2 Ways to Delete Sheet Using Shortcut in Excel

In daily usage of Excel, most of the time we create different sheets to store different data. And then when we get our job done, sometimes we need to delete extra sheets to make our excel file efficient. If you don’t know how to delete extra sheets in your workbook with easy and short methods, we are here for you as we have gathered 5 simple shortcut you can use to delete sheet in Excel. This article will make you an expert in this regard.

deleting sheets in excel


📁  Download Excel File

The file we used to explain the methods is available for download below.


Learn to Use Shortcut to Delete Sheet in Excel with These 2 Useful Techniques

In this article, we will learn how to delete a sheet in Excel using different shortcut techniques. We have assembled 5 shortcuts comprised of Keyboard shortcuts, Ribbon shortcuts, Mouse shortcuts, and VBA codes. Not only these shortcuts will save you time but also make you an Excel expert. So let’s get down to the main article.

Shortcut 1

1. Using Hotkeys

Despite the fact that deleting a worksheet is a regular activity, there is no particular keyboard shortcut for it. This might be to prevent you from mistakenly deleting a sheet you didn’t want to erase. But it is still possible to delete sheets using only keyboard shortcuts. While these shortcuts require pressing several keyboard buttons simultaneously, these are still the most valuable and efficient way to delete sheets.

 

Excel provides a number of keyboard shortcuts to help you operate more swiftly and productively. Instead of using a mouse to reach the toolbar, two or three keystrokes are utilized to accomplish important tasks. Alt hotkeys are a great way to bypass the toolbar and delete any sheets in no time.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • While you are on a particular sheet (Method 1.1) you want to delete, press these keys in sequence.

Select “Method 1.1” sheet

Alt+H+D+S
  • Subsequently, there will be a confirmation window that will ask if you truly want to delete the sheet. Just click the Delete option and the sheet will vanish.

Delete message box to Delete Sheet Using Shortcuts

The “Method 1.1” sheet is deleted.

Method 1.1 result

Shortcut 2

2. Using Legacy Keys

Excel had a menu system before the visible ribbon buttons. This included a collection of dynamic keyboard shortcuts for accessing the various commands. The newer version of Excel also supports these legacy shortcuts.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • While you are on a particular sheet (Method 1.2) you want to delete, press these keys in sequence.

Select “Method 1.2” sheet

Alt+E+L
  • Subsequently, there will be a confirmation window that will ask if you truly want to delete the sheet. Just click the Delete option and the sheet will vanish.

Delete confirmation box to Delete Sheet Using Shortcuts

The “Method 1.2” sheet is deleted.

Method 1.2 result

Alternate Ways to Delete Sheet in Excel

Method 1

1. Using Right-Click Menu

Clicking the right button on your mouse will also give you access to the delete option.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • Right-click on the sheet tab (which you will find at the bottom of your sheet) you wish to remove from the workbook and choose Delete.

right-click menu to Delete Sheet Using Shortcuts

  • Subsequently, there will be a confirmation window that will ask if you truly want to delete the sheet. Just click the Delete option and the sheet will vanish.

Delete Sheet Using Shortcuts

The “Method 2” sheet is deleted.

Method 2 result

Shortcut 3

2. From Home Tab

The most frequently used commands are usually located on the Home tab of the Excel ribbon. Deleting a sheet is also available under the Cells group. Here’s how you can delete a sheet using the Home tab.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • The sheet you want to delete must be the active sheet.
  • While you are on the sheet, go to the Home tab and under Cells group, click Delete. This will open up a list of things you can delete. Select Delete Sheet.

Home tab to Delete Sheet Using Shortcuts

  • The warning message will display, and you may remove the sheet by clicking the Delete option.

Delete box

The Method 3 sheet is deleted.

Method 3 result

Method 2

3. From Navigation Pane

Excel’s Navigation Pane displays a list of all sheets and objects included inside those sheets. With a single click, you may browse any of the material in your worksheet.

You may delete a sheet in addition to having it list all of the sheets.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • While you are on the View tab, under Show group, select Navigation.

Accessing Navigation pane to Delete Sheet Using Shortcuts

  • This will display the navigation pane on the workbook’s right side. To remove a sheet, simply right-click on its name.
  • Then, out of the available options, choose Delete.

Navigation pane

  • The navigation pane will display a warning that you are going to remove the sheet. Click the Delete button.

Confirmation message

The “Method 4” sheet is deleted.

Method 4 result

Method 3

4. VBA Code

Finally, we have arrived at the final method for deleting sheets, in which we will employ the VBA script. Before writing VBA code, we enabled the Developer tab in our Ribbon. Find out how to access the Developer tab here. We will show a handful of cases where you can use VBA code to delete sheets. We will also provide the necessary codes for each case.

VBA

4.1. Deleting Active Sheet

Our first code will be to delete the active sheet. The code will enable the warning message box. Just pressing Enter will remove the sheet.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • While on the Developer tab, click the Visual Basic button in the Ribbon’s left-hand corner.

Accessing Visual Basic

  • A window will show up where you will click Insert and, subsequently, Module.

Inserting Module

  • In the module, copy and paste the following formula.
Sub DeleteActiveSheet()
ActiveSheet.Delete
End Sub

Delete active sheet code

  • Upon clicking F5 on your keyboard, a warning message will display, and you may remove the sheet by clicking the Delete

Confirm message box

The “Method 5.1” sheet is deleted.

Method 5.1 result

VBA

4.2. Deleting Sheet by Name

Our next code will be to delete a certain sheet with a specific name. The code will enable the warning message box. Just pressing Enter will remove the sheet.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • While on the Developer tab, click the Visual Basic button in the Ribbon’s left-hand corner.

Accessing Visual Basic from Developer Tab

  • A window will show up where you will click Insert and, subsequently, Module.

Inserting Module for coding

  • In the module, copy and paste the following formula.
Sub DeleteNamedSheet()
Sheets("Method 5.2").Delete
End Sub

Delete Named sheet code

  • Upon clicking F5 on your keyboard, a warning message will display, and you may remove the sheet by clicking the Delete option.

Confirm box

The “Method 5.2” sheet is deleted.

Method 5.2 result

VBA

4.3. Deleting Every Sheet Except Active One

The following VBA code will cycle through all of the workbook’s sheets. If the sheet is not active, it will be removed. The Application.DisplayAlerts = False line of code disables the warning messages, so you don’t have to click the Delete button before deleting the sheet. After the sheet is erased, this is reset to True.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • While on the Developer tab, click the Visual Basic button in the Ribbon’s left-hand corner.

Accessing Visual Basic to delete sheet using shortcuts

  • A window will show up where you will click Insert and, subsequently, Module.

Inserting Module to delete sheet

  • In the module, copy and paste the following formula.
Sub DeleteInactiveSheet()
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
For Each M In Worksheets
    If M.Name <> ActiveSheet.Name Then
        M.Delete
    End If
Next M
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
End Sub

Delete inactive sheet code

  • Upon clicking F5 on your keyboard, you will see every inactive worksheet has been deleted.

Only “Method 5.3” sheet remained.

Method 5.3 result

VBA

4.4. Deleting All Sheets with Specific Text in Their Names

The last code will remove any sheets in the spreadsheet that contain a specific text in the sheet’s name. Then, the code will display a popup with an input field where the user may enter text. This text will be used as the criterion for removing workbook sheets.

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

  • Firstly, while on the Developer tab, click the Visual Basic button in the Ribbon’s left-hand corner.

Accessing Visual Basic from Developer Tab to delete sheet using shortcuts

  • A window will show up where you will click Insert and, subsequently, Module.

Inserting Module to delete sheet using shortcuts

  • In the module, copy and paste the following formula.
Sub DeleteSheetsContainingCertainText()
Dim Text As String
Text = Application.InputBox("Enter The Text")
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
For Each M In Worksheets
    If M.Name Like "*" & Text & "*" Then
        M.Delete
    End If
Next M
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
End Sub

Delete sheets with certain text code

  • Finally, upon clicking F5 on your keyboard, a box will ask for the text. After entering the text, press OK to delete every sheet with that text.

Text box

Every Sheet with the name “Method” has been deleted.

Method 5.4 result


📝 Takeaways from This Article

🖊️ Firstly, we described the most efficient shortcut to delete a sheet in Excel, which is using keyboard shortcuts.

🖊️ Next, we explained how users can access the Delete option by using the Right-click menu.

🖊️ Then, we showed the deletion method from Home tab and Navigation Pane.

🖊️ Lastly, We created a couple of VBA codes for different criteria.


Conclusion

This is the end of our article. We tried our best to cover all sorts of methods to make the process easier. We hope, you can now easily delete a sheet using a shortcut in Excel. If you know of any other easy methods, please don’t be shy to share them with us in the comment section. For more tips and tricks for Excel, visit Excelden.com.

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Hassan Shuvo

Hassan Shuvo

Hello, I am Mehedi Hassan Shuvo.I am an Engineering graduate from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. I love reading Thriller books, watching Anime, and playing Cricket. I also love learning about new software. Excel is one of my favorite ones by far. My efforts will be worthwhile if I can utilize my expertise to assist anyone. If you find any faults in my writing please let me know.I will try to correct them as I am learning everyday.

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