This document provides two methods for deleting empty rows in Excel, applicable to both Windows and Mac versions. The first method uses the 'Go to' dialog to select and delete blank cells, while the second method involves filtering to safely remove only completely empty rows while preserving rows with missing values. Additional resources and keyboard shortcuts for both methods are also included.

1. Excel Tutorials
USEFUL TRICKS: DELETING EMPTY ROWS IN EXCEL
MS EXCEL FOR MAC (VERSION 2016)
Merve Nur Tas, Eng.

2. Notes
2
u The working principle of the tricks is the
same for Windows version of Excel.
However, menu tabs and ribbons might
differ between the two. The keyboard
shortcuts are given for both, Windows and
Mac.
u You will realize repetition throughout the
slides, that is intentional; it is designed like
that for you to be able to focus on the part
you need.
u For some useful links and resources, visit the
last slide.

3. Deleting Empty
Rows in Excel
3
The problem: You imported or copy-
pasted data to your excel sheet, but
now you have blank rows in your
array which are way too many to
select and delete by hand.
uYou can see an example situation
on the right. This might look like an
unfortunate situation, but getting out
of it is effortless. I will show you two
methods to easily get rid of those
empty rows.

4. Method 1 - “Go To” Dialog Box
4
This method’s logic is very simple, all we have
to do is select all the blank cells in our array
and press delete. Here is how:
1. Select your data range
2. Open “Go To” Dialog Box
3. Click ”Special”
4. Select Blank – After this step all the blank cells
in the range will be selected.
5. Click Delete
And that’s it!
Caution!
Use this method only when you are sure
that your data is complete. If your data has
rows with missing values in their cells, this
method will delete them too, and you will
use data.

5. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 1 5
Alright, let’s see what we have here. We
imported data from a text file and as you can
see the data is “defective”, it has an empty
row between each data row.
We have to get rid of those empty rows in
between. It could have been done by hand, if
our array was consisting of only couple of
rows; however we have more than 15000 rows
of data and it is basically impossible. Thus, we
will implement our 5-step method instead:
1. Select your data range
2. Open “Go To” Dialog Box
3. Click ”Special”
4. Select Blank – After this step all the blank
cells in the range will be selected.
5. Click Delete

6. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 1 CONT. 6
To open the “Go To” dialog box, we follow
the route Menu Bar > Edit > Find > Go To…
Excel have some keyboard shortcuts for this
action. You may use them to open the “Go
To” window as well.
Shortcuts:
For Mac For Windows
⬆ + G CTRL + G
fn + F5 F5

7. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 1 CONT. 7
In the first screenshot, you can see the «Go To» dialog
box. As you can see our data range was already in
options. You can select your data range by hand as
well. Here, we select Austria_Cities and click Special…
From the list of options, we select blank. Then we click
ok and this action will select all the empty cells in our
array. After this, all we have to do is to press Delete.

8. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 1 CONT. 8
We pressed Delete and that’s it! We are left
with a perfect data array. Enjoy.
But wait, what if our data had a row with a
missing value in one of its cells?
That would be unfortunate… Because this
method will delete the row anyway, as it has a
blank cell included. So, if your data has missing
values, you will lose the rows with the blank
cells.
No worries, of course we will protect your data.
Continue to the next slide for the Second
Method for deleting the empty rows in Excel.

9. Method 2 - FILTERING
9
This method has a few more steps but it is a much safer option to protect your data.
1. Select all the columns in your data.
2. Click Filter
3. Now filter all the columns one by one by selecting “blank” cells only. – After this step you will
be left with all the blank rows in your data range.
4. Select every row that is filtered.
5. Click Delete.
6. Clear Filter
And that’s it!

10. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 2 10
Pay attention to our data. As you can see, we have
some rows with blank cells, some of them missing the
county code and some of them are missing the city
name value.
We still want to get rid of the completely empty rows
in between, but want to keep the rows with missing
values.
Here, we selected both of our data columns and
clicked Filter.

11. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 2 CONT. 11
Now, we should filter the blank cells in each
column.
The screenshot on the left is after the “Country
Code” column is filtered. While most of the filtered
cells are belong to completely empty rows, as you
can see some of them are a part of the rows with
missing value only: row 12 and row 18.
We will continue with filtering our second data
column to have only completely empty rows.

12. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 2 CONT. 12
Here, we filtered the column “City Name” as well,
and we are left with completely empty rows.
Now, all we have to do is select and delete them all.

13. DELETING EMPTY ROWS – METHOD 2 CONT. 13
All the rows we are left
with are selected and
deleted! Then we
select both of the data
columns again and
click Clear. This will
clear the filter and
there you go, a
perfect (yet has values
missing) data range!
Enjoy.

14. Resources and Useful Links
14
u https://exceljet.net/keyboard-shortcuts/display-go-to-dialog-box
u MS Excel for Mac:
u https://products.office.com/en-us/mac/microsoft-office-for-mac
u Microsoft Tutorials:
u https://support.office.com/en-us/article/excel-2016-for-mac-help-
2010f16b-aec0-4da7-b381-9cc1b9b47745