Removing Cells

Removing Cells

You already learned about deleting the data in cells back in Lesson 8, "Editing Worksheets," and you learned that you could also delete cells from a worksheet. Eliminating cells from the worksheet rather than just clearing their contents means that the cells surrounding the deleted cells in the worksheet are moved to fill the gap that is created. Remove cells only if you want the other cells in the worksheet to shift to new positions . Otherwise, just delete the data in the cells or type new data into the cells.

If you want to remove cells from a worksheet, use the following steps:

1. Select the cell or range of cells you want to remove.

2. Open the Edit menu and choose Delete . The Delete dialog box appears (see Figure 12.3).

   Figure 12.3. Use the Delete dialog box to specify how the gap left by the deleted cells should be filled.

   

3. Select Shift Cells Left or Shift Cells Up to specify how the remaining cells in the worksheet should move to fill the gap left by the deleted cells.

4. Click OK . Surrounding cells are shifted to fill the gap left by the deleted cells.

As with inserting cells, you should check the cell references in your formulas and functions after removing cells from the worksheet. Be sure that your calculations are referencing the appropriate cells on the worksheet.