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To remove a value or formula but leave the cell in place, clear its contents. In Excel, select the cell or range, then choose Home > Clear > Clear Contents. This preserves formatting and comments. Use Delete Cells instead only when you want to remove cells and shift nearby cells into the space.
Clear contents or delete cells?
These commands do different jobs. Clearing removes what is stored in a cell while the cell remains in its worksheet position. Deleting cells removes the selected cells and shifts surrounding cells to fill the gap.
| Command | What it removes | What remains or happens |
|---|---|---|
| Clear Contents | Values or formulas | The cells stay in place; formatting and comments remain. |
| Delete or Backspace key | Contents of selected cells | The cells stay in place; formatting and comments remain. |
| Clear Formats | Formatting | Contents remain. |
| Clear Comments and Notes | Comments and notes | Other cell properties are not the target of this command. |
| Clear Hyperlinks | Hyperlinks | Other cell contents are not the target of this command. |
| Clear All | Contents, formats, and comments | The cells remain in place; adjacent cells do not shift. |
| Delete Cells | The selected cells themselves | Nearby cells shift to fill the space. |
How to clear data and keep formatting
- Select the cell, range, row, or column whose contents you want to remove.
- Open the Home tab and, in the Editing group, open the arrow next to Clear.
- Select Clear Contents. The values or formulas are removed while the selected cells remain in place with their formatting and comments.
For a quick clear, select the cells and press Delete or Backspace. Microsoft says either key clears contents without removing cell formats or comments.
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Choose a command based on the property you intend to remove. Clear Formats removes formatting; Clear Comments and Notes removes those annotations; Clear Hyperlinks removes hyperlinks; and Clear All removes contents, formats, and comments. These Clear commands leave the cells in their worksheet positions rather than shifting surrounding cells.
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How to remove cells and shift surrounding cells
If you want neighboring cells to move into the selected cells’ space, use the Delete menu and choose Delete Cells. This removes cells from the worksheet layout; it is not the same as pressing the Delete key to clear their contents.
What happens to formulas that refer to cleared cells?
Microsoft says that after you use Clear All or Clear Contents, a formula that refers to the cleared cell receives a value of 0 (zero). If you are clearing a cell used by another formula, account for that result.
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Microsoft’s guidance cited here applies to Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel 2024, and Excel 2021. The steps and behavior described are scoped to those editions.
Source: Microsoft Support: Clear cells of contents or formats.
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