How to quickly delete all autoshapes in Excel?

When your Excel worksheet is cluttered with autoshapes, such as rectangles, lines, or arrows—it can be tedious to delete them one by one. Fortunately, this article compares three practical methods that vary in precision and flexibility, from basic built-in tools to one-click advanced solutions.

• Use Go To Special to delete all objects
• Use VBA to delete all shapes (charts, picture included)
• Use Kutools for Excel to precisely remove only autoshapes

Use Go To Special to delete all objects

This is the most commonly used method by Excel users to remove shapes, because it's built into Excel and doesn't require any coding or add-ins. However, there's an important caveat:

Here is how to use the Go To Special function to handle this task.

1. Press "F5" or "Ctrl" + "G" to open the "Go To" dialog box, then click "Special..".

   

2. Choose "Objects", then click "OK". All objects (including shapes, images, etc.) will be selected.

   

3. Press Delete or Backspace to remove them all.

Use VBA to delete all shapes (charts, picture included)

If you prefer automation, a simple VBA script can delete all shapes in the active worksheet in one go.

1. Hold down the "ALT" + "F11" keys to open the "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications" window.
2. Click "Insert" > "Module", and paste the following macro into the "Module" window.

   VBA: delete all shapes in active worksheet

   Sub DeleteShapes()
   Dim Shp As Shape
   For Each Shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes
   Shp.Delete
   Next Shp
   End Sub

3. Press the F5 key to run this macro.

All shapes, including autoshapes, charts, and pictures will be deleted from the active sheet.

Use Kutools for Excel to precisely remove only autoshapes

Kutools for Excel offers a dedicated tool called “Delete Illustrations & Objects”, allowing you to precisely remove only shapes from your current worksheet, selected sheets, or the entire workbook.

After installing Kutools for Excel, select "Kutools" > "Delete" > "Delete Illustrations & Objects". Then configure the dialog as follows:

1. In the "Delete" section, choose "Auto shapes".
2. In the "Look in" section, choose:
   • "Active sheet" - delete shapes in the current worksheet.
   • "Selected sheets" – choose specific sheets to process.
   • "All sheets" – remove shapes from the entire workbook.
3. Click "OK".

   

Relative articles:

• Delete all Pictures easily
• Delete all charts Workbooks
• Delete all Text Boxes quickly