XL: Macro Doesn't Function on Multiple Sheets in Group Mode

ID: Q126313

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, when you use a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications procedure to perform an action while worksheets are selected in group mode, the action performed may only be performed on one of the worksheets instead of on every worksheet in the selection.

This behavior may also occur if you use a Visual Basic Standard or Professional Edition procedure to perform an action while worksheets are selected in group mode in Microsoft Excel.

For example, if you use a Visual Basic procedure to select multiple worksheets, and you check spelling in the selected worksheets, if you use the Change All button to change a word that is found on all of the selected worksheets, the word is only changed on the active worksheet.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because some of the Visual Basic commands in Microsoft Excel perform an action on one worksheet at a time, even if the equivalent menu command performs the action on all selected sheets.

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 the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web: 

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/
To work around this behavior, you must loop through each sheet in the selection individually in your procedure or script to perform the action as in the following examples. (Note that the following examples use the Spelling command to demonstrate the workaround. These examples can be modified to work with other commands.)

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub SpellCheck()

      ' Dimension variable x as Object type
      Dim x as Object
      ' Group select Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3 worksheets.
      ' Note that there are other methods for selecting multiple sheets.
      Sheets(Array("sheet1", "sheet2", "sheet3")).Select

      ' Perform spell check on each selected sheet.
      ' Note that the Change All button will only change
      ' words on one worksheet, but the spell checker dialog
      ' will appear once for each sheet selected.
      For Each x In ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets
         x.CheckSpelling CustomDictionary:="CUSTOM.DIC", _
            IgnoreUpperCase:=False, AlwaysSuggest:=True
      Next x

   End Sub

Visual Basic, Standard or Professional Edition Example

NOTE: The following example assumes that the worksheets that you want to spell check are already selected in the active workbook in Microsoft Excel before you run this procedure. 

   Sub XL_SpellChk_Selection ()
      ' Dimension variables
      Dim xl As Object, NumSheets as Integer, x as Integer
      ' Activate Microsoft Excel and assign to variable xl
      Set xl = GetObject(, "Excel.Application.5")

      NumSheets = xl.activewindow.selectedsheets.count

      For x = 1 to numSheets
         ' Note that the following command should be entered on one line
         xl.ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets.Item(x).CheckSpelling "CUSTOM.DIC",
           False, True
      Next x

      Set xl = Nothing
   End Sub
NOTE: The following example selects the worksheets, one at a time, that you want to spell check (Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3 in this example) in the active workbook in Microsoft Excel, and spell checks each sheet individually. 

   Sub XL_SpellChk()
      ' Dimension variables
      Dim xl As Object, n As Integer, wksheet()
      ' Dimension wksheet variable as array with 3 elements
      ReDim wksheet(3)
      ' Assign worksheet you want to spell check
      ' as elements of wksheet array
      wksheet(1) = "sheet1"
      wksheet(2) = "sheet2"
      wksheet(3) = "sheet3"

      ' Activate Microsoft Excel and assign to variable xl
      Set xl = GetObject(, "Excel.Application.5")

      For n = 1 To 3
         ' Display Spell Checker dialog, once for each sheetname in array
         xl.Sheets(wksheet(n)).CheckSpelling "CUSTOM.DIC", False, True
      Next n

      Set xl = Nothing
   End Sub

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

REFERENCES

For more information about Selecting A Sheet Or Sheets, choose the Search button in Help and type: 

   selecting worksheets
Additional query words: 98 97 7.00 5.00 5.00c group edit active sheet only procedure modifies first sheet only find replace search all 
Keywords          : kbinterop kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmOthr AutoGnrl KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999