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: Deleting Old Data from a Worksheet.

Deleting Old Data from a Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 8, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


3

Gene is looking for a way to quickly delete data from a worksheet based on the date in a particular column. If the date is older than today (the date is passed) then the row should be deleted.

This can be rather easily done with a macro. All you need to do is have the macro step through the data and compare the date in each row to today's date. If the date is less than today, then the Delete method is used on the EntireRow object.

Sub DeleteRows1()
    Dim x As Long
    Dim iCol As Integer

    iCol = 7 'Filter all on Col G

    For x = Cells(Cells.Rows.Count, iCol).End(xlUp).Row To 2 Step -1
        If Cells(x, iCol).Value < Date Then
            Cells(x, iCol).EntireRow.Delete
        End If
    Next
End Sub

In this example, the macro checks column G (in the iCol variable) for the date. If your date is in a different column, then you should make the change to the variable. Depending on the number of rows of data in your worksheet, the macro may also take quite a while to run.

If you notice a lag in performance, then you may want to use a different approach. The following example uses the AutoFilter capabilities of Excel to first filter the data to show only the old data, and then deletes those rows.

Sub DeleteRows2()
    Dim Dates As Range
    Dim nRows As Double
    Dim currDate As Variant

    'Format dates as text
    Range("Dates").NumberFormat = "@"
    'Today's date in number format
    currDate = CDbl(Date)
    Range("Dates").AutoFilter Field:=1, _
      Criteria1:="<" & currDate
    nRows = Range("Dates").Rows.Count
    Rows("2:" & nRows).Select
    Selection.Delete Shift:=xlUp
    Range("Dates").AutoFilter
    Range("Dates").NumberFormat = "m/d/yyyy"
    Range("C2").Select
End Sub

This macro presumes that you have taken the step of assigning a name to your data range. Select all the cells in your data table—including any heading row—and give it the name "Dates." When you run the macro, it uses this range as the target for the AutoFilter.

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 (10783) 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: Deleting Old Data from a Worksheet.

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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What is 7 - 7?

2022-02-15 12:05:08

J. Woolley

For a similar Tip, see
https://excelribbon.tips.net/T001566_Deleting_Rows_before_a_Cutoff_Date.html


2022-02-03 04:14:44

Peter

Thanks Allen, I like your second idea. I regularly delete rows using if they meet some criteria and it is a bit slow.


2022-02-02 09:20:18

Duncan McNeill

hello, I'm new to working with the more scripted side of excel, but I was wondering if there is a way that would delete/overwrite data on a certain day of the week, may also need to add a time component so it would not consistently delete data. I have a group excel page that we are using to track availability over two weeks, and what I want to do is to move the data from the second week in place of the first week, through either overwriting or deleting and moving the data onto week one. For the most part I am more concerned about the deleting aspect as this is the first fundamental step to lead to the other and I'm not finding exactly what i want. Any help will be appreciated


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