In Excel: click inside the table, use Table Design ▸ Convert to Range if you no longer need table behavior, then Home ▸ Clear ▸ Clear Formats if the visual style should disappear too.
On this page7
Click any cell inside the table.
Open Table Design and choose Convert to Range if the range should stop being an Excel table.
Select the range and use Home ▸ Clear ▸ Clear Formats when the colors and banding should be removed.
Reapply only the number formats or borders you still need.
What this does
Excel tables have two separate layers: table behavior and table styling. Convert to Range removes the structured table object, filters, expansion behavior and structured references. Clear Formats removes colors, banded rows, borders and fonts. Many users need both steps because converting to a range does not always strip the visible style. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. For “excel remove format as table”, the reliable version is a short checking loop, not just the first command that appears to work. Run it on a deliberately small range first, watch how the affected cells change, and only then apply the same setup to the full sheet. 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 is what makes a workflow that saves repeating the same clicks every week useful in real work: repeatable, auditable, and not dependent on memory or luck.
A worked example
A sales range has blue banded rows from Format as Table, but you want a plain range for export. Click a cell in the table, choose Table Design ▸ Convert to Range, confirm Yes, then select the range and choose Home ▸ Clear ▸ Clear Formats. The data remains; the table object and styling are gone. Removing table formatting is useful before exports, copied reports, pasted data and models where structured table behavior is creating formula or layout surprises. When the result is not what you expected, undo straight away rather than repairing it by hand — undo restores the sheet exactly, while manual fixes tend to leave small inconsistencies behind that surface later.
In Google Sheets
This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, repeat the steps once in your own workbook — doing it yourself is what turns a copied answer into something you remember. Treat “excel remove format as table” as a routine rather than a one-off. Once you know which setting or command controls it, the same few steps handle every workbook where it comes up in Excel, and you can explain them to a colleague in a sentence.
Common mistakes
- Only changing the table style to None when the table object itself is the problem.
- Using Clear All, which deletes data as well as formatting.
- Forgetting that formulas with structured references may change after converting to a range.
- Removing filters accidentally when downstream users still depend on the table controls.
Frequently asked questions
Does Convert to Range delete data?
No. It keeps the values and formulas but removes table behavior.
Why is the formatting still there after Convert to Range?
Because conversion removes the table object, not necessarily all cell formats. Use Clear Formats next.
Can I keep the table but remove the colors?
Yes. Pick a plain table style or disable banded rows on Table Design.
Other ways people ask this
This is also commonly searched as “how to remove format as table in excel”, “how to remove format as a table in excel”, “how to remove date format in excel” and “unformat as a table excel”. They describe the identical operation, so you are in the right place no matter how you phrased it.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “how to remove format as table in excel”, “how to remove format as a table in excel”, “how to remove date format in excel” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.