Clear cell formats or contents

When you clear cells, you remove the cell contents (formulas and data), formats (including number formats, conditional formats, and borders), or comments, but you leave the blank cells on the worksheet. When you delete cells by clicking Delete on the Edit menu, Microsoft Excel removes them from the worksheet and shifts the surrounding cells to fill the space.

1. Select the cells, rows, or columns you want to clear of formats or contents.
2. On the Edit menu, point to Clear, and then click Formats or Contents.

   You can clear formats and contents by clicking All. This also removes any cell comments and data validation.

Notes

• If you click a cell and then press DELETE or BACKSPACE on the keyboard, Excel removes the cell contents but does not remove comments or cell formats.
• If you clear a cell, the value of a cleared cell is 0 (zero), and a formula that refers to that cell receives a value of 0.