XL97: Error Applying Comment When Worksheets Are Grouped

ID: Q168754

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, 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 earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

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.

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/

There are two methods you can use to prevent this problem from occurring:

Method One

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 example demonstrates one way in which this may be done.

   Sub Test1()

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

   End Sub

Method Two

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 example demonstrates one way in which this may be done.

   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.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 97.

MORE INFORMATION

In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, 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 97, 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 or Note on the Insert menu when multiple worksheets are grouped in any version of Microsoft Excel.

Additional query words: XL97 xlvbmigrate

Keywords          : kberrmsg kbprg kbdta KbVBA kbhowto 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: June 30, 1999