In Excel: click the column letter to select the whole column and press Ctrl+− (Ctrl and minus), or right-click the header ▸ Delete.
Click the column letter so the entire column is selected — not just some cells in it.
Press Ctrl+− (Ctrl and the minus key), or right-click the header and choose Delete.
For several columns, Ctrl-click each header first, then delete them in one action.
For a contiguous run, click the first header and Shift+click the last.
To remove empty columns, select the header row, press F5 ▸ Special ▸ Blanks, then Home ▸ Delete ▸ Delete Sheet Columns.
To hide rather than remove, right-click the header ▸ Hide — no formula anywhere breaks.
What this does
Deleting a column removes it and shifts everything to its right one place left, which is what breaks formulas elsewhere: any reference to the deleted column becomes #REF!. Selecting by the column letter matters — with only a few cells selected, Ctrl+− opens the Delete dialog and asks whether to shift cells left or up, and picking wrong scrambles the row alignment. Non-adjacent columns can go in one action: Ctrl-click each header, then delete. And "delete all the empty columns" is a Go To Special job rather than a manual hunt. Keep the inputs visible and clearly labelled and the whole thing stays auditable — anyone who opens the file later, including you, can see at a glance exactly what feeds the result and change one assumption without hunting through the formula. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “excel remove empty columns”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected columns visible, and compare the result with the tool above before you touch the real workbook. 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. The point is a layout choice that keeps the sheet readable and sortable, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.
A worked example
To delete columns C and F together, click the C header, hold Ctrl and click the F header, then press Ctrl+−. Both go and columns D, E, G shift left. If Summary!B2 held =SUM(Sheet1!C:C), it now reads =SUM(Sheet1!#REF!). To remove empty columns across A1:Z1: select that row, press F5 ▸ Special ▸ Blanks ▸ OK, then Home ▸ Delete ▸ Delete Sheet Columns. Imported data always carries columns nobody needs, and doing it by the header rather than by cells is what keeps the remaining rows aligned. If there is any chance you will reuse this, drop it into a small template tab right now: a labelled input area on the left and the formula beside it, checked once against the tool above. Next time the same question comes up, the answer is a single paste away instead of a rebuild from memory.
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. Nothing on this page is behind a login: the tool runs entirely in your browser, the formula is shown in full with one-click copy, and the steps work the same on Windows and Mac. That is the whole promise here — the exact answer, a way to prove it on your own numbers, and just enough context to make it stick. Here is the takeaway for “excel remove empty columns”: copy the answer if you are busy, but if you have a spare few minutes, rebuild the example in Excel yourself with the tool above open beside it. That single pass — type it, run it, watch the result move when you change an input — is what turns a formula you found into a technique you trust. Keep your inputs labelled and referenced, never hard-coded, and the same sheet stays correct and auditable as it grows. Done that way, you will not need to look this up again, and you will be the person others ask.
Common mistakes
- Deleting a column that formulas elsewhere reference and leaving
#REF!behind — press Ctrl+Z immediately if you see them appear. - Selecting cells rather than the whole column, then choosing the wrong shift direction in the Delete dialog and misaligning every row.
- Confusing Delete with Clear: Delete removes the column and shifts, Clear Contents empties it and leaves the structure alone.
- Deleting a column a PivotTable or chart uses as its source, which breaks both.
- Removing a column when hiding it would have preserved every reference.
Frequently asked questions
How do I delete a column in Excel?
Click the column letter to select it and press Ctrl+− (Ctrl and minus), or right-click the header and choose Delete.
How do I delete several columns at once?
Ctrl-click each column header to select them — they do not have to be adjacent — then press Ctrl+− once.
How do I delete all the blank columns?
Select the header row, press F5 ▸ Special ▸ Blanks ▸ OK, then use Home ▸ Delete ▸ Delete Sheet Columns.
Why do I get #REF! after deleting a column?
A formula somewhere referenced the deleted column and now points at nothing. Undo with Ctrl+Z, then repoint those formulas — or hide the column instead of deleting it.