How to Delete Defined Names in Excel?

Do you know what defined names are?

In Excel, you need to assign defined names to a cell or a range of cells, formulas, etc. Moreover, you can use them to produce maximum convenience when you need those factors to assign as data in similar or different sheets.

Here you will get to know how to delete defined names in Excel with the help of keyboard shortcuts, Formula tabs, and VBA macro coding. Let’s dive in to see how you can do this:

How to Delete Defined Names in Excel with Formula Tab

• Open your workbook from which you need to delete the Defined Names.
• Click on the Formulas Ribbon and then choose the Name Manager option.

• You will see the Defined Names option given on the Name Manager screen.

• Click on Defined Names to delete. In this example, we need to delete Allowance, Job_Id & Name. For this, you can press CTRL + Click on the Defined Names you need to delete.
• Press the Delete button.

• A warning window will pop up. Click OK.

• Once again you will see the Name Manager window.

• You will see other Defined Names.

How to Delete Defined Names in Excel with Keyboard Shortcuts

To open the Name Manager window, simply press CTRL + F3 keys from the keyboard. You will see the dataset has Defined Names including:

• Press CTRL + F3 at once and the Name Manager Window will pop up.

• Choose one or more Defined Names.
• Press the Delete button.

• You will see a warning dialog box. From this, click OK.

Here is the final result.

How to Delete Defined Names in Excel with VBA Macro

Here comes another complex but interesting method to delete defined names in Excel. For this, you can follow the steps given below:

• You can see all the Defined Names are there in the dataset.

• Suppose you need to delete all of the existing Defined Names present in the dataset. For this, VBA Macro code is used.
• Press SLT + F11 at once on your sheet. Microsoft Visual Basic window will pop up.
• Open the Menu Bar and choose Module from the Insert menu.

• Now, paste the following code into the Module.

• Press F5 to run the code. Open the Excel sheet and check the Defined Name option given on the left side of the Formula Box.

You will notice all the Defined Names are deleted.

How Do You Edit Defined Names in Excel?

Do you know how would you edit defined names? With the help of Name Manager, you can simply edit the Defined Names. In case, you need to change the name or selected range, follow the steps given below:

• Choose a cell from the dataset. Here we click on Cell B4.
• Open the Formulas tab.
• Click on the Name Manager option given in the Defined Names menu.

• You will see the Name Manager window.

• Here you will find all the Defined Names.
• Choose the Name you need to edit.
• Click on the Edit button.

• The Edit Name window will pop up.

• You will see the Name and referred cell references. Change the Name and press OK.

• See the window appeared.

• You will see the name of the selected Name edited and modified.

Summary

Defined Name in Excel is used for many reasons. However, sometimes you have to Delete Defined Names in Excel. You can use the above-mentioned methods without any fear of losing data. VBA Macro trick is awesome as it lets you execute a function just the way you want.