Have excel row that I cannot format or delete

Hi James,

Thanks for sharing here in the forum. I'm happy to help. You can't delete or format a row in Excel because it may be protected, part of an Excel Table, or have excessive formatting, so try clearing the contents and formatting first, converting it to a range if it's an Excel Table, or deleting rows by selecting a cell in the row and choosing Delete Sheet Rows from the Home tab or by right-clicking the row number and selecting Delete. If that doesn't work, check for data validation rules, grouped rows, or even a corrupted sheet by using the Clean Excess Cell Formatting tool in the Inquire add-in. 

Troubleshooting steps you can try.

1. Clear the contents and formatting

• Select the row(s) you are having trouble with.
• Go to the Home tab and click Clear in the Editing group.
• Try Clear All to remove everything, Clear Formats to remove only formatting, or Clear Contents to remove only data. 

2. Address Excel Tables

• If the rows are part of an Excel Table, first convert the table to a range. Right-click the table, go to Table, and select Convert to Range.
• After converting, try clearing formats or deleting the rows again. 

3. Delete the rows properly

• Click any cell within the row you want to delete.
• Go to the Home tab, click Delete, and select Delete Sheet Rows.
• Alternatively, right-click the row number on the left-hand side of the screen and select Delete. 

4. Use advanced troubleshooting

• Check for filters: Make sure no filters are applied by going to the Data tab and clicking Clear.
• Check for grouped rows: Expand any rows that might be grouped by clicking the plus signs or right-click and select Ungroup.
• Clean excess cell formatting:
  • This requires enabling the Inquire add-in. Go to File > Options > Add-ins.
    • Select COM Add-ins from the Manage dropdown and click Go.
      • Check the box for Inquire and click OK.
        • Go to the Inquire tab on the ribbon and click Clean Excess Cell Formatting.
        • Check for data validation: Go to the Data tab and click Data Validation. If any rules are present, try clearing them. 

5. Copy and paste to a new workbook

• If all else fails, copy the rows you want to keep to a new Excel file. This can sometimes resolve issues with corrupted formatting or hidden elements.

Regards,

Rez