Excel: Delete every second line - that's how it works

If you want to delete every second line in Excel, you can do it with a little trick.I shows you how to do it in this step-by-step guide.

If a table is constructed so that one line contains a label and the line below it contains additional information, then it may be worthwhile to clear it up for a better overview. You can either delete every second line in your Excel spreadsheet or remove the odd lines (1-3-5- ...). Both go with a useful trick.

Delete every second Excel line

Excel does not recognize the expression "every other line" or "every first line". Therefore, you need an auxiliary construction for this task.

• To do this, you have to use a formula in an empty column, which numbers the rows alternately with 1 and 0.
• Then you apply a filter and hide all odd lines.
• Then the even lines are deleted.
• Then the filter is removed and now displays only the odd lines.

So you delete every second line in Excel - step by step:

1. First, open your Excel spreadsheet where you want to delete every other row.
2. Now you put the formula = REST (LINE (); 2) in the first free cell next to your table. This gives this cell the number "1". Then copy the formula into all cells below that are next to your values. As a result, the cells are alternately numbered "1" and "0".
3. Now place the mouse in your help column. Then click on the menu tab " Data" and there on the big icon " Filter ".
4. Arrows appear at the top of the columns, allowing you to open a filter menu.
5. Click on it and then uncheck the option "1" . This ensures that the filter only starts on rows with the "0" in it and only displays them. These are the second lines of your table.
6. Now mark the displayed lines - starting with line 2 - by clicking in the line number, holding the mouse down and dragging it down.
7. You can then either delete the selected lines with the Delete key or by clicking on " Delete " in the " Cells " section of the " Start " ribbon .
8. Now click on the icon " Filter " in the menu ribbon " Data " and remove the filter again, so that the hitherto hidden cells are displayed again.
9. Finally you delete the numbering in the auxiliary column and your table looks like before, except that you have deleted every second line.

With a similar formula you can also color every second line in Excel . If you're wondering how to erase every first line in Excel , you just have to remember how the filter works.

So far you have indicated each line with a "0" and then deleted - so every second line.Simply set the filter to "1" to display and delete every first, every odd row. When the filter is removed, only the second lines remain.