Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Deleting Every X Rows without a Macro.

Deleting Every X Rows without a Macro

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated October 10, 2015)

When working with data retrieved from another source—such as another user or from an external program—you may have a need to remove certain rows from the data. It is not unusual, for instance, to have the need to remove every third row or every fifth row. The following general steps allow you to delete every X rows without using a macro.

  1. Insert two columns (A and B) on the far left side of the worksheet.
  2. In the new column A, use AutoFill to sequentially number the rows from 1 to the end.
  3. In cell B1 (assuming you have no header row), enter the formula =MOD(A1,3). (This formula assumes that you want to delete every third row. If you want to delete some other multiple of rows, substitute that number in place of the 3 in the formula.)
  4. Copy the formula downward to all the other cells in the B column.
  5. Choose Filter from the Data menu, then choose AutoFilter. Small drop-down lists appear at the top of each column in the worksheet.
  6. Using the drop-down list in column B, select the 0. Now, only those rows with a zero in column B appear.
  7. Select all the displayed rows and delete them.
  8. Turn off AutoFilter. (Repeat step 5 to do this.)
  9. Delete columns A and B.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2348) 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 Every X Rows without a Macro.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He  is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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