In Excel: select the whole rows by their row numbers, right-click the selection and choose Delete — the rows below shift up to close the gap; the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Minus.
Click a row number and drag (or Ctrl-click each header) to select the whole rows you want to delete.
Right-click anywhere in the highlighted rows and choose Delete, or use Home ▸ Delete ▸ Delete Sheet Rows.
The rows are removed and everything below shifts up to close the gap.
For speed, select the row(s) and press Ctrl+Minus instead of right-clicking.
What this does
Deleting rows removes the selected rows entirely — their data is gone and everything below moves up to fill the space, so there is no empty gap left behind. You select whole rows by their row-number headers, then right-click ▸ Delete or use Home ▸ Delete ▸ Delete Sheet Rows. Ctrl+Minus does the same from the keyboard. To delete several rows that are not next to each other, hold Ctrl and click each row number first, then delete them all in one step. Because the rows physically disappear, any formula that pointed at a deleted row breaks with #REF!, so check totals that referenced the removed range. The same idea underpins a lot of everyday Excel work, so the few minutes spent getting it right here pay back across every sheet you build afterwards. Treat it as a pattern, not a one-off, and it stops being something you look up and starts being something you reach for. Treat “delete rows in excel” as a small repeatable workflow rather than a one-off click you hope to remember next time. Use a small test block before the live file, so any surprise in the affected rows shows up while it is still harmless. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. That turns a data step that keeps your analysis trustworthy into a method you can reuse, explain, and defend when the workbook leaves your screen.
A worked example
You want to drop rows 5, 6 and 7. Click row header 5 and drag down to row 7 to select all three whole rows, right-click anywhere in the selection and choose Delete — rows 5 to 7 vanish and the data that was in row 8 onward moves up to fill rows 5, 6, 7 and beyond. For a quick keyboard version, select the rows and press Ctrl+Minus. Deleting rows is how you clear out records you no longer need without leaving holes in the data — the sheet packs back together as the rows below move up. Unlike clearing cell contents, the rows physically go away, so the layout stays tight and continuous. One habit worth forming early: name the cells that hold your inputs, so the formula reads in plain language instead of a string of cell addresses. A reviewer — or you in three months — can then follow the logic without decoding what B7 and D2 were supposed to mean, which is most of what makes a sheet maintainable.
In Google Sheets
Google Sheets handles this almost identically to Excel. The formula syntax above is the same, and the menu lives under a slightly different label rather than a ribbon tab. Use the platform toggle at the top of the page to switch every keyboard shortcut between Windows and Mac, and expect at most cosmetic differences in naming. The aim was to get you unstuck fast and leave you a little more capable than a copy-paste would. The answer is at the top, the tool proves it, and the detail above shows why it holds — so the next time a colleague asks, you can answer without reaching for search. Treat “delete rows in excel” as a small building block rather than a chore. Once the inputs sit in their own cells and the formula reads from them, the same setup answers a dozen related questions with a tweak, and Excel keeps every dependent figure current as the data changes. The tool above is there so you can rehearse and verify before committing anything to a real workbook; the steps and worked example are there so the logic sticks. Get it right once and it stops costing you time — it starts saving it, every time the question comes back around.
Common mistakes
- Selecting cells instead of whole row numbers, which opens the Delete dialog asking how to shift the surrounding cells.
- Forgetting that deleting a row a formula points at throws
#REF!— check totals that referenced the removed range. - Pressing Delete (the key) expecting the rows to disappear — that only clears the contents; use right-click ▸ Delete or Ctrl+Minus to remove the rows themselves.
- Deleting scattered rows one by one instead of Ctrl-clicking every row number first and removing them in a single step.
Frequently asked questions
What is the shortcut to delete a row?
Select the whole row and press Ctrl+Minus (Ctrl and the - key). If you selected cells rather than a whole row, the same shortcut opens the Delete dialog so you can choose Entire row.
How do I delete several non-adjacent rows at once?
Hold Ctrl and click each row number you want, then right-click and Delete (or press Ctrl+Minus). All the selected rows are removed together and the remaining rows close up.
Why did my formulas break after deleting a row?
A formula that referenced a deleted row has nothing left to point at, so it returns #REF!. Rebuild the reference around the rows that remain, or delete inside the referenced range so it shrinks cleanly.
Other ways people ask this
This is also commonly searched as “how to delete a row in excel”, “delete rows in excel”, “how do i delete a row in excel” and “how do you delete a row in excel”. They describe the identical operation, so you are in the right place no matter how you phrased it.
This guide also answers
- deleting lines in excel
- how to delete a row from excel
- how to delete lines in excel
- how to remove a row in excel
Platform & version notes
- If you are on a Mac, nothing here changes except the modifier key: swap Ctrl for ⌘ in every shortcut, and use the Windows/Mac toggle at the top of the page so the keystrokes shown match the keyboard in front of you.
How is it different on a Mac?
Only the keys. Press ⌘ where Windows uses Ctrl; the menus, formulas and result for "delete rows in excel" are the same on macOS as on Windows.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “how to delete a row in excel”, “delete rows in excel”, “how do i delete a row in excel” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.