Quickly Clear Objects from Worksheet

Quickly Clear Objects from Worksheet

Earlier this week, I copied a list of Excel keyboard shortcuts from the Microsoft website, and pasted it into Excel. Then I noticed that a few objects had come along with the shortcuts list.

In the screen shot below, you can see one of the tiny icons that you can click, to go to the top of the web page. Those are handy on the web page, but aren’t much help on the Excel sheet.

objectsdelete01

See What Objects You Copied

Sometimes these objects are easy to spot, but if they’re small, or if there are lots of them, it’s not so easy.

A quick way to see all the objects that are on a worksheet is to use the Selection Pane.

  • On the Ribbon’s Home tab, click File & Select
  • Click Selection Pane

The Selection Pane opens, and you can see the full list of objects on the active sheet.

To select an object, click its name in the Selection Pane. (NOTE: If the worksheet contains ActiveX Controls, you can only select those in Design Mode.)

objectsdelete03

Select All the Objects

If you’d like to select all the objects, instead of selecting them one at a time, you can follow these steps:

  • On the Ribbon’s Home tab, click Find & Select
  • Click Go To Special
  • In the Go To Special window, click on Objects, and click OK

objectsdelete05

Delete the Selected Objects

After you’ve selected one or more objects, you can delete them.

  • On the keyboard, press the Delete key, or
  • On the Ribbon’s Home tab, click Clear, then click Clear All.

And if you want to see that list of shortcuts on the Microsoft site, click here: Excel Keyboard Shortcuts.

Watch the Video

To see the steps for selecting and deleting worksheet objects, watch this short video tutorial.

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0 thoughts on “Quickly Clear Objects from Worksheet”

  1. I found the following so much easier… has been in my personal code for years:
    Sub DeleteAll
    ActiveSheet.Shapes.SelectAll
    Selection.Delete
    End Sub

  2. Hi Debra,
    Great tip, thanks. I usually select the object then open the selection pane from the format tools tab. Never noticed it in Find & Replace!
    To select all objects I simply select one object and then press CTRL+A to select all, then hit delete.
    Cheers,
    Mynda.

  3. I use the macro: ActiveSheet.DrawingObjects.Select
    then carry on the clear the selection
    But now I want to delete all but the macro button on the same worksheet! I just cant seem to find a way for the macro to select the ojects within a range so that I leave the MAcro button on the worksheet out of the slected ojects?

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