How to Delete a Button in Excel

Co-authored by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: January 4, 2021

This wikiHow will teach you how to delete a button or control in Excel on a computer. You'll need to have enabled the Developer tab on the editing ribbon to do this.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:
Enabling the Developer Tab

1
Open Excel. It's in your Start menu or Applications folder in Finder.
- The Developer tab will remain visible until you turn it off or reinstall Microsoft Office.
2
Click File (Windows) or Excel (Mac). You'll see the "File" tab in the editing ribbon above your workspace for Windows and the "Excel" tab in the menu at the top of your screen for a Mac.
3
Hover over Options/Preferences and select Customize Ribbon/Ribbon & Toolbar. A new window will open with options for the editing ribbon.^{[1]
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4
Click to select the box next to "Developer." It's under "Main Tabs."^{[2]
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5
Click Save and close the window (if necessary). If the window doesn't close by itself, you need to click the x manually.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:
Deleting Buttons in Excel

1
Open your project in Excel. You can open your project within Excel by going to File > Open or you can right-click the Excel file and select Open with > Excel.
2
Turn on Design Mode. Go to the Developer tab and click Design Mode in the "Controls" group.^{[3]
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3
Select the button/controls you want to delete. Click to select them, and they will highlight to indicate that you have them selected.
- You can also select all the buttons in your Excel project by pressing CTRL/Cmd + A.
4
Press ← Backspace (Windows) or Delete (Mac). The selected buttons will disappear from your worksheet.^{[4]
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