Once a report is final, the formulas inside it turn from helper into liability: a reference to another sheet, to another file, or to a row that has since been deleted, and any one of those changes can turn a whole column of numbers into #REF!. When the file is archived or sent outside the team, the safe move is to replace each formula with the result it has just calculated — the same numbers, no longer depending on anything else. The detail sheet, on the other hand, may still need its formulas in order to be maintained, so it cannot be stripped along with the rest. What really has to be decided is the scope: the whole workbook, or one range inside it. ClearContent in Spire.XLS for JavaScript clears the cell's contents and leaves its formatting alone, so writing the result back keeps the thousands separator in an amount and the display style of a date exactly as they were. Spire.XLS for JavaScript does all of this in the browser on WebAssembly, handling input and output files through a virtual file system (VFS) with no backend service.

This article covers two core feature points:

• Delete the formulas of the whole workbook
• Delete the formulas of one range

For installation and project setup, see Integrating Spire.XLS for JavaScript in a React Project. The examples below assume Spire.XLS is installed and the WebAssembly module has been initialised.

Delete the formulas of the whole workbook

When a report is archived, sent out, or handed to someone who has no business seeing the logic behind it, the formulas are the liability: cross-sheet references, external links, rows deleted afterwards — any one of those changes can make the numbers go dead. Replacing each formula with the result it has just calculated turns the file into a snapshot that depends on nothing else and no longer changes: numbers, formatting and totals all still there, only each cell has been fixed in place. A whole-book delivery is the most common case, so the first approach walks every worksheet in the workbook. The steps are:

1. Load the font and the test data file into the VFS.
2. Load the workbook with workbook.LoadFromFile.
3. Walk every worksheet using workbook.Worksheets.Count.
4. Walk the cells of that worksheet with sheet.Range.Cells, which covers the used range of the sheet.
5. Test whether the cell holds a formula with cell.HasFormula.
6. If it does, take the result it has calculated with cell.FormulaValue.
7. Clear the formula with cell.Clear(xlsModule.ExcelClearOptions.ClearContent) — contents only, the formatting stays where it is.
8. Write the result taken in the previous step back into the cell with cell.Value2.
9. Save the workbook with workbook.SaveToFile.

The complete code example below shows how to delete the formulas of a whole workbook in React:

function App() {
  const removeAllFormulas = async () => {
    // get the Spire.XLS WASM module
    const xlsModule = window.wasmModule?.spirexls;

    // check that the module is ready
    if (!xlsModule) {
      alert('Spire.Xls is not ready yet');
      return;
    }

    // load the font and the test data file into the VFS
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('ARIAL.TTF', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/font/`);
    const inputFileName = 'RemoveFormulas.xlsx';
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}data/`);

    // load the workbook
    const workbook = new xlsModule.Workbook();
    workbook.LoadFromFile({ fileName: inputFileName });

    // walk every worksheet and every cell looking for formulas
    for (let i = 0; i < workbook.Worksheets.Count; i++) {
      const sheet = workbook.Worksheets.get(i);

      for (const cell of sheet.Range.Cells) {
        // only a formula cell needs work: take the result it has calculated, clear the cell, then write the result back
        if (cell.HasFormula) {
          const value = cell.FormulaValue;
          cell.Clear(xlsModule.ExcelClearOptions.ClearContent);
          cell.Value2 = value;
        }
      }
    }

    // save the workbook
    const outputFileName = 'RemoveAllFormulas.xlsx';
    workbook.SaveToFile({ fileName: outputFileName });

    // dispose of the workbook to free resources
    workbook.Dispose();

    // read the result file from the VFS and start the download
    const fileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
    const blob = new Blob([fileArray], { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = outputFileName;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
      <h1>Delete Formulas but Keep the Values in Excel</h1>
      <button id="remove-all-formulas" onClick={removeAllFormulas}>Remove the formulas of the whole workbook</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

After running, deleting the formulas of a whole workbook and keeping the values:

Delete the formulas of one range

Within a single worksheet, some cells will never change again and are best frozen into values, while others have to follow whatever else moves and must keep their formulas. Narrowing the scope down to a range lets both needs live in the same sheet, and the formulas outside the range are untouched. The steps are:

1. Load the font and the test data file into the VFS.
2. Load the workbook with workbook.LoadFromFile.
3. Take the first worksheet with workbook.Worksheets.get(0).
4. Mark out the stretch to process with sheet.Range.get('D3:D10').
5. Walk the cells inside the range with range.Cells; cells outside it never enter the loop.
6. Test whether the cell holds a formula with cell.HasFormula.
7. If it does, take the result it has calculated with cell.FormulaValue.
8. Clear the formula with cell.Clear(xlsModule.ExcelClearOptions.ClearContent).
9. Write the result back into the cell with cell.Value2.
10. Save the workbook with workbook.SaveToFile.

The complete code example below shows how to delete the formulas of one range in React:

function App() {
  const removeFormulasInRange = async () => {
    // get the Spire.XLS WASM module
    const xlsModule = window.wasmModule?.spirexls;

    // check that the module is ready
    if (!xlsModule) {
      alert('Spire.Xls is not ready yet');
      return;
    }

    // load the font and the test data file into the VFS
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('ARIAL.TTF', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/font/`);
    const inputFileName = 'RemoveFormulas.xlsx';
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}data/`);

    // load the workbook
    const workbook = new xlsModule.Workbook();
    workbook.LoadFromFile({ fileName: inputFileName });

    // take the first worksheet and narrow the range down to the amount column
    const sheet = workbook.Worksheets.get(0);
    const range = sheet.Range.get('D3:D10');

    for (const cell of range.Cells) {
      if (cell.HasFormula) {
        const value = cell.FormulaValue;
        cell.Clear(xlsModule.ExcelClearOptions.ClearContent);
        cell.Value2 = value;
      }
    }

    // save the workbook
    const outputFileName = 'RemoveFormulasInRange.xlsx';
    workbook.SaveToFile({ fileName: outputFileName });

    // dispose of the workbook to free resources
    workbook.Dispose();

    // read the result file from the VFS and start the download
    const fileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
    const blob = new Blob([fileArray], { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = outputFileName;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
      <h1>Delete Formulas but Keep the Values in Excel</h1>
      <button id="remove-formulas-in-range" onClick={removeFormulasInRange}>Remove the formulas of one range</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

After running, deleting the formulas of one range:

FAQ

Does clearing a formula also wipe the cell's number format and fill?

Cause: Clearing a cell goes through Clear, and what it clears is decided by the ExcelClearOptions passed in. ClearAll or ClearFormat wipes the formatting along with everything else; ClearContent clears the contents only.

Solution: Pass ClearContent. The number format, the font and the fill all stay where they were, and the value written back is still shown the way it was — an amount keeps its thousands separator and two decimals, and a date still reads 2026-03-31 rather than the serial number 46112.

Why does cell.Value not give me the result a formula calculated?

Cause: While a cell still carries a formula, cell.Value returns the formula itself rather than its result.

Solution: Read the result with FormulaValue, or with FormulaNumberValue when only the number is wanted. Once the formula has been cleared and replaced by a value, Value returns that number.

// a cell that still has its formula: Value is the formula text, the result is in
// FormulaValue / FormulaNumberValue
const formula = cell.Value;                 // "=B5*C5"
const result = cell.FormulaNumberValue;     // 97280

Get a Free License

Spire.XLS for JavaScript offers a 30-day full-featured free trial license with no functional limitations. Apply here to evaluate before purchasing.

A named range is not something you set up once and forget. As the data table is restructured, the original name may no longer fit, and the referred range can go stale when rows are added or removed. Some named ranges exist only as an intermediate helper for a formula and have no business showing up in the Name Manager. And named ranges that are no longer used, if kept forever, turn the name list into something long and hard to search. Modifying, hiding and deleting are therefore just as much a part of working with named ranges as creating them. Spire.XLS for JavaScript provides a complete named range management API and can perform all of the above in the browser through WebAssembly, with no backend service required.

This article covers three key features:

• Modify a Named Range
• Hide a Named Range
• Delete a Named Range

For installation and project setup, see Integrating Spire.XLS for JavaScript in a React Project. The examples below assume Spire.XLS is already installed and the WebAssembly module has been initialized.

Modify a Named Range

Modifying covers two independent aspects: the name itself and the referred range. The name is reassigned through the Name property and the referred range through the RefersToRange property. The two can be changed separately, or together as in the example below. The steps are:

1. Load the workbook and get the first worksheet.
2. Take the named range to modify with workbook.NameRanges.get(0).
3. Set Name to the new name.
4. Point RefersToRange at the new cell range.
5. Save the workbook.

The following is a complete code example that shows how to modify a named range in React:

function App() {
  const modifyNamedRange = async () => {
    // Get the Spire.XLS WASM module
    const xlsModule = window.wasmModule?.spirexls;

    // Check if the module is ready
    if (!xlsModule) {
      alert('Spire.Xls is not ready yet');
      return;
    }

    // Load the font into VFS
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('ARIAL.TTF', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/font/`);

    // Load the Excel file into VFS
    const inputFileName = 'AllNamedRanges.xlsx';
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/static/data/`);

    // Load the workbook
    const workbook = new xlsModule.Workbook();
    workbook.LoadFromFile(inputFileName);

    // Get the first worksheet
    let sheet = workbook.Worksheets.get(0);

    // Change the name of the named range
    workbook.NameRanges.get(0).Name = "RegionData";

    // Change the cell range the named range refers to
    workbook.NameRanges.get(0).RefersToRange = sheet.Range.get("B2:C4");

    // Save the workbook
    const outputFileName = 'ModifyNamedRange.xlsx';
    workbook.SaveToFile(outputFileName);

    // Release resources
    workbook.Dispose();

    // Read the result file from VFS and trigger the download
    const fileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
    const blob = new Blob([fileArray], { type: "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = outputFileName;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
      <h1>Modify Named Range</h1>
      <button onClick={modifyNamedRange}>Start</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

After running, the effect of modifying a named range:

Hide a Named Range

Set the Visible property to false and the named range is hidden. A hidden named range is still stored in the workbook and formulas that refer to it are unaffected — it simply no longer appears in Excel's Name Manager and name box, which keeps the name list tidy. After hiding it, the example below also writes the formula =SUM(NameRange1) into cell F2: the formula still calculates normally, which is exactly what shows that the named range is only hidden, not deleted. The steps are:

1. Load the workbook and get the first worksheet.
2. Take the named range to hide.
3. Set Visible to false.
4. Write a formula that refers to the named range into a cell, to confirm it still works.
5. Save the workbook.

The following is a complete code example that shows how to hide a named range in React:

function App() {
  const hideNamedRange = async () => {
    // Get the Spire.XLS WASM module
    const xlsModule = window.wasmModule?.spirexls;

    // Check if the module is ready
    if (!xlsModule) {
      alert('Spire.Xls is not ready yet');
      return;
    }

    // Load the font into VFS
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('ARIAL.TTF', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/font/`);

    // Load the Excel file into VFS
    const inputFileName = 'AllNamedRanges.xlsx';
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/static/data/`);

    // Load the workbook
    const workbook = new xlsModule.Workbook();
    workbook.LoadFromFile(inputFileName);

    // Get the first worksheet
    let sheet = workbook.Worksheets.get(0);

    // Hide the first named range
    workbook.NameRanges.get(0).Visible = false;

    // Write a formula that refers to the hidden named range, proving it still exists and works
    sheet.Range.get("F1").Text = "Sum After Hiding";
    sheet.Range.get("F2").Formula = "=SUM(NameRange1)";

    // Calculate the formulas so the saved file shows the result as soon as it is opened
    workbook.CalculateAllValue();

    // Save the workbook
    const outputFileName = 'HideNamedRange.xlsx';
    workbook.SaveToFile(outputFileName);

    // Release resources
    workbook.Dispose();

    // Read the result file from VFS and trigger the download
    const fileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
    const blob = new Blob([fileArray], { type: "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = outputFileName;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
      <h1>Hide Named Range</h1>
      <button onClick={hideNamedRange}>Start</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

After running, the effect of hiding a named range:

Note: The formula in cell F2 refers to the hidden NameRange1, and it still calculates 120. That shows the named range has only been hidden from view, not removed from the workbook.

Delete a Named Range

There are two ways to delete a named range: call Remove() when the name is known, or RemoveAt() when the position is known. Both remove the named range from the workbook entirely. The steps are:

1. Load the workbook.
2. Call Remove() to delete a named range by name.
3. Call RemoveAt() to delete a named range by index.
4. Save the workbook.

The following is a complete code example that shows how to delete a named range in React:

function App() {
  const deleteNamedRange = async () => {
    // Get the Spire.XLS WASM module
    const xlsModule = window.wasmModule?.spirexls;

    // Check if the module is ready
    if (!xlsModule) {
      alert('Spire.Xls is not ready yet');
      return;
    }

    // Load the font into VFS
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('ARIAL.TTF', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/font/`);

    // Load the Excel file into VFS
    const inputFileName = 'AllNamedRanges.xlsx';
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/static/data/`);

    // Load the workbook
    const workbook = new xlsModule.Workbook();
    workbook.LoadFromFile(inputFileName);

    // Delete a named range by name
    workbook.NameRanges.Remove("NameRange2");

    // Delete a named range by index
    workbook.NameRanges.RemoveAt(0);

    // Save the workbook
    const outputFileName = 'DeleteNamedRange.xlsx';
    workbook.SaveToFile(outputFileName);

    // Release resources
    workbook.Dispose();

    // Read the result file from VFS and trigger the download
    const fileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
    const blob = new Blob([fileArray], { type: "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = outputFileName;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
      <h1>Delete Named Range</h1>
      <button onClick={deleteNamedRange}>Start</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

After running, the effect of deleting a named range:

FAQ

Why is the result of a formula missing when the saved file is opened?

Cause: Setting only the Formula property of a cell does not make Spire calculate it. The saved file then contains the formula itself but no calculated result value, so the cell comes up blank when the file is opened.

Solution: Call workbook.CalculateAllValue() before saving, to evaluate the formulas first:

// Calculate all formulas so the result value is written into the saved file
workbook.CalculateAllValue();

Can I pass a named range object to the delete API?

Cause: Remove() takes a name string. Passing a NameRange object does not match the expected type and throws Assert failed: Value is not a String, and nothing is deleted.

Solution: Pass the name when it is known, or the index when the position is known:

// Delete by name
workbook.NameRanges.Remove("NameRange2");

// Delete by index
workbook.NameRanges.RemoveAt(0);

Get a Free License

Spire.XLS for JavaScript offers a 30-day full-featured free trial license with no functional limitations. Apply here to evaluate before purchasing.