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How to delete multiple columns by using headers for desktop flow

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Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on at

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Delete from where exactly?

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Srini007 3,483 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @Raghav_Power

If I understood you correctly You have an excel file with Headers, Now you need to Delete the Columns based on the Headers Name. If that so, then need to check, but we have Delete Column from Excel Worksheet which requires Index instead of Header Name

But Next time, it's better you give some example / screenshot or some more explaination towards your issue

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Srini

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kiran_g 150 on at

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Hi @Srini007
I want to delete columns 1, 3, and 5 by using Delete Column from Excel Worksheet. How can we do it?

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Raghav_Power 6 on at

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Srini84,

Thank you for your prompt response,
I'm New to power automate. I'm trying to filter columns and need to delete unnecessary columns in excel file, I tried with sql connections based on examples available in desktop flow but it's getting errors in connection string,
Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=%NewVar%;Extended Properties="Excel 12.0 Xml;HDR=YES";
NewVar is my ExcelPath
I tried with
Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.8.0;Data Source=%NewVar%;Extended Properties="Excel 8.0 Xml;HDR=YES";
I download and install Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable also,
Please help me out this issue, give different methods to filter excel file

Thnak You
Raghav

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Srini007 3,483 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @kiran_g

You can create your flow as below

Below are the PAD Steps, copy and paste it to your PAD, change the path of your file

Excel.LaunchExcel.LaunchAndOpenUnderExistingProcess Path: $'''C:\\Users\\S\\OneDrive \\Desktop\\Book123.xlsx''' Visible: True ReadOnly: False Instance=> ExcelInstance2 Variables.CreateNewList List=> List Variables.AddItemToList Item: 1 List: List Variables.AddItemToList Item: 3 List: List Variables.AddItemToList Item: 5 List: List LOOP FOREACH CurrentItem IN List Text.ToNumber Text: CurrentItem Number=> TextAsNumber Excel.DeleteColumn Instance: ExcelInstance2 Column: TextAsNumber END

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Srini

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Srini007 3,483 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @Raghav_Power

Can you Try without Variable, I mean to say HardCode the value and try? Also tell me what error you are getting

One more check is that use Set Variable action and pass the value

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Srini

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kiran_g 150 on at

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It's removing the columns, but not in the way I wanted. I'd like to remove my first name, company name, and address.

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Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on at

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The problem is because as soon as you delete the first column, every other column shifts to the left, and as such you should then delete column 2, and not 3 to remove the company name. Once you have deleted two columns, you need to delete column 3 instead of 5 to remove the address.

A better approach would be to add the column numbers in the reverse order into the list. You would start deleting at column 5 first, which wouldn't cause columns 1 and 3 to move anywhere.

So, essentially, try this:

Excel.LaunchExcel.LaunchAndOpenUnderExistingProcess Path: $'''C:\\RPA\\Test.xlsx''' Visible: True ReadOnly: False Instance=> ExcelInstance Variables.CreateNewList List=> List Variables.AddItemToList Item: 5 List: List Variables.AddItemToList Item: 3 List: List Variables.AddItemToList Item: 1 List: List LOOP FOREACH CurrentItem IN List Text.ToNumber Text: CurrentItem Number=> TextAsNumber Excel.DeleteColumn Instance: ExcelInstance Column: TextAsNumber END

Please remember to change the path to your file in the Launch Excel action.

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Srini007 3,483 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @kiran_g

So, you don't want to remove entire column, but only you need to remove the Headers of First Name, Company Name only then no need to column Number to pass then you can pass First Name, Company Name etc to Find and replace action

Revised steps as below

Steps to reproduce in PAD

Excel.LaunchExcel.LaunchAndOpenUnderExistingProcess Path: $'''C:\\Users\\S\\OneDrive\\Desktop\\Book123.xlsx''' Visible: True ReadOnly: False Instance=> ExcelInstance2 Variables.CreateNewList List=> List Variables.AddItemToList Item: $'''First Name''' List: List Variables.AddItemToList Item: $'''Company Name''' List: List Variables.AddItemToList Item: $'''Address''' List: List LOOP FOREACH CurrentItem IN List Excel.FindAndReplace.FindAndReplaceSingle Instance: ExcelInstance2 TextToFind: CurrentItem TextToReplaceWith: NewInput MatchCase: False MatchEntireCellContents: False SearchBy: Excel.SearchOrder.Columns FoundColumnIndex=> FoundColumnIndex FoundRowIndex=> FoundRowIndex END

Make sure you change the file path and also create a variable NewInput as string and don't assign a value, so that it help to replace a null value

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If this reply answers your question or solves your issue, please ACCEPT AS SOLUTION

Thanks,

Srini

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kiran_g

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Thanks. It works when it's in reverse order and also I'm trying to run by VB script but it's not working. If you know it'll be helpful to make the process fast. I have used the below script to run

Sub DeleteColumnsByHeaderName()

Dim HeaderNames() As Variant

Dim HeaderName As Variant

Dim LastColumn As Long

Dim ColumnIndex As Long

Dim Found As Boolean

set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

set xlWbk = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(%f_Path%)

set xlWksht = xlWbk.Worksheets("RPA")

xlApp.Visible = true

HeaderNames = Array("First Name", "Last Name", "Company Name")

' Find the last column in the active sheet

LastColumn = Cells(1, Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column

' Loop through the header names

For Each HeaderName In HeaderNames

Found = False

' Search for the header name in the first row

For ColumnIndex = 1 To LastColumn

If Cells(1, ColumnIndex).Value = HeaderName Then

Found = True

' Delete the entire column if the header name is found

Columns(ColumnIndex).Delete

Exit For

End If

Next ColumnIndex

' Display a message if the header name was not found

If Not Found Then

MsgBox "Header '" & HeaderName & "' not found.", vbExclamation

End If

Next HeaderName

End Sub

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