Deleting Old Data from a Worksheet

Gene is looking for a way to quickly delete data from a worksheet based on the date in a particular column. If the date is older than today (the date is passed) then the row should be deleted.

This can be rather easily done with a macro. All you need to do have the macro step through the data and compare the date in each row to today's date. If the date is less than today, then the Delete method is used on the EntireRow object.

Sub DeleteRows1()
    Dim x As Long
    Dim iCol As Integer

    iCol = 7 'Filter all on Col G

    For x = Cells(Cells.Rows.Count, iCol).End(xlUp).Row To 2 Step -1
        If Cells(x, iCol).Value < Date Then
            Cells(x, iCol).EntireRow.Delete
        End If
    Next
End Sub

In this example, the macro checks column G (in the iCol variable) for the date. If your date is in a different column, then you should make the change to the variable. Depending on the number of rows of data in your worksheet, the macro may also take quite a while to run.

If you notice a lag in performance, then you may want to use a different approach. The following example uses the AutoFilter capabilities of Excel to first filter the data to show only the old data, and then deletes those rows.

Sub DeleteRows2()
    Dim Dates As Range
    Dim nRows As Double
    Dim currDate As Variant

    'Format dates as text
    Range("Dates").NumberFormat = "@"
    'Today's date in number format
    currDate = CDbl(Date)
    Range("Dates").AutoFilter Field:=1, _
      Criteria1:="<" & currDate
    nRows = Range("Dates").Rows.Count
    Rows("2:" & nRows).Select
    Selection.Delete Shift:=xlUp
    Range("Dates").AutoFilter
    Range("Dates").NumberFormat = "m/d/yyyy"
    Range("C2").Select
End Sub

This macro presumes that you have taken the step of assigning a name to your data range. Select all the cells in your data table—including any heading row—and give it the name "Dates." When you run the macro, it uses this range as the target for the AutoFilter.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3384) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Deleting Old Data from a Worksheet.