How to batch delete specific keywords and numbers from multiple Excel files

When multiple Excel spreadsheets contain fixed text, numbers, or identifiers that need to be cleaned up, opening each file one by one to search and delete is not only time-consuming but also prone to omissions. This article uses the batch deletion of "Mandatory" and "40660" in Excel files as an example to introduce how to use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to perform multi-file find and replace, replacing specified keywords with blanks to achieve batch deletion of cell text content. It is suitable for repetitive data cleaning scenarios in spreadsheet files such as xlsx and xls.

In daily office work, it is common to encounter situations where a folder contains many Excel spreadsheets, and each spreadsheet is scattered with the same keywords, numbers, labels, or status values. For example, the word "Mandatory" appears repeatedly in the tables, and the fixed number "40660" appears in certain columns. If processing only one workbook, using Excel's built-in Find and Replace might be acceptable; but if you need to process dozens or hundreds of xlsx or xls files, opening, finding, deleting, and saving each one individually takes a lot of time and easily leads to missed deletions, incorrect deletions, or saving the wrong file.

The problem this article aims to solve is: How to batch delete specified keywords from many Excel spreadsheet files. Here, "delete" can be understood as replacing the keywords to be cleaned up with empty content. As seen in the screenshots, the office software used is " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ", which is positioned as a batch processing tool for office documents, suitable for centralizing repetitive file operations to complete them in one go, thus reducing manual operations.

The following will introduce the complete method based on the actual interface flow, from selecting functions, importing Excel files, and setting keywords to generating the processing results. The content to be deleted in the example includes the text "Mandatory" and the number "40660", targeting multiple Excel files such as product_list.xlsx, team-participant-list.xlsx, and test.xlsx.

Applicable Scenarios

The need to batch delete Excel keywords is very common in many business scenarios, especially when data tables come from external systems, public data, exported reports, or historical templates, where certain fixed content often needs to be uniformly cleaned.

Typical scenarios include:

• Batch deleting status words in Excel spreadsheets, such as Mandatory, Optional, Completed, Pending, Invalid, etc.
• Batch deleting fixed numbers, region codes, category codes in xlsx files, such as 40660, 10001, A001, etc.
• Cleaning up identifier fields that no longer need to be displayed in multiple Excel reports.
• Clearing only the content of specified cells without changing the overall table structure.
• Applying the same Find and Replace rules to multiple workbooks, avoiding manual operation on each file one by one.
• Uniformly removing certain keywords before data masking, report cleaning, or data organization.

If it's just a single Excel file, manual Find and Replace can still be done; but when the number of files is large, or each file contains multiple worksheets, the value of batch processing software becomes obvious. It can turn repetitive operations into a streamlined task, applying a set of rules once to uniformly execute them on multiple imported Excel files.

Effect Preview: Before and After Comparison

First, look at the spreadsheet state before processing. The screenshot shows an open Excel workbook containing data such as hospital names, numbers, and regional information. In column A, "Mandatory" appears in multiple row cells; in column D, the number "40660" appears in multiple rows. This content is the keywords to be batch deleted this time.

From the pre-processing effect, it can be seen that the keywords do not appear only once but repeatedly in different rows and columns. If there are multiple similar Excel files, manually locating this content one by one would be very inefficient.

After processing is complete, opening the generated Excel file shows that cells originally containing "Mandatory" have been cleared; cells originally containing "40660" have also become blank. In other words, the software replaced the specified keywords with empty content, thereby achieving the goal of batch deleting Excel cell keywords.

It should be noted that the goal of this example is not to delete entire rows or columns, but to delete specified content within cells. This method is more suitable for scenarios where the table structure, formula relationships, column headers, and other data need to be preserved.

Operating Steps

Step 1: Enter the Excel tool and select the Find and Replace function

After opening " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ", you can see different categories for office file processing on the left side, such as Word Tools, Excel Tools, PowerPoint Tools, PDF Tools, etc. Since we need to process Excel spreadsheet files this time, first enter "Excel Tools" on the left.

In the Excel Tools list, select "Find and Replace keywords in Excel". The interface description also clearly states that this function is used to "batch find and replace keywords in Excel file content". To achieve batch deleting of keywords, you can leave the "replaced keyword" field blank, so matched content will be replaced with nothing.

The purpose of this step is to enter the correct batch processing module. The expected result is to enter the process page for "Find and Replace keywords in Excel", where you can subsequently add multiple Excel files to be processed.

Step 2: Add Excel files to be batch processed

After entering the function page, the top of the interface displays the complete process progress, including "Select records to process", "Set processing options", "Set save location", and "Start processing". In the first step, you need to add the Excel files to be processed into the list.

The screenshot shows buttons like "Add Files", "Import Files from Folder", "Clear", and "More" in the upper right corner of the page. You can choose based on the actual situation: if only a few files need processing, click "Add Files"; if a folder contains many xlsx, xls files, you can use "Import Files from Folder" to reduce the time for selecting files one by one.

In the example, 3 files have been imported: product_list.xlsx, team-participant-list.xlsx, and test.xlsx. You can also see information like file path, extension, creation time, and modification time in the list. After confirming the files are correct, click "Next" at the bottom. The expected result of this step is that all Excel files needing processing are added to the task list and ready for the subsequent keyword deletion rules to be applied uniformly.

Step 3: Set the processing scope to cell text

After entering "Set processing options", first determine the processing scope. In the screenshot, "Cell text" is checked under "Processing Scope". This means the software will process the text content within Excel cells. Options like "Worksheet Sheet name" and "Text on shapes in the worksheet" are also visible, but the goal of this example is to delete keywords within table cells, so selecting "Cell text" is correct.

This step is crucial because it determines where the software searches for keywords. If keywords are located in cells, "Cell text" should be selected; if keywords are in worksheet names or shape text, you need to choose the corresponding scope based on actual needs. The example in this article targets only cell content and does not extend to other objects.

Step 4: Set cell type and search method

On the same settings page, multiple processing conditions can be seen. In the example, "Cell formula type to process" is set to "Unrestricted", meaning cells can participate in processing regardless of whether they involve formulas. For "Processing method for cells containing formulas", the interface shows "Value after formula calculation" is selected. This type of setting helps the software determine how to match content when encountering formula cells.

Under "Data type of cells to process", "Text" is checked in the example. This is because "Mandatory" is a text keyword. The screenshot also indicates the need to delete "40660", which might appear as a number in the table or might be treated as text due to Excel cell formatting. In actual operation, you should determine based on the data source whether to also check the number type. The settings shown in the screenshot are for text processing, so if the number in your file is numeric data, you need to pay special attention to the data type options during operation.

Under "Search Method", the example selects "Search for exact text". This means only cells whose content exactly matches the entered keyword will be processed. For scenarios involving batch deletion of fixed words and numbers, exact search is more reliable and helps reduce erroneous deletions.

Step 5: Enter the keywords to delete and leave the replace content blank

In the "List of keywords to find", enter the keywords to delete line by line. The keyword list in the screenshot contains two items:

• Mandatory
• 40660

On the right is the "List of replaced keywords", with the prompt "Leave blank to delete". Therefore, if the goal is to batch delete these keywords in Excel, there is no need to fill in the replacement content on the right; leaving it empty is sufficient. This way, the software will replace the matched "Mandatory" and "40660" with blanks during processing.

The purpose of this step is to clarify "what to find" and "what to replace with". The expected result is that qualified keywords in all imported files will be cleared, while other content remains unaffected.

Step 6: Set the save location and start processing

After completing the keyword and processing scope settings, click "Next" at the bottom. According to the progress bar, the subsequent steps will enter "Set save location" and then execute "Start processing". To avoid overwriting original files, it is recommended to save the processed files to a new output directory for easy comparison and checking with the original files.

Once set, start the process. The software will batch execute Find and Replace on the multiple Excel files in the imported list according to the rules just set. After processing ends, open the output files to check the results. If the specified keywords have become blank, it indicates the batch deletion is complete.

Common Questions and Precautions

1. What is the difference between batch deleting keywords and deleting entire rows?

The example in this article is about deleting keywords within cells, i.e., replacing the matched content with blank, without deleting entire rows, columns, or worksheets. This preserves the original table structure, suitable for situations where you only need to clean content and not change the data layout.

2. Why is it recommended to use exact text search?

If the keyword is relatively short, using fuzzy matching might incorrectly process other content containing those characters. Exact search is suitable for deleting fixed words and numbers, such as Mandatory, 40660. Processing occurs only when there is an exact match, making the results more controllable.

3. What if deleting a number is unsuccessful?

Content that looks like a number in Excel might actually be text or a true numeric value. If a certain number hasn't been deleted, go back to the data type settings and check if only "Text" was checked. For numeric identifiers, it is recommended to first confirm the cell format and then choose the appropriate data type.

4. Does it support processing multiple Excel files together?

As seen in the screenshots, multiple xlsx files have been added to the task list, and "Add Files" and "Import Files from Folder" are supported. This is precisely the advantage of batch processing software for office files, suitable for cleaning up a large number of Excel spreadsheets at once.

5. Is it necessary to backup before operating?

It is recommended to keep the original files or choose a new output folder in the save location. Batch processing is highly efficient, but it also means the same rules will apply to multiple files. Keeping the original files facilitates traceability and verification.

Summary

Batch deleting keywords from many Excel spreadsheet files essentially involves entrusting the repetitive operations of finding, replacing, and saving to office software for automatic completion. Through the "Find and Replace keywords in Excel" function of " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ", you can first import multiple xlsx files, then set the processing scope, search method, and keyword list, and leave the replace content empty to achieve batch deletion.

For office scenarios that require cleaning up fixed text, numbers, status values, or export report identifiers, this method is more stable and time-saving than manually finding and deleting in each file one by one. It is recommended to test the rules with a small number of files before formal processing, and then batch process the entire folder of Excel spreadsheets after confirming the effect.