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: Get Rid of Web Stuff.

Get Rid of Web Stuff

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 27, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


2

Grant regularly copies information from Web pages and pastes that information into worksheets. He ends up not only with raw data, but also with other items, such as checkboxes, pictures, logos, etc. Grant wants an easy way to get rid of all these non-data items.

The first thing that most people try is to use Go To Special, in this manner:

  1. Press F5. Excel displays the Go To dialog box.
  2. Click the Special button. Excel displays the Go To Special dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Go To Special dialog box.

  4. Select the Objects option.
  5. Click OK.

When you do this, Excel selects a number of the objects in the worksheet, and you can then press the Delete key to get rid of them. The problem is that this method doesn't select all the non-data items in the worksheet; it only selects a subset of them—those items that are considered "objects" by Excel.

A better solution is to use a macro to select all the shapes in the worksheet and then delete them. This is fairly simple to do, using a macro like this one:

Sub DeleteAllShapes1()
    Dim shp As Shape
    For Each shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes
        shp.Delete
    Next
End Sub

The macro just loops thru each shape on the active worksheet and deletes each one. You could expand on the macro just a bit by having it also delete all the hyperlinks that are pasted in the worksheet. All it takes is the addition of a single line:

Sub DeleteAllShapes2()
    Dim shp As Shape
    For Each shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes
        shp.Delete
    Next
    ActiveSheet.Hyperlinks.Delete
End Sub

If, for some strange reason, these macros don't get rid of all the non-data items you want removed, there is another approach you can use: make a stop in NotePad before Excel. Simply paste your Web data into a blank NotePad document, then select that information (after it is pasted) and copy it back to the Clipboard. Then, paste it into Excel. The only thing that is left should be straight data.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2881) 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: Get Rid of Web Stuff.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Reusing a Bookmark

Bookmarks in Word are just like bookmarks used in paper books, any given bookmark may be reused to mark a new location. ...

Discover More

Hyperlinks Not Found

When creating hyperlinks in a document, it is important to remember the difference between absolute and relative ...

Discover More

Automatic Initial Capitals in Tables

Have you ever started typing words in a table, only to find that Word automatically capitalizes the first word in each ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Specifying a Browser in a Hyperlink

Excel allows you to easily add hyperlinks to a worksheet. Click on it, and the target of the link is opened in a browser ...

Discover More

Extracting URLs from Hyperlinks

When you add a hyperlink to a worksheet, it consists of a minimum of two parts: display text and URL address. If you have ...

Discover More

Hyperlinks that Open in a Different Browser Window

When you click a link in a browser, the target of that link might open in the same window or in a new window. Getting an ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight more than 1?

2024-02-29 20:08:39

Mike

That was beautiful thank you!!!!

-Mike


2021-02-27 06:14:28

BARRY

You could also use a Web Query from within Excel and set the parameters to only copy the text.
This is particularly useful if you get content from the same web page and are copying it into the same location in the worksheet as all the parameters are remembered by Excel includng the website URL so all that needs to be done is to Refresh the the query. I use this a lot to get stock values from financial websites.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.