XL97: Select Method May Select More Cells Than Expected

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This article was previously published under Q157412

SYMPTOMS

When you run a Visual Basic for Applications macro that uses the Select method to select a specific range of cells in Microsoft Excel 97, the macro may select a larger range of cells than you specified.

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CAUSE

This problem may occur when you run a macro that uses the Select method to select a range of cells and performs an action on the selected cells.

If you programmatically select a merged cell in a range, the selection may be enlarged such that it encompasses the columns and/or rows that are occupied by the merged cell. For example, if the range A2:C2 is merged, the following statement selects cells A1:C10 and not A1:A10 as you might expect:

   ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Select

The selection is expanded to include B1:C10 because range A1:A10 contains a merged cell that extends into cells in columns B and C.

NOTE: In this scenario in Microsoft Excel 97, you cannot select only cells A1:A10 with the mouse. Microsoft Excel automatically extends the selection to include cells B1:C10 because the range A2:C2 is merged.

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel.

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WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs.
If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:

Microsoft Certified Partners - https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104 (https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104)

Microsoft Advisory Services - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice)

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;cntactms) To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods.

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Method 1

Apply the property or method to specific a Range object rather than the Selection object if the selection contains merged cells that span cells outside of that specified range.

For example, the following macro selects cells A1:A10 and applies a bold font format to the selection:

   Sub FormatCells()

      ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Select
      Selection.Font.Bold = True

   End Sub

If cells A2:C2 are merged, this macro applies a bold font format to the cells A1:C10. If you wish to limit the application of the bold font format to cells A1:A10, use the following macro instead. The following example applies a bold font format to the specific Range object:

   Sub FormatCells()

       ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Font.Bold = True

   End Sub

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Method 2

Another alternative is to check whether merged cells exist in the range prior to performing an action. The following macro determines if there are any merged cells in the range A1:A10 prior to formatting the cells:

   Sub FormatCells()

       ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Select

       'Apply Bold to the selection if it does not contain merged cells.
       If Not(Selection.MergeCells = True) Then
           Selection.Font.Bold = True
       End If

   End Sub

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APPLIES TO

Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

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kbdtacode kbprogramming KB157412

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Retired KB Content Disclaimer

This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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