Forum Discussion
Delete Excess columns and rows
I have an excel file with multiple sheets in the workbook. Everyone one of the sheets goes up to column XFD and row 1048576. I have tried to the clear all option, and saved the file after this but nothing changes. I have tried deleting the rows and columns, but they still remain. Any idea how to delete all these Rows and Columns that are useless?
When I add a new sheet to the workbook, it automatically creates a large sheet going up to column XFD and row 1048576.
Hi Maneshb
Try this solution from a previous post to Hide the columns instead.
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Excel/Need-help-with-Excel/m-p/144356#M3492
Hope that does the trick.
Cheers
Damien
- As of April 2022, i see a delete button, is this a new feature relative to this question?
Not sure which button you mean, but nope - we can't change sheet dimensions, we may only to hide unused rows and columns.
ManeshbNo, you can't delete those columns, but there's no reason to. Think of them as just unused addresses. They do no harm and take up no space. The thing you do want to watch is the USED space. Go to End-Home and see where that takes you. Ideally, it's the last cell you have data in, or ofted a cell in the last used row and last used column. If it's beyond that, it will take up space (potentially an enormous amount). Then you will want to select and delete unused rows and columns, and save the file. If you are deleting a million rows, say, it could take a few minutes for the deletion to finish. The "used space" won't change until the file is saved. I've reduced file size by 90%+ using this when the used space is seen as very extensive, tho unneeded. Deleting the unused rows and columns really doesn't do anything visible, except compact the used space.
