sheet/deleteRowsOrColumns FormID SH06

When to Use

• HR — remove terminated employee rows: When an employee is terminated, a workflow identifies the employee's row number (via sheet/get with a filter and row index tracking), then calls sheet/deleteRowsOrColumns to physically remove that row. The remaining employee records shift up — no blank rows remain in the roster.
• Operations — remove completed task rows: A workflow runs nightly and deletes all rows in the "Active Tasks" sheet where status is "Completed". This keeps the active view clean without relying on filters, which some sheet consumers (dashboards, pivot tables) do not support.
• Finance — remove voided invoice rows: When an invoice is voided in the ERP, a workflow removes its row from the "Open Invoices" sheet so downstream reports and totals reflect only live invoices.
• Data cleanup — remove deprecated columns: After a schema change, a workflow removes a deprecated column from a sheet (using Dimension: Columns). All data to the right of the removed column shifts left, and all downstream formulas that reference column letters are updated automatically by Sheets.
• Batch cleanup — remove header rows from imported data: When data is imported from a third-party CSV with multiple non-data header rows, a workflow uses deleteRowsOrColumns to remove the extra header rows (e.g. rows 0 through 2) before further processing, leaving a clean single-header structure.

Configuration

Validation Errors

Output Fields

Sample Configuration

// Delete rows 5 through 7 (3 rows, 0-based index 4)
{
  "resource": "sheet",
  "operation": "deleteRowsOrColumns",
  "CredentialId": 12,
  "SpreadsheetId": "1BxiMVs0XRA5nFMdKvBdBZjgmUUqptlbs74OgVE2upms",
  "SheetName": "Active Tasks",
  "Dimension": "Rows",
  "StartIndex": 4,
  "Amount": 3
}

Sample Output

{
  "dimension": "Rows",
  "startIndex": 4,
  "endIndex": 7,
  "deletedCount": 3,
  "sheetId": 924830127,
  "spreadsheetId": "1BxiMVs0XRA5nFMdKvBdBZjgmUUqptlbs74OgVE2upms",
  "status": "success",
  "resource": "sheet",
  "operation": "deleteRowsOrColumns"
}

Expression Reference

Assuming this node is named deleteCompletedRows in the workflow:

Node Policies & GuardRails

• 0-based index — always verify: Confusion between 0-based (this node) and 1-based (Sheets UI) indexing is the most common source of errors with this operation. Off-by-one errors delete the wrong rows. Use a Code node upstream to compute and log the index before calling this node.
• Row index shift after delete: After rows are deleted, all row indices below the deleted range shift upward. If you are deleting multiple non-contiguous rows, process from bottom to top to avoid index drift — delete the highest-index rows first.
• Irreversible: Row and column deletions cannot be undone via the API. Only Google Sheets' version history can recover deleted rows (available for 30 days). Guard this node with an environment flag or approval step in production workflows.
• Use sheet/get first: When deleting rows based on content (e.g. "delete all rows where Status = Completed"), call sheet/get first to identify the row numbers, then map them to 0-based indices and call this node. Store the row position metadata during the get phase.
• Column deletion and formula references: Deleting a column shifts all subsequent columns left and updates cell references in formulas within the same sheet automatically. However, external references (from other sheets or workbooks) pointing to deleted columns will break. Verify no cross-sheet formula dependencies before deleting columns.
• Quota: One write request per delete operation regardless of the number of rows/columns in the range.

Workflow Examples

Example 1 — Remove Terminated Employee Row

// Trigger: Webhook from HRIS (employee terminated)
// Step 1: Find the employee's row number
// Node 1 — sheet/get (findEmployee)
{
  "resource": "sheet", "operation": "get",
  "CredentialId": 12,
  "SpreadsheetId": "{{ $env.HR_SHEET_ID }}",
  "SheetName": "Employees",
  "Filters": [{ "Column": "EmployeeId", "Operator": "Equals", "Value": "{{ $json.employeeId }}" }],
  "ReturnFirstMatch": true
}

// Node 2 — Code node: compute row index
// The row index in the sheet = HeaderRow(1) + FirstDataRow offset + position in results
// Assumes rows are ordered and we track rowIndex from the get response metadata
// Output: rowIndex (0-based)

// Node 3 — sheet/deleteRowsOrColumns (removeEmployee)
{
  "resource": "sheet", "operation": "deleteRowsOrColumns",
  "CredentialId": 12,
  "SpreadsheetId": "{{ $env.HR_SHEET_ID }}",
  "SheetName": "Employees",
  "Dimension": "Rows",
  "StartIndex": "{{ $output.computeIndex.rowIndex }}",
  "Amount": 1
}

Example 2 — Remove Extra CSV Header Rows

// Imported CSV data has 3 header/metadata rows before real data
// Delete rows 1-3 (indices 0, 1, 2 — but we delete in one call: StartIndex=0, Amount=3)
{
  "resource": "sheet", "operation": "deleteRowsOrColumns",
  "CredentialId": 15,
  "SpreadsheetId": "{{ $env.IMPORT_SHEET_ID }}",
  "SheetName": "Import Buffer",
  "Dimension": "Rows",
  "StartIndex": 0,
  "Amount": 3
}
// After this node: row 4 (old) becomes row 1 (new index 0)

Example 3 — Remove Deprecated Column

// Remove column D (index 3) — a deprecated "LegacyCode" field
{
  "resource": "sheet", "operation": "deleteRowsOrColumns",
  "CredentialId": 12,
  "SpreadsheetId": "{{ $env.PRODUCTS_SHEET_ID }}",
  "SheetName": "Products",
  "Dimension": "Columns",
  "StartIndex": 3,
  "Amount": 1
}
// Column E shifts to D, column F shifts to E, etc.