Excel will now allow me to delete a single cell without deleting the row.

Copper Contributor

For some reason, when I try to delete any cell it will delete the entire row and move the data from below into that space. Please help me fix this. I cannot see that the rows are grouped or protected and everything looks normal. 

11 Replies
Can you post a screen-shot of the sorroundings of the cell you wish to delete and tell us precisely how you do the deleting?

Hi @Amesser 

You can delete a single cell without deleting entire row / column. Please see attached screen shot.

Thanks 

Tauqeer

@Jan Karel PieterseIt really goes for any cell within excel. I've tried creating a new spreadsheet and it does the same thing. What I've been doing is: home tab, cells section, selecting the delete cells button. 

Is the worksheet protected or does it contain cells with content beneath that table?

@Jan Karel PieterseIt is not protected. How do I look if there is content underneath the table?

@Amesser 

I am also sad about this new change. I used to be able to delete text in a field, and I'd have the option to move all text around it to the left, right, up, and down. 

 

Here is why this option is essential.

I clean data for a living, and someone inevitably cuts and pastes their data into a Sharepoint document, and the field they cut and pasted doesn't match the master document. I used to sort to find the pattern and cut out the bad cells, and the other text would move to the correct location. As of a couple of weeks ago, this option has disapeared.

PLEASE put this option back; I noli=ong have a workflow to do my job.

@Amesser I had the same issue. Here is how I resolved it. On the top Tool Ribbon, Table Tools - Design, click on "Convert to Range". That should solve the problem. 

 

 

 

 

@Jel2273 Rather than removing the table (which may wreck all sorts of things in an Excel file), if I need to shift a number of cells up (or down) in a table, I simply copy the cells beneath that area and then paste one or more rows higher (or lower). You do have to remember to clear the duplicated values that this causes at the bottom (or at the top) of the copied range though.

@Jan Karel Pieterse I've done that too, but for the number of individual cells I was deleting that was too time consuming. 

@Jel2273 alternatively, you could also resize the table (make it less rows) so the past you need to keys is no longer inside that table. Then after the delete, size the table back to its original size 

@Jel2273 You are the man! I was having the same issue. Converting to range resolved my issue! Thanks!!!