Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Clearing Everything Except Formulas.

Clearing Everything Except Formulas

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 12, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


2

Roni wants to clear everything in a worksheet except for cells which may contain formulas. This task can be completed either manually or through the use of a macro.

If you want to do the clearing manually, you can follow these steps:

  1. Press F5. Excel displays the Go To dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  2. Figure 1. The Go To dialog box.

  3. Click the Special button. Excel displays the Go To Special dialog box. (See Figure 2.)
  4. Figure 2. The Go To Special dialog box.

  5. Select the Constants radio button. The four check boxes under the Formulas option then become available. (This can be a bit confusing. Why Microsoft made the Constants radio button control some check boxes under a different radio button is not immediately clear.)
  6. Make sure that all the check boxes under the Formulas radio button are selected. (They should be selected by default.)
  7. Click OK. Excel selects all the constants (cells that don't contain formulas) in the worksheet.
  8. Press the Del key.

This works great if you only need to clear out the non-formula contents of a worksheet once in a while. If you need to do it more often, then you can simply use the macro recorder to record the above steps. Or, if you prefer, you can create your own macro from scratch, such as the following one:

Sub ClearAllButFormulas()
    Dim wks As Worksheet

    'Ignore errors in case there are only formulas
    On Error Resume Next
    For Each wks In Worksheets
        wks.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeConstants).ClearContents
    Next
    On Error GoTo 0
    Set wks = Nothing
End Sub

This macro is particularly useful if you need to clear out all the non-formula cells in an entire workbook. The reason is because it does the clearing on every worksheet in the entire workbook, without you needing to do the clearing manually.

You should use caution when using this macro. Make sure you really do want to clear out everything except for cells that contain formulas in the worksheet or workbook before you run this macro. It would be a shame to accidentally get rid of the contents of cells that you really needed to keep. If you are a bit squeamish about such a possibility, you might want to use the following version of the macro:

Sub ClearAllButFormulas2()
    Dim wks As Worksheet
    Dim sTemp As String
    Dim iCheck As Integer

    sTemp = "This macro deletes everything in the current "
    sTemp = sTemp & "workbook except formulas. Once done, "
    sTemp = sTemp & "it cannot be undone." & vbCrLf & vbCrLf
    sTemp = sTemp & "Are you sure you want to continue?"

    iCheck = MsgBox(sTemp, vbYesNo + vbExclamation, "Warning!")

    If iCheck = vbYes Then
        'Ignore errors in case there are only formulas
        On Error Resume Next
        For Each wks In Worksheets
            wks.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeConstants).ClearContents
        Next
        On Error GoTo 0
    Else
        MsgBox "Operation cancelled."
    End If
End Sub

This version displays a message box asking if you are sure you want to do the clearing. The upshot is that you have less of a chance of messing up your workbook by accident.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9097) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Clearing Everything Except Formulas.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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Comments

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What is 4 + 7?

2024-10-13 08:39:24

Alex Blakenburg

A possible issue might be, that to provide a bit of an audit trail people often add multiple figures together in a cell. Since this involves using an "=" sign it will be regarded as a Formula and not a constant and will not be deleted.


2024-10-12 05:31:58

Dave Bonin

There’s something to be said for adding an intermediate check to perhaps visibly highlight all formula cells. Perhaps with some unusual highlighting such as orange with yellow spots. Something that would be easy to apply and to remove using a macro.

This technique could be used as intermediate checks for other forms of mass change with a macro.

Alternately, a macro could automatically create a backup copy of your file before proceeding just to protect you from our own oversight.


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