XL2000: Error Applying Comment When Worksheets Are Grouped

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This article was previously published under Q213703

SYMPTOMS

If you run a Visual Basic for Applications macro that attempts to add a comment to a cell in a worksheet, you may receive the following error message:

Run-time error '1004':
NoteText method of Range class failed

The same macro works without error in versions of Microsoft Excel earlier than Excel 97.

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CAUSE

This problem occurs if the macro uses a line of code similar to the following

ActiveCell.NoteText Text:="This is a comment."

to add a comment to a cell when two or more worksheets are grouped or selected.

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Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers 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 requirements. To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

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Method 1

Do not use the NoteText method with the ActiveCell property directly. Instead, use the ActiveCell property to determine what cell to comment, and then apply the comment to that cell using the Range and NoteText methods. The following code sample demonstrates one way in which you can do this:

Sub Test1()

    'Use "Range(ActiveCell.Address)" in place of "ActiveCell".
    Range(ActiveCell.Address).NoteText Text:="This is a comment."

End Sub

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Method 2

If you want to apply the same comment to the active cell in all of the grouped worksheets, you can use For Each and Next to loop through all of the worksheets. The following code sample demonstrates one way to do this:

Sub Test2()

    'For each currently selected worksheet...
    For Each xSheet In ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets

    '...add a comment to the active cell in that sheet.
    xSheet.Range(ActiveCell.Address).NoteText Text:="Hello!"

    'Repeat for all of the grouped worksheets.
    Next xSheet

End Sub

This code will apply the same comment to the active cell in all of the grouped worksheets.

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MORE INFORMATION

In versions of Microsoft Excel earlier than Excel 97, if you run a macro that contains the following line of code

ActiveCell.NoteText Text:="This is a comment."

the comment is only applied to the active cell in the active worksheet. Even though other worksheets may be grouped, the comment is not applied to them. When you do this, you do not receive an error message.

In Microsoft Excel 2000, you receive the error message mentioned in the "Symptoms" section if your macro uses the above line of code to apply a comment to the active cell when multiple worksheets are grouped.

Note that you cannot manually comment a cell by clicking Comment on the Insert menu when multiple worksheets are grouped in any version of Microsoft Excel.

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