SheetCompareHow to Remove Blank Rows in Excel
Clear out empty rows from a spreadsheet quickly, whether it's a handful or thousands scattered through the data.
Blank rows sneak into spreadsheets through exports, copy-paste, and deleted data, and they break sorting, filtering, and any formula that assumes a contiguous range. Deleting them one by one is fine for a few, but useless when they're scattered through thousands of rows.
The fast way is to select all the truly empty rows at once with Go To Special, then delete them in a single action. For partially-blank rows (some cells filled), a filter is the safer tool so you don't delete rows that still hold data.
- 1
Select the data range
Highlight the columns or range that contains the blanks you want to clear.
- 2
Use Go To Special, Blanks
Press F5 (or Ctrl+G), choose Special, then Blanks, and Excel selects every empty cell in the range at once.
- 3
Delete entire rows
Right-click a selected blank, choose Delete, then Entire row. Only fully-blank rows in your selection are removed.
- 4
For partially-blank rows, filter instead
Add a filter, filter a key column to (Blanks), select those rows, and delete, so you don't lose rows that still contain some data.
Frequently asked questions
Will Go To Special delete rows that have some data?▾
It selects empty cells. If you then delete entire rows, only rows where the selected cells are blank are removed, so restrict your selection to a column that's empty exactly when the row is junk.
How do I remove blank rows in a CSV?▾
Open or import the CSV, remove the blanks with the steps above, and re-save. Empty lines in a CSV are just rows with no values.
Can I do this in bulk across files?▾
Clean each file the same way, or use a tool that strips empty rows during processing. Consistent cleanup matters before comparing or merging files.