Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Clearing the Contents of a Table.

Clearing the Contents of a Table

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 18, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

Word includes a powerful table editor that you can use to create very complex tables. If you spend a lot of time working on a table and getting it just right, you may want to copy the table to a new location so you can use the same layout elsewhere. After copying, you will no doubt want to erase the contents of the table so that you can start to fill it out again.

An easy way to clear out the table is to select the entire table and then press the Delete key. The information in the table is cleared, but the table structure remains.

It is interesting to note that you must press the Delete key. If, instead, you press Backspace while the whole table is selected, Word deletes the entire table, not just the content of the table. (Don't ask me why; it just works that way.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7723) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Clearing the Contents of a Table.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Finding an Unknown Character

Sometimes, the characters that appear in a document can be hard to figure out, especially if the document came from ...

Discover More

First and Last Names in a Page Header

When you have a worksheet that includes a long list of names, you may want the first and last names on each page to ...

Discover More

Counting Cells with Specific Characters

Excel is used by many people to hold all sorts of data, not just numbers. If you have cells that include meaningful ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Summing a Table Column

Need to add a sum to a column of figures in a table? Word makes it relatively easy to provide the sum you need.

Discover More

Tabbing from One Table to the Next

Press the Tab key in a table, and Word dutifully moves to the next cell in that table. Press it in the last cell of a ...

Discover More

Picking a Contiguous Range of Table Cells

Creating a table in Word is a relatively simple task. When you want to format or edit information in the table, often the ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, 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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is nine minus 2?

2022-10-24 04:09:57

Philip

@Dave, not sure if it is still relevant (your question dates back a couple of years, but I only noticed now). On a Mac, pressing the Delete key in combination with the Function key (so Fn+Delete) will do the same as pressing the backspace (in case you have an extended keyboard or if you're working on a Windows machine).

Hope that helps

2022-10-20 05:22:52

oh my god, amazing!

2022-03-13 14:36:48

V4VNDTA

Whoa! That worked! Thanks!

2020-02-13 22:11:34

Lola

Thank you Allen for your helpful tips. They do work, thank you. Lola.

2019-10-07 03:32:15

Jouwert van Geene

Excellent tip! I have struggled with this for a long time, great to know!
For Mac users: use the Fn-Backspace in combination

2019-08-13 05:24:35

Belarmino Vicenzo

Thanks.
I don't know why I never pressed delete xdddd

2019-03-20 09:48:55

Greg Quick

A fast and simple method of clearing the last nth rows from a Word table is include a paragraph marker after the selected rows and press the DELETE key.

I was not aware that a single selected row can be deleted with a BACKSPACE key.

2019-03-18 08:36:24

Jennifer Thomas

I knew about Delete, but not about Backspace deleting the whole table and that's pretty handy - thanks!

2019-03-16 15:58:17

Dave

What about on a Mac with no Delete key?

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.