Removing empty cells from a range

Formulation of the problem

We have a range of cells with data that contains empty cells:

The task is to remove empty cells, leaving only cells with information.

Method 1. Rough and fast

1. Selecting the original range
2. Press the key F5, next button Highlight (Special). In the window that opens, select Empty cells(Blanks) and click OK.

   

   All empty cells in the range are selected.

3. We give a command in the menu to delete selected cells: right-click— Delete cells (Delete Cells) with upward shift.

Method 2: Array Formula

To simplify, let’s name our working ranges using Name Manager (Name Manager) tab formula (Formulas) or, in Excel 2003 and older, the menu Insert – Name – Assign (Insert — Name — Define)

Name the range B3:B10 HaveEmpty, range D3:D10 – NoneEmpty. Ranges must be strictly the same size, and can be located anywhere relative to each other.

Now select the first cell of the second range (D3) and enter this scary formula into it:

=IF(ROW() -ROW(NoEmpty)+1>NOTROWS(YesEmpty)-COUNTBLANK(YesEmpty);””;INDIRECT(ADDRESS(LOWEST((IF(Empty<>“”,ROW(Empty);ROW() + ROWS(There are Empty))); LINE()-ROW(No Empty)+1); COLUMN(There are Empty); 4)))

In the English version it will be:

=IF(ROW()-ROW(NoEmpty)+1>ROWS(Empty)-COUNTBLANK(Empty),””,INDIRECT(ADDRESS(SMALL((IF(Empty<>“”,ROW(Empty),ROW() +ROWS(HaveEmpty))),ROW()-ROW(NoEmpty)+1),COLUMN(HaveEmpty),4)))

Moreover, it must be entered as an array formula, i.e. press after pasting Enter (as usual) and Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Now the formula can be copied down using autocomplete (drag the black cross in the lower right corner of the cell) – and we will get the original range, but without empty cells:

Method 3. Custom function in VBA

If there is a suspicion that you will often have to repeat the procedure for removing empty cells from ranges, then it is better to add your own function for removing empty cells to the standard set once, and use it in all subsequent cases.

To do this, open the Visual Basic Editor (ALT + F11), insert a new empty module (menu Insert – Module) and copy the text of this function there:

Function NoBlanks(DataRange As Range) As Variant()        Dim N As Long      Dim N2 As Long      Dim Rng As Range      Dim MaxCells As Long      Dim Result() As Variant      Dim R As Long      Dim C As Long            MaxCells = Application.WorksheetFunction.Max( _          Application.Caller.Cells.Count, DataRange.Cells.Count)      ReDim Result(1 To MaxCells, 1 To 1)            For Each Rng In DataRange.Cells          If Rng.Value <> vbNullString Then              N = N + 1              Result(N, 1) = Rng.Value          End If      Next Rng      For N2 = N + 1 To MaxCells          Result(N2, 1) = vbNullString      Next N2            If Application.Caller.Rows.Count = 1 Then          NoBlanks = Application.Transpose(Result)      Else          NoBlanks = Result      End If    End Function  

Don’t forget to save the file and switch back from the Visual Basic Editor to Excel. To use this function in our example:

1. Select a sufficient range of empty cells, for example F3:F10.
2. Go to the menu Insert – Function (Insert — Function)or click on the button Insert function (Insert Function) tab formula (Formulas) in newer versions of Excel. In category User Defined (User Defined) choose our function NoBlanks.
3. Specify the source range with voids (B3:B10) as the function argument and press Ctrl + Shift + Enterto enter the function as an array formula.

:

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