XL: Borders Method Applies Inconsistent Format

ID: Q111309

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, if you use the Borders method in a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications procedure to set the Weight or Color property of the

borders of a selection on a worksheet, the formatting of the selection may not be consistent.

CAUSE

When you use the Borders method on a selection, and there is already a border around the selection, if you set only the Color or the Weight property, two of the borders of the entire selection are formatted differently than the rest of your selection.

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For example, assume that the range B2:C4 on a worksheet has been formatted with a thick green outline border. If you run the following procedure:

   Sub Color()
       Dim x As Object
       Set x = Range("B2:C4")
       ' Set color of all cell borders in range to red.
       x.Borders.Color = RGB(255, 0, 0)
   End Sub

the result is a thick red border around every cell in the selection, but a thin red border on right and bottom of the selection.

If you run the following procedure:

   Sub Weight()
       Dim x As Object
       Set x = Range("B2:C4")
       ' Set thickness of all cell borders to thin.
       x.Borders.Weight = xlThin
   End Sub

the result is a thin automatic color border around every cell, but a green border on the top and left of the selection.

WORKAROUND

To avoid having unexpected results when you use the Borders method on a selection of cells on a worksheet, apply both the Weight and Color property

as in the following example:

      Set x = Range("B2:C4")
      With x.Borders
          .Color = RGB(255, 0, 0)
          .Weight = xlThick
      End With

Additional query words: 5.00 5.00a 5.00c 7.00 7.00a XL98 XL97 XL7 XL5

Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmOthr KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999