Remove Elements
How to clear OfficeConnect elements from cells, rows, or columns.
When you clear cells in a Workday OfficeConnect report with Excel’s normal delete, the element metadata can linger and confuse later refreshes — so use OfficeConnect’s own clear command instead. For the related move and copy workflows, see Cut, Copy & Move Elements.
Question: How do I remove OfficeConnect elements from a range of cells?
Steps
1
Select the row, column, or cell
Select the area where the element is applied. For best results, select the entire row or column (not just individual cells within it).
2
Right-click and choose Clear Design Elements
From the right-click context menu, select OfficeConnect → Clear Design Elements.
What gets cleared
- The OfficeConnect element metadata is removed from the selection
- The cells become plain Excel cells — no longer linked to Adaptive Planning
- Labels you added remain in place (they’re plain text, not elements)
- The visual contents of the cells remain until you delete them manually or the next refresh would have populated them
Remove elements from multiple locations
To remove elements from several rows or columns at once:
3
Select multiple rows or columns
Hold Ctrl and click each row number or column letter to build your selection.
4
Right-click any selected row or column
Right-click any of the highlighted rows or columns.
5
Select Clear Design Elements
Choose OfficeConnect → Clear Design Elements from the context menu.
Find all instances of an element first
If you want to find everywhere a specific element is used before removing it:
1
Click Find in the OfficeConnect ribbon
From the OfficeConnect ribbon, click Find (in the Find drop-down).
2
Search for the element
Enter the element name in the search field.
3
Use Find All to see all instances
Click Find All to see every location the element appears across the workbook.
Then clear each one individually or use Replace to swap it with a different element.
Next steps
- Review & Verify Applied Elements to confirm the right elements were cleared
- Add Elements to Rows, Columns & Cells to re-apply elements after a clean-up
- Cut, Copy & Move Elements for relocating rather than removing elements