How to Delete or Void a Transaction in Excel Checkbook Register

Applies to Excel templates: "Georges Budget for Excel", "Georges Excel Checkbook Register", "Georges Excel Checkbook for Mac"

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Why delete or void transactions in the Excel register?

There are different reasons to delete or void a transaction. For example, you may have duplicated a transaction in the Excel checkbook registers (entered the same transaction twice by mistake) or wrote a check and entered the check into the Excel checkbook register and then decided to void the check or maybe you just entered a dummy (test) transaction in the Excel checkbook register.  Deleting or voiding a transaction applies whether you are using the register to track your bank accounts or credit card accounts. Be careful deleting transactions in the register already marked as Reconciled (cleared) as this could impact your account reconciliation.

How to delete a transaction in the Excel checkbook register?

Before you delete a transaction, make a backup copy of the Excel file that has the information you plan to delete and name the backup copy appropriately. Please note that if you delete a transaction in the Excel checkbook register, that information will be gone from the Excel checkbook register and Excel file if you save the Excel file after you perform the steps to delete the transaction.

To delete information in cells, use the Delete key on the keyboard or the "Clear Contents" command. Do not use the "Clear all" or "Clear formats"  commands. 

The Delete Empty Rows & Sort button at the top of the Registers is to delete empty rows and sort the Register.

If you want to delete a transaction(s) that are not at the bottom of the transactions, select the transaction(s) to be deleted and press the Delete key or use the Clear Contents command. Then use the Delete Empty Rows & Sort button to delete empty row(s) and then sort.

If the transaction(s) to be deleted are at the bottom of the transactions listed in the Register, then just select them and use the Delete key to delete those transactions.

Note: the Delete Empty Rows & Sort button will not work if there are error message(s) in the Balance column other than "missing data in row?" You must first fix those errors and then use Delete Empty Rows & Sort.

Clicking the Delete Empty Rows & Sort button will first remove any applied Filters in the Register and then it will delete empty rows and sort.

How to void a transaction in the Excel checkbook register?

To void a transaction in the Excel register, you can just leave the transaction in there Excel register and mark is as "VOID" in one the fields such as the Memo field.  Then you can change the amount in the Amount column to $0.00.  If you want to keep an audit trail of the transaction in the register, then voiding the transaction is better then deleting the transaction in the register. When its time to do your bank reconciliation, you can mark the voided transaction as Reconciled (cleared) so it will not show up as an outstanding transaction. Since the voided transaction was never posted by the bank or credit card company, there is nothing to match or compare during account reconciliation.

 

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