and return to your spreadsheet

6. Press Alt + F8, select DeleteBlankRows, and click Run

The macro scans every row from bottom to top (going backward prevents row-shift confusion) and deletes any row that’s completely empty. It’s surgical and fast.

Safety Warning: Always save a backup copy of your file before running macros. Macros can’t be undone with Ctrl+Z in all situations.

If you’re not comfortable with VBA, stick to Methods 1-4. They’re safer and don’t require coding knowledge.

How to Prevent Blank Rows in the First Place

The best fix is prevention. Here’s how to avoid blank rows before they become a problem:

If you’re importing data from another system, check the export settings. Many tools have options to exclude empty rows. Look for “Remove blank rows” or “Compact output” checkboxes.

When building spreadsheets for data entry, apply validation rules that require certain columns to be filled. This prevents accidental blank rows from being created in the first place. Go to Data → Validation and set requirements.

When you freeze panes in Excel, you can lock header rows in place, which helps prevent accidental insertions of blank rows in critical areas. This doesn’t prevent blanks entirely, but it reduces them.

Apply autofilter to your data (Data → Filter). This makes blank rows immediately visible and easier to spot during data entry.

If you’re cleaning data regularly, document which method works best for your workflow. Write a simple checklist: import → scan for blanks → delete using Method X → verify results.

For teams using shared spreadsheets, consider setting up a data table or using structured references (Excel’s way of keeping data clean automatically).

Also, when you’re working on complementary tasks like merging two columns in Excel or adding columns in Excel, take a moment to check for blanks first. It prevents cascading problems later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete blank rows without losing data?

– Yes, as long as you’re deleting rows that are completely empty. The methods above only target blank rows, not rows with data. Always double-check your selection before clicking delete, and keep a backup of your file just in case.

What if some rows have blank cells but also have data in other columns?

– Don’t delete those rows. They contain data. Use the sort method (Method 3) to identify which rows are completely empty versus partially filled. Only delete the completely empty ones. If you need to clean up partial blanks, that’s a different task—you’d use Find & Replace to fill blanks with a placeholder or formula.

Why does my spreadsheet keep getting blank rows after I delete them?

– This usually means your data source (the system you’re importing from) is adding them. Check the export settings in that system. Some databases add blank rows as separators. You might need to adjust your import settings or add a step to your workflow that automatically cleans blanks after each import. Consider using Power Query (Get & Transform in Excel) to automate this.

Is there a keyboard shortcut to delete blank rows?

– Not a single built-in shortcut, but you can create one by recording a macro and assigning it to a hotkey. Or use the Go To Special method (Method 2) which is pretty quick once you memorize the steps. Most power users combine Method 3 (sort) with manual deletion because it’s visual and reliable.

Will deleting blank rows affect my formulas?

– It depends on how your formulas reference rows. If you’re using absolute references (like =SUM($A$1:$A$100)), deleting blank rows won’t break them because the references stay fixed. If you’re using relative references or named ranges, you might need to update them. Best practice: avoid referencing blank rows in the first place by using COUNTA or other functions that ignore empty cells.

Can I undo blank row deletion?

– Yes, with Ctrl+Z immediately after deletion. But once you save and close the file, undo history is gone. That’s why backups matter. Keep a “before” version of important spreadsheets before you start cleaning.

What’s the fastest way to delete blank rows in a 10,000-row spreadsheet?

– Use Method 5 (VBA macro) or Method 3 (sort) combined with bulk deletion. For truly massive files, consider using Power Query, which is built into modern Excel and handles data cleaning at scale. It’s faster than macros for very large datasets and leaves an audit trail of what you changed.

Do I need to select my entire spreadsheet to delete blanks, or just the data range?

– Select just your data range for precision. This prevents accidental deletion of blank rows outside your data area and makes the process faster. If your data is in columns A through F and rows 1 through 500, select A1:F500 before running your deletion method.

Deleting blank rows in Excel isn’t rocket science, but doing it efficiently separates casual users from people who actually get stuff done. Pick the method that matches your data size and comfort level, and you’ll have clean spreadsheets in seconds. The sort method (Method 3) is the sweet spot for most people—it’s visual, safe, and works every time. For one-off cleanups, that’s your go-to. For recurring tasks, invest 10 minutes in learning a macro. Your future self will thank you.