Help me please. How do I delete custom number formats?

W

WildCide

I need to create some custom number formats, but after a few failed tests I
have a lot of junk that I'd like to remove. I've checked the Microsoft
knowledge base which suggest there should be a delete button, but I don't
have one. Can anyone help?
 
M

Max

WildCide said:
I need to create some custom number formats, but after a few failed tests I
have a lot of junk that I'd like to remove. I've checked the Microsoft
knowledge base which suggest there should be a delete button, but I don't
have one. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...

Try clicking Format > Cells > Number tab

Under Category: Choose Custom,
then scroll & select the custom format in the box below the "Type" box

Then press the Delete button to delete
Think it has to be done one selection at a time

If the Delete button is grayed out, that means the custom format selected is
probably one of the standard ones that can't be deleted
 
B

Biff

WildCide said:
I need to create some custom number formats, but after a few failed tests I
have a lot of junk that I'd like to remove. I've checked the Microsoft
knowledge base which suggest there should be a delete button, but I don't
have one. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...

Where are you looking?

Select a cell and goto Format>Cells>select Custom from the list
As soon as you select Custom the Delete button appears directly below Custom
(or, it should)
Select the custom formats you created from the list that appears on the
right then just click the Delete button.
OK out when you're done.

Biff
 
W

WildCide

untitled8eq.jpg


this is what i see. i selected a cell, went to format - cells -number, then
selected one of the many custom formats I messed up on. is there supposed to
be a delete button somewhere? am I looking in the wrong place entirely?
 
B

Biff

You're in the right place.

In my version, Excel 2002 (XP), the delete button is directly below Custom.
I see that you have no delete button!

I'm not sure what to do about that. You can try to reset your toolbars but
if you have customized them you'll lose that customization.

Right click any toolbar
Select customize
Select the Toolbars tab
Reset
Click the Options tab
Reset my usage data

Another option is to delete or rename your toolbar file. This is a file that
contains all the settings for your menus and toolbars.

The file has a different name depending on what version of Excel you're
using but the file extension is the same.

Search for files *.xlb

Then you can either delete it or rename it. Renaming is probably the smart
way to go, just in case. Either way, Excel will create a new *.xlb file the
next time you start it.

Biff
 
B

Biff

You can't post images, just links to them. I saw your image. See my earlier
reply.

Biff
 
W

WildCide

Thanks for the suggestions biff. i reset the toolbars, but there was still
no delete button for the custom number formats. Maybe excel 2003 doesn't have
one?
 
B

Biff

WildCide said:
Thanks for the suggestions biff. i reset the toolbars, but there was still
no delete button for the custom number formats. Maybe excel 2003 doesn't
have
one?
Click to expand...

I would think that it should.

The only other thing I can think of is:

If you might have some VBA code that has disabled the delete button?

Other than that, I'm out of ideas. Maybe repost and see if anybody else has
an idea.

Biff
 
M

Max

WildCide said:
.. selected a cell, went to format - cells -number, then
selected one of the many custom formats I messed up on.
is there supposed to be a delete button somewhere?
Click to expand...

As outlined in my earlier response ..

In the Number tab (via Format > Cells),
you *have to* click on "Custom" within the "Category" box
(Custom is the bottom entry in the box)

Then the button "Delete" will appear just under the the "Category" box
If you don't, the Delete button won't appear.
 
B

Biff

Max said:
As outlined in my earlier response ..

In the Number tab (via Format > Cells),
you *have to* click on "Custom" within the "Category" box
(Custom is the bottom entry in the box)

Then the button "Delete" will appear just under the the "Category" box
If you don't, the Delete button won't appear.
Click to expand...

Did you look at their screencap? They have Custom selected and there is no
delete button.

I don't have anymore ideas on this one.

Biff
 
D

Dave Peterson

Maybe it's a difference in versions of the UI.

The delete button appears in xl2003. And you wrote that it's in xl2002. (I
don't recall when it was added.)

But Leo Heuser wrote a routine to delete unused custom formats:
http://j-walk.com/ss/excel/eee/eee007.txt
(On John Walkenbach's site)

From glancing at the code, it looks like it uses sendkeys to hit that delete
button.

I wonder what version that screen image came from (Mac????).
 
M

Max

Biff said:
Did you look at their screencap?
Click to expand...
I was unable to view the link, as that site was web-filtered off here (darn!)
(then again, perhaps I should have stated this point explicitly earlier)
I don't have any more ideas on this one.
Click to expand...
Yup, I'm out here too
 
W

WildCide

Thank you all for your input! Your responses got me thinking about a lot of
different things even though we couldn't figure out the problem.
However, I think i had an epiphany. I took Biff's advice and reposted
earlier today and someone replied that I should open the "conditional
formatting" option from the tools menu. But when I went to do this
"conditional formatting" was greyed out. So, being the naturally curious
person I am, i wanted to know why. Turns out you cannot use conditional
formatting if you are using a shared workbook (which I am in this case). So i
figured if i can't do that, then I might not be able to delete custom formats
either... and creating a few new workbooks confirmed my hypothesis. The
delete button is one of the many tools you loose when you share a workbook
(it would be nice if they included it in the list in the help file). So thank
you again for all your help. I hope this thread helps others with the same
problem.
 
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