how to delete a table in google docs

How to remove all blank rows from one or more tables in a Google Docs document with Google Apps Script. You may also delete blank rows from tables in Google Slides.

The Document Studio add-on helps you generate Google Documents from data in Google Sheets and Google Form responses. You can create a template in Google Docs and the add-on will replace the placeholders with answers submitted in the Google Form response.

This approach may however create a lot of blank rows in the table for answers that have no response in Google Forms. To give you an example, if the user has not answered the Age question, the generated document will have a row for the {{Age}} question but with a blank value.

Google Docs Remove Table

Remove Blank Rows in Google Docs

With the help of Google Apps Script, we can easily pull all tables that are contained in the body of a Google Document, iterate through each row in the table and, if there's no value in the row, we can safely remove the row from the table.

Inside your Google Document, go to the Tools menu, choose Script Editor and paste the following code. Go to the Run menu and choose RemoveBlankRows from the dropdown to run the script.

                          const              removeBlankRows              =              (              )              =>              {              // Replace all whitespaces and check if the cell is blank              const              isBlankCell              =              (text              =              ""              )              =>              !text.              replace              (                              /                \s                /                g                            ,              ""              )              ;              // Does the row have any data other than in column 1 (header)              const              rowContainsData              =              (              row              )              =>              {              const              columnCount              =              row.              getNumCells              (              )              ;              let              rowHasFilledCell              =              false              ;              for              (              let              columnIndex              =              1              ;              columnIndex              <              columnCount              &&              !rowHasFilledCell;              columnIndex              +=              1              )              {              const              cellValue              =              row.              getCell              (columnIndex)              .              getText              (              )              ;              if              (              !              isBlankCell              (cellValue)              )              {              rowHasFilledCell              =              true              ;              }              }              return              rowHasFilledCell;              }              ;              // Get the current document              const              document              =              DocumentApp.              getActiveDocument              (              )              ;              document              .              getBody              (              )              .              getTables              (              )              .              forEach              (              (              table              )              =>              {              const              rowCount              =              table.              getNumRows              (              )              ;              for              (              let              rowIndex              =              rowCount              -              1              ;              rowIndex              >=              0              ;              rowIndex              -=              1              )              {              const              row              =              table.              getRow              (rowIndex)              ;              if              (              isBlankCell              (row.              getText              (              )              )              ||              !              rowContainsData              (row)              )              {              // Remove the row from the Google Docs table              table.              removeRow              (rowIndex)              ;              }              }              }              )              ;              // Flush and apply the changes              document.              saveAndClose              (              )              ;              }              ;

Delete Blank Table Rows in Google Slides

You can use the same technique to remove blank rows from tables that are contained in your Google Slide presentation.

If your Google Slides table uses merged cells, you may want to check merge status of a cell with the SlidesApp.CellMergeState.MERGED enum.

                          const              removeBlankRows              =              (              )              =>              {              // Get the current document              const              presentation              =              SlidesApp.              getActivePresentation              (              )              ;              presentation.              getSlides              (              )              .              forEach              (              (              slide              )              =>              {              slide.              getTables              (              )              .              forEach              (              (              table              )              =>              {              const              rowCount              =              table.              getNumRows              (              )              ;              for              (              let              rowIndex              =              rowCount              -              1              ;              rowIndex              >=              0              ;              rowIndex              -=              1              )              {              const              row              =              table.              getRow              (rowIndex)              ;              const              cellCount              =              row.              getNumCells              (              )              ;              let              rowHasFilledCell              =              false              ;              for              (              let              cellIndex              =              1              ;              cellIndex              <              cellCount              &&              !rowHasFilledCell;              cellIndex              +=              1              )              {              const              cellValue              =              row.              getCell              (cellIndex)              .              getText              (              )              .              asString              (              )              ;              if              (cellValue.              trim              (              )              !==              ""              )              {              rowHasFilledCell              =              true              ;              }              }              if              (              !rowHasFilledCell)              {              row.              remove              (              )              ;              }              }              }              )              ;              }              )              ;              // Flush and apply the changes              presentation.              saveAndClose              (              )              ;              }              ;