How to Remove Tables in Excel? 3 Easy Ways
(Note: This guide on how to remove tables in Excel is suitable for all Excel versions including Office 365)
In Excel, when you have large amounts of consistent and uniform data sets, converting them to a table paves an easy way to enter, search, and retrieve the data.
When you create a table with the data, Excel automatically adds some formatting of its own. However, there are a variety of formatting options you can use to change the layout of the cell and perform any operations on them. This makes data handling a lot easier.
However, in some cases, you might need to remove the table formatting or even the whole table.
In this article, I will tell you how to remove table formatting in Excel. Additionally, you’ll also see how to remove tables in Excel using 3 easy ways.
You’ll Learn:
Watch this Video on How to Remove Tables in Excel in 3 Easy Ways
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Excel Table and Formatting
Before we learn how to remove table formatting in Excel, let us take a quick stroll into how a table is created and formatted.
Consider an example where you have the data from different people grouped into different categories like first name, last name, age, state, and country.
This data, however, is simple and you can easily search through it or perform any functions. But what if the data are large in numbers? You will have to use filters to showcase necessary information, sort the data, and perform desired functions.
In these cases, you will convert the normal data called “normal ranged data” into a “table”. An easy way to convert the normal data to a table is by pressing Ctrl + T and in the Create Tables header, select the data and click OK. If your data has headers, check the checkbox for My table has headers and click OK.
If you add any additional data, the present data will be formatted as a table.
You can see the table appears with default formatting. However, you can add additional formatting to the table from the Home or Table Design ribbon.
If you feel like the default formatting does not suit your needs, you can either choose other built-in formats or create and apply custom formats.
If you are still not satisfied with the formatting or the whole table, follow the below-mentioned methods to remove them.
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How to Remove Table Formatting in Excel?
Let us first see how to remove the table formatting in Excel.
From the above example, you can see the table is formatted with dark blue background headings and alternating light blue and white patterns.
Suppose you want to remove the formatting of the table so that the table appears with the simple default background. For this, you can use this method.
Using Format As Table Option
This is one of the most common methods to remove table format in Excel.
- To remove the table formatting, first, select the table.
- Navigate to Table Design and under the Table Styles section, click on the More dropdown.
- Scroll down and click on Clear from the dropdown.
This only removes the formatting of the table, but the data, filters, and other elements remain in the table format.
- Now, navigate to Home. Under the Editing section, click on the dropdown from Clear and select Clear Formats.
This removes the dropdown from the headers and converts the table to normal range data.
How to Remove Tables in Excel?
In the above-mentioned method, we saw how to remove the formatting in a table. However, in some cases, you might have to delete or remove the whole table.
Let us see 3 ways to remove tables in Excel.
Using the Convert to Range Option
If there is no need for an Excel table, you can easily convert the table to normal data using this method.
- First, select the Excel table that you want to convert to normal data.
- Navigate to Table Design. Under the Tools section, click on Convert to Range.
- You can also right-click on the table and click on the extend option from Table and select Convert to Range.
- Excel throws a warning pop-up asking “Do you want to convert the table to a normal range?”
- Click Yes.
- This instantly converts the table to normal data.
You can see that the dropdown filters and sorting options and structured references are removed. You can also see that, though the table is removed, the formatting style remains. So, before you convert the table to a normal data range, it is always better to remove the table formatting using the above method and then remove the table.
- There is another easy way to remove the formatting in the cells. First, select the cells you want to remove the formatting from.
- Then, navigate to Home. Under the Editing section, click on the dropdown from Clear and select Clear Formats.
This deletes the formatting of the selected cells and turns the data back to the default formatting.
Using the Clear Button
This method acts as a hard reset option. This method can be used when you want to clear the formatting of the cells in addition to the data in the table.
- To clear the table along with the data, first, select the table.
- Navigate to Home. Under the Editing section, click on the dropdown Clear and select Clear All.
- This removes the table including the data and returns the blank cells.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts
If you are a person who uses a keyboard predominantly for efficient functioning, then these are easy methods to remove tables in Excel.
By Pressing the Delete Key
This is a very simple method to remove tables in Excel without many elaborate steps.
- First, select the table either by clicking and dragging the cells or by holding the Shift and arrow keys.
- Then, press the Delete key on the keyboard.
- This instantly deletes the selected data and its formatting.
By Using the Excel Hotkeys
Another method to remove a table in Excel is by using the hotkeys. Hotkeys are a series of keystrokes that you can use to perform certain functions instead of using a mouse.
This method works on the same principle as selecting the Clear All button, but with the help of your keyboard.
- To remove a table, first, select the table.
- Then, while holding the Alt key, press the keys H, E, and A one after the other (Alt + H + E + A).
- This removes the table and all the cells in it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert a table to normal data in Excel without deleting the data?
Select the table. Right-click > Table > Convert to Range or navigate to Table Design > Convert to Range. Click Yes in the pop-up. This removes the table. To remove the formatting, navigate to Home. Under the Editing section, click on the dropdown from Clear and select Clear Formats.
What is the easiest way to delete a table?
Selecting the data and pressing the Delete button is the easiest method to delete a table and its data completely.
How do I remove only the formatting of the table in Excel?
If you only want to remove the formatting of the table in Excel, select the cells you want to remove the formatting and navigate to Home, under the Editing section, click on the dropdown from Clear and click Clear Formats.
Closing Thoughts
Excel offers you the flexibility to change or even remove the formatting of the table to suit your needs. Additionally, you can also delete the whole table depending on your choice.
In this article, we saw how to remove table formatting in Excel the easy way. We also saw how to remove tables in Excel using 4 simple ways. Choose the method that suits your purpose the best.
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Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
