Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Selecting the First Cell In a Row.

Selecting the First Cell In a Row

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 25, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

If you need to select the first cell in a row from within your macro, you can do it with the Select method, using either of the following:

Cells(ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Row, 1).Select
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Cells(1).Select

Once executed, the selected cell becomes the first cell (in column A) of the current row. If you run this line while a range of cells is selected, then the cell in column A of the first row of the selection is selected.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7602) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Selecting the First Cell In a Row.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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2023-11-26 14:39:13

J. Woolley

The Tip's first sentence should be, "If you need to select the first cell in THE ACTIVE CELL'S row from within your macro...."
Here are two more ways:
    ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.End(xlToLeft).Select
    ActiveCell.End(xlToLeft).Select
The following should be avoided unless you are certain Selection is a Range object and not a graphic object:
    Selection.End(xlToLeft).Select
Window.RangeSelection returns the Window's most recently selected Range object. If the most recently selected range has more than one row and its active cell is NOT in the top row, either
    ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.End(xlToLeft).Select
or the Tip's
    Cells(ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Row, 1).Select
will select the first cell in its top row, but either
    ActiveCell.End(xlToLeft).Select
or the Tip's
    ActiveCell.EntireRow.Cells(1).Select
will select the first cell in the active cell's row.


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