Clearly, We’ve Got Some Options
So, you’re working in MS Excel with some data and you’ve got some changes to make.
If you needed to delete some data, you would simply highlight the cells and hit the Delete key.
But, let’s suppose you don’t want the data deleted, but instead you want the formatting removed. What do you do then?
You could spend time reformatting the cells or undoing whatever formatting has to go, but this could take a while, so I bet you’re looking for a quicker method. (Of course, undo only works if the formatting steps were the last things done).
The truth is, you do have choices about what you clear from a cell without all the extra steps. Ready to see how?
Good, then let’s look at our options.
The first thing you need to do is highlight the cells to be affected.
Next, you’re looking for the Edit menu, Clear choice.
Clear brings up a submenu with four options.
All will clear out everything. (And I do mean everything: data, formatting, comments and all).
Formats will remove all formatting. (The cell’s contents and any comments will not be affected).
Contents is the same as the Delete key. It will remove the cell’s contents (data, formulas, labels, etc.) only and leave intact any formatting and/or comments.
Side Note: Another quick way to clear contents is to highlight the cells and right click.
Choose Clear Contents from the pop up menu that appears.
Comments removes all comments attached to the highlighted cells. All cell contents (data, formulas, labels, etc.), along with formatting, are not affected.
So, we clearly have some choices. The question is: to delete or to not delete.
~ April