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 Unwanted Styles.

Deleting Unwanted Styles

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 21, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

When you work with other people who use Excel, it is not unusual to copy worksheets from their workbooks into your own workbook. When you do so, the worksheet isn't the only thing that is copied—Excel also copies their formatting styles to your workbook. Manually deleting the unwanted styles can be a hassle, depending on the number of styles. Removing user-defined styles is very easy, though, if you use a macro. The following macro will quickly delete the unwanted styles:

Sub StyleKill()
    Dim styT As Style
    Dim intRet As Integer

    For Each styT In ActiveWorkbook.Styles
        If Not styT.BuiltIn Then
            intRet = MsgBox("Delete style '" & styT.Name & "'?", vbYesNo)
            If intRet = vbYes Then styT.Delete
        End If
    Next styT
End Sub

The macro needs just a little user input. Whenever the macro detects a user-defined style, you are asked if you want to delete it. Clicking on the Yes button causes the style to be removed from the workbook.

You should be aware of the limitations of a macro approach such as this. The biggest limitation is that if your workbook is corrupted in any way (and, yes, it is very possible to have corruption in the styles in a workbook), this macro won't fix that corruption. Instead, you may want to look at a handy third-party solution (XLStylesTool) that can work wonders if you need to clean up your styles in a more comprehensive manner. You can find more information about XLStylesTool here:

https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/xlstylestool/9WZDNCRFJPTG

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 (12259) 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 Unwanted Styles.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Hiding Gridlines

For those times when you remove the borders from your tables, Word provides a way that you can display non-printing ...

Discover More

Determining the Length of a Non-Document Text File

If you use a macro to create and work with text files, you can find out the length of those files using a simple command. ...

Discover More

Differences between Tables and Named Ranges

Excel allows you to define the data in a worksheet as a table. Doing so can provide some clear benefits over simply ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Underlining Text in Cells

Want a quick way to add some underlines to your cell values? It's easy using the shortcuts provided in this tip.

Discover More

Matching Formatting when Concatenating

Convert a numeric value to text and you may be surprised by how Excel displays the value. Here's a run-down on exactly ...

Discover More

Problems with Custom Views

If you get an error when you try to use one of your custom views, it could be due to the protection you have applied to ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight minus 5?

2023-01-22 10:28:35

J. Woolley

My Excel Toolbox includes the following dynamic array function to return all styles for the formula cell's workbook:
=ListStyles([SkipHeader])
Expect 2 columns (Name, Built-in), where Built-in is FALSE for a user-defined style. Here is an abbreviated version:

Function ListStyles()
    Dim oWB As Workbook, A() As Variant
    Dim nRows As Long, n As Long
    Set oWB = Application.Caller.Parent.Parent
    nRows = oWB.Styles.Count
    If nRows = 0 Then
        ListStyles = "No Styles"
        Exit Function
    End If
    ReDim A(1 To nRows, 1 To 2)
    For n = 1 To nRows
        With oWB.Styles(n)
            A(n, 1) = .Name
            A(n, 2) = .BuiltIn
        End With
    Next n
    ListStyles = A
End Function

When using pre-2021 versions of Excel without support for dynamic arrays, consider UseSpillArray.pdf.
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.