How to delete cell contents in Word with VBA? - vba

Question

I've looked at the documentation for table cell objects and selection objects in VBA, and I didn't see any way to delete cell contents in Word while retaining the cell itself. It looks like doing so is easy in Excel, and next to impossible in Word.
Some cells I need to do this for will contain text, others will contain text form fields. Any ideas?

Answer 1

This works:
ActiveDocument.Tables(1).Cell(1, 2).Select
Selection.Delete
This deletes the cell contents but leaves the empty cell behind.
I understand your dismay, because oddly, the above does not do the same as
ActiveDocument.Tables(1).Cell(1, 2).Delete
which deletes the entire cell!
The former is the equivalent of selecting a cell and pressing the Delete key (which clears the contents but leaves the cell in place). The latter is the equivalent of right-clicking a cell and choosing "Delete cells..." (which deletes the cell).

Answer 2

I cobbled this together from various parts of the interwebs... including Fumei from VBA Express. It's working well. Select any cells in your table and run the macro deleteTableCells
Sub deleteTableCells()
Dim selectedRange As Range
On Error GoTo Errorhandler
Set selectedRange = SelectionInfo
selectedRange.Delete
Errorhandler:
Exit Sub
End Sub
Function SelectionInfo() As Range
'
Dim iSelectionRowEnd As Integer
Dim iSelectionRowStart As Integer
Dim iSelectionColumnEnd As Integer
Dim iSelectionColumnStart As Integer
Dim lngStart As Long
Dim lngEnd As Long
' Check if Selection IS in a table
' if not, exit Sub after message
If Selection.Information(wdWithInTable) = False Then
Err.Raise (2022)
Else
lngStart = Selection.Range.Start
lngEnd = Selection.Range.End
' get the numbers for the END of the selection range
iSelectionRowEnd = Selection.Information(wdEndOfRangeRowNumber)
iSelectionColumnEnd = Selection.Information(wdEndOfRangeColumnNumber)
' collapse the selection range
Selection.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseStart
' get the numbers for the END of the selection range
' now of course the START of the previous selection
iSelectionRowStart = Selection.Information(wdEndOfRangeRowNumber)
iSelectionColumnStart = Selection.Information(wdEndOfRangeColumnNumber)
' RESELECT the same range
Selection.MoveEnd Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=lngEnd - lngStart
' set the range of cells for consumption
With ActiveDocument
Set SelectionInfo = .Range(Start:=.Tables(1).cell(iSelectionRowStart, iSelectionColumnStart).Range.Start, _
End:=.Tables(1).cell(iSelectionRowEnd, iSelectionColumnEnd).Range.End)
End With
End If
End Function

Answer 3

Sorry for digging up such an old question, but hopefully someone will find this useful. If you prefer to avoid the Select method, the following is what you're looking for:
ActiveDocument.Tables(1).Cell(1, 1).Range.Text = ""
It deletes images and content controls as well.

Answer 4

Private Sub cbClearTable_Click()
'mouse cursor must be in the table for clearing
Dim cell_BhBp As Cell
For Each cell_BhBp In Selection.Tables(1).Range.Cells
cell_BhBp.Range = ""
Next
End Sub
The code above clears the contents in all cells in the current table /the table, where the mouse cursor is/
One other way to clear all table cells of first table in document is
ActiveDocument.Tables(1).Range.Delete
Or for current table /where the cursor is in/
Selection.Tables(1).Range.Delete
Private Sub CommandButton40_Click()
Application.Activate
SendKeys ("{DEL}")
End Sub
The code above clears contents of all selected cells. In this case, the selected cells may not be adjacent. This code is fired when button of user form is clicked.