Skip to main content

How to quickly delete all autoshapes in Excel?

Author: Kelly Last Modified: 2025-04-24

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

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:

⚠️ It doesn't just delete autoshapes. It removes all types of objects in the worksheet, including pictures, charts, text boxes, clip art, and even embedded controls. If your worksheet includes other important visual elements, this method can lead to unintended loss of content.

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.

⚠️ Caution: This macro deletes all types of shapes, including charts, pictures, SmartArt, and text boxes.
  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.

💡 This method ensures only autoshapes are deleted, while preserving other graphic elements like images, SmartArt, and charts.

Kutools for Excel - Packed with over 300 essential tools for Excel. Enjoy permanently free AI features! Download now!

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".

Kutools for Excel - Supercharge Excel with over 300 essential tools. Enjoy permanently free AI features! Get It Now


Relative articles:

Best Office Productivity Tools

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup    Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar    Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells    Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more
Use Kutools in your preferred language – supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...


Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!