Clear cell values without touching formatting, or permanently delete entire rows/columns, choosing the correct Google Sheets API call for each.

Documented steps

1. To clear values only: POST https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheetId}/values/{range}:clear with OAuth scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets (or drive/drive.file); no request body needed. Only values are cleared — formatting, data validation, notes, etc. on those cells are kept.
2. The clear response returns {"spreadsheetId": ..., "clearedRange": ...}, confirming the actual A1-notation range that was cleared.
3. To physically remove rows/columns: POST https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheetId}:batchUpdate with body {"requests": [{"deleteDimension": {"range": {"sheetId": 0, "dimension": "ROWS", "startIndex": 1, "endIndex": 3}}}]}.
4. DimensionRange indexes are zero-based and half-open per the docs ('the start index is inclusive and the end index is exclusive'): startIndex 1, endIndex 3 deletes the 2nd and 3rd rows (indexes 1 and 2), not row index 3.
5. deleteDimension shifts subsequent rows/columns up/left to close the gap and permanently removes formatting/validation on the deleted cells, unlike values.clear which only blanks values in place.
6. dimension must be the literal string "ROWS" or "COLUMNS"; passing the wrong one deletes the wrong axis since both share the same startIndex/endIndex numbering.
7. Docs: https://developers.google.com/workspace/sheets/api/reference/rest/v4/spreadsheets.values/clear | https://developers.google.com/workspace/sheets/api/reference/rest/v4/DimensionRange | https://developers.google.com/workspace/sheets/api/limits