Delete Sheet Not Working in Excel (2 Solutions)

Solution 1 – Unprotect Workbook Structure While Delete Sheet in Excel is Not Working

Overview

If you’re unable to delete a sheet in Microsoft Excel, the most probable reason is that your workbook is protected.
We’ll unprotect the workbook structure to enable the Delete sheet option.

Steps

Consider a dataset with multiple worksheets, where the workbook is protected.
Right-click on the worksheet named MARKS.
Observe that the Delete option is greyed out, indicating it’s not functioning.

To solve this:
- Go to the File tab.

Select Info.
Choose Protect Workbook.
Click the drop-down icon and select Protect Workbook Structure.

A new dialog box named Unprotect Workbook will appear.
Enter the password in the input box (you must know the password for a protected workbook).
Click OK.

NOTE

Use password 1234 if you’re working with the practice workbook provided in this article.

If we right-click on the MARKS sheet again, we’ll see that the Delete option is available. You can now delete any worksheet from the workbook.

Read More: Shortcut to Delete Sheet in Excel

Solution 2 – Disabling Worksheet Sharing When the Delete Sheet Option Isn’t Working in Excel

Sometimes, the Delete Sheet option in Excel doesn’t work due to the worksheet being shared. To delete a sheet from a shared workbook, you’ll need to unshare it first.

When we right-click on the worksheet Turn Off Sharing we can see the grey color in the option Delete, indicating that it is not active.

The process of sharing a workbook is a little bit complex. So, in order to understand this solution better, we will first show how to share a workbook, then we will show how to unshare that workbook to enable the delete sheet option.

STEPS

Click the File tab.

From the menu, select Options.

In the new dialog box that appears, choose the Customize Ribbon option.
Click the drop-down icon next to Choose commands from and select All Commands.

Scroll down the list of commands and find Share Workbook (Legacy).
Click on New Tab to create a custom tab.

Select the newly created New Tab (Custom) and click on Rename.
In the Rename dialog box, enter the name Sharing as the display name.
Click OK.

Rename the default New_Group (custom) to Sharing Workbook.
Click Add.

Now, you’ll find a new option called Share Workbook (Custom) in the ribbon.
Press OK to save the modifications.

You’ll notice a new tab named Sharing in the Excel ribbon.

To share the workbook, go to the Sharing tab and select the option Share Workbook (Legacy).

A new dialogue box will appear. Check the option shown in the image below and press OK.

The command shares our workbook with other users. If we right-click on the sheet Turn Off Sharing, we will see that the option Delete is greyed out, which means we cannot delete any sheet from a shared workbook.

We need to unshare this workbook to solve this problem.
Go to the Review tab in Excel.
Look for the Protect section within the Review tab.
Select the option labeled Unshare Workbook.

After unsharing the workbook, right-click on the sheet named Turn Off Sharing.
You’ll notice that the Delete option is now active and available.

Download Practice Workbook

You can download the practice workbook from here:

Delete Sheet in Excel.xlsx

<< Go Back to Delete Sheet | Worksheets | Learn Excel

Get FREE Advanced Excel Exercises with Solutions!

Sub DeleteSheet() Dim sheetName As String sheetName = InputBox("Enter the name of the sheet you want to delete:") If sheetName <> "" Then If WorksheetExists(sheetName) Then Application.DisplayAlerts = False Sheets(sheetName).Delete Application.DisplayAlerts = True Else MsgBox "The workbook has no sheet with the provided name." End If End If End Sub Function WorksheetExists(shtName As String, Optional wb As Workbook) As Boolean Dim sht As Object If wb Is Nothing Then Set wb = ThisWorkbook On Error Resume Next Set sht = wb.Sheets(shtName) WorksheetExists = Not sht Is Nothing On Error GoTo 0 End Function

6 Comments

David Mar 10, 2023 at 7:12 PM

The data is NOT shared.
Right-clicking the tab shows the “Delete” option – it is NOT greyed out.
Clicking “Delete” does not do anything. The sheet remains in the workbook.
- Reply
  Lutfor Rahman Shimanto Mar 12, 2023 at 11:40 AM
  Hello DAVID,
  Thank you for reaching out with your comment. You encountered a different problem than what was described in the article. There could be several reasons why the problem is happening. Some of your add-ins may mess up the delete sheet feature, which may not work in your version of Microsoft Excel. To fix this, you should update your program.
  You can use an Excel VBA code to delete a sheet by inputting the sheet name.
  Excel VBA Code:
```
Sub DeleteSheet()
    Dim sheetName As String
    sheetName = InputBox("Enter the name of the sheet you want to delete:")
    If sheetName <> "" Then
        If WorksheetExists(sheetName) Then
            Application.DisplayAlerts = False
            Sheets(sheetName).Delete
            Application.DisplayAlerts = True
        Else
            MsgBox "The workbook has no sheet with the provided name."
        End If
    End If
End Sub
Function WorksheetExists(shtName As String, Optional wb As Workbook) As Boolean
    Dim sht As Object
    If wb Is Nothing Then Set wb = ThisWorkbook
    On Error Resume Next
    Set sht = wb.Sheets(shtName)
    WorksheetExists = Not sht Is Nothing
    On Error GoTo 0
End Function
```
  The VBA code and suggestions will solve your issue. Good luck.
  Regards,
  Lutfor Rahman Shimanto
Wolfgang Nov 20, 2023 at 10:41 PM

I discovered two different solutions:
1.: A work around: Instead of selecting “Delete”, select “Move or copy”, take as target “New Book” and leave the checkbox “Create a copy” empty. This moves the worksheet out of your file into a new “Book 1”, which can then be closed without saving.

2: Permanent solution
Close Excel, then rename the folders %appdata%\Microsoft\Excel and %localappdata%\Microsoft\Excel into %appdata%\Microsoft\Excel_old and %localappdata%\Microsoft\Excel_old.
Start Excel again, and the issue should be gone.
- Reply
  Derek Jun 26, 2024 at 4:14 AM
  
  Thanks for the solution 1.
  - Reply
    Shamima Sultana Jun 26, 2024 at 9:51 AM
    
    Hello Derek,
    
    We are glad to hear that our solution helped you. Thanks for your appreciation. Keep learning Excel with us.
    
    Regards
    ExcelDemy
- Reply
  Lynley Dec 20, 2023 at 5:12 AM
  
  Thanks Wolfgang. Just tried your number 1 solution and it worked:)

Delete Sheet Not Working in Excel (2 Solutions)

Solution 1 – Unprotect Workbook Structure While Delete Sheet in Excel is Not Working

Solution 2 – Disabling Worksheet Sharing When the Delete Sheet Option Isn’t Working in Excel

Download Practice Workbook

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