How to Remove Conditional Formatting but Keep the Format in Excel

In this article, we would show 2 different ways to remove conditional formatting but keep the format in Excel. We frequently use conditional formatting rules to visualize our data more precisely to viewers. But if we get rid of the rules, Excel also removes the cell formats. Let’s dive into the following examples where we would clear the rules but keep the format of cells.

Remove Conditional Formatting but Keep the Format: 2 Methods

Let’s introduce our dataset first. The dataset contains a sale list of a super shop with product name, unit price, and sale quantity. We would highlight the products that have a sale quantity of more than 50 using Excel’s conditional formatting.

To do that,

• Select the quantity column (cells D5:D14).
• Then from the Home tab of the Excel Ribbon, click the Conditional Formatting
• From the dropdown, choose the Highlight Cells Rules.
• And then choose the Greater Than option. 

• In the Greater Than window, put 50 and hit OK.

• What we see is the cells having quantity greater than 50, now get a red color background.

Let’s check the conditional formatting by changing any cell value of the Quantity column that is less than 50 to a value greater than 50. The following screenshot shows how the background color of cell D7 turned red when its value changed from 17 to 56.

Remove Conditional Formatting and Keep the Format

Now we want to remove the conditional formatting rules while keeping the format at the same time. As usual, when we remove the conditional formatting rules, it removes the formatting with it.

In the following methods, we’ll show how to remove the formatting rules but keep the format using the above dataset.

1. Use of the Office Clipboard to Remove Conditional Formatting but Keep the Format in Excel

In this method, we would use the Clipboard to keep the format of cells while removing the conditional formatting. Let’s follow the steps below-

• Select the whole dataset.
• Press Ctrl + C to copy the selected cells.

• Now select the cell where we want to paste the copied cells.
• From the Home tab, click on the Clipboard icon.

• Click on the copied item on the Clipboard panel.

• As the copied cells are pasted, close the Clipboard panel.

• Now delete the old dataset and reposition the new one.

Now if we change the value of a cell of the Quantity column to greater than 50, it doesn’t change its format.

Read More: How to Copy Conditional Formatting to Another Sheet

2. Run a VBA Code to Remove Conditional Formatting but Keep the Format in Excel

Using VBA code, we can also remove conditional formatting while preserving the cell format. Follow the simple steps below to accomplish this.

• Select the cells that are conditionally formatted (in our dataset, cells D5:D14).

• Go to the Developer tab from the Excel Ribbon.
• Click the Visual Basic option.

• In the Visual Basic for Applications window, click the Insert dropdown to select the New Module.

• Now copy and paste the following code in the visual basic editor.

Sub RemovConditionalFormattingButKeepFormat()
For Each cell In Selection
With cell
.Font.FontStyle = .DisplayFormat.Font.FontStyle
.Font.Strikethrough = .DisplayFormat.Font.Strikethrough
.Interior.Pattern = .DisplayFormat.Interior.Pattern
If .Interior.Pattern <> xlNone Then
.Interior.PatternColorIndex = .DisplayFormat.Interior.PatternColorIndex
.Interior.Color = .DisplayFormat.Interior.Color
End If
.Interior.TintAndShade = .DisplayFormat.Interior.TintAndShade
.Interior.PatternTintAndShade = .DisplayFormat.Interior.PatternTintAndShade
End With
Next
Selection.FormatConditions.Delete
End Sub

• Press F5 to run the code, that’s it.

Now we have successfully removed the conditional formatting while keeping the formatting as it was. Now if we change the value of a cell of the Quantity column to greater than 50, it doesn’t change its format.

Notes

• In the VBA code, we used the DisplayFormat property of Excel to keep the cell format as it is. And finally, we applied the FormatConditons object to delete the conditional formatting.
• To view the code, click the right button on the sheet name and select the View Code.

Related Content: How to Copy Conditional Formatting to Another Workbook in Excel

Download Practice Workbook

Download this practice workbook to exercise while you are reading this article.

Conclusion

Now, we know how to remove conditional formatting while keeping the cell formats in 2 different ways. Hopefully, it would help you to use these methods more confidently. Any questions or suggestions don’t forget to put them in the comment box below.

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