Forum Discussion
Deleting rows that contain specific content
Copying records from a source into excel, each record copies over as either 2 or 3 lines. Nearly every record contains a unique line with the word "search" in it. I don't need those lines in my spreadsheet, but don't know how to write a macro that will delete only rows that contain that specific word. I'm sure its simple, but my programming knowledge is minimal. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
You can do this without programming:
- On the Home tab of the ribbon, in the Sort & Filter group, turn on Filter.
- From the filter dropdown in the relevant column, select Text Filters > Contains...
- Enter Search in the box, then click OK.
- You should now see only the rows containing Search.
- Delete those rows.
- Turn off the filter.
10 Replies
- When I do this, and try to delete all the rows, I can't. Column A is a merged cell and I get an error stating I can't delete this. Any ideas on a workaround?
Avoid using merged cells...
You can do this without programming:
- On the Home tab of the ribbon, in the Sort & Filter group, turn on Filter.
- From the filter dropdown in the relevant column, select Text Filters > Contains...
- Enter Search in the box, then click OK.
- You should now see only the rows containing Search.
- Delete those rows.
- Turn off the filter.
HansVogelaar Thank you... that was simple!
RichardA2021 @Hans Vogelaar Thank you both for this idea. I have a follow-on question too, if you don't mind, Hans:
What if the number of Rows I needed to get rid of were so many that it becomes impractical to delete them individually. Is there a way to say to Excel: "Delete all rows where the column WO_Type = CLOSED." And then for example, 1,500 rows are deleted instantaneously.
Thank you both for your time and consideration.
Best regards,
Rob Allsbrook [ @RookBytes ]
