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: Progression Indicator in a Macro.

Progression Indicator in a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 19, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

1

Macros are often created to process data, and processing data can often take a long time. Because of this, some users may think that their computer has stopped responding, even though the macro is busy chunking away at its appointed task.

The solution for most macro developers is to somehow alert users as to the progress of the macro. There are two ways that you can do this in Excel. The simplest and most common approach is to use the status bar to indicate what the macro is doing. All you need to do is put together a string that contains the status message, and then assign that string to the StatusBar property of the Application object, as shown here:

sStatus = "Processing Input File - Please Be Patient"
Application.StatusBar = sStatus

The message stays on the status bar until you overwrite it with some other message. You could also indicate progress in a loop by giving the percentage complete:

For x = 1 to y
    Application.StatusBar = Format(x/y,"0.0%") & " Complete"
' Other coding here
Next

When your routine finishes, return the status bar back to normal with the following statement:

    Application.StatusBar = False

If you prefer to develop an actual progress indicator for the macro, you can do so by creating a UserForm and then updating the form to display a "percentage bar" or some other visual indicator. You can find an example of this type of progress indicator at this address:

https://www.excel-easy.com/vba/examples/progress-indicator.html

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 (8969) 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: Progression Indicator in a Macro.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Quickly Finding Synonyms

If you need to find some synonyms for a specific word in your document, here's how you can do it. (Hint: All you need to ...

Discover More

Conditional Format that Checks for Data Type

Conditional formatting can be used to highlight cells that contain the improper type of data for your needs. This tip ...

Discover More

Adding Last-Row Data to a Page Footer

If you want to modify information that appears in the footer of a worksheet printout, on a page-by-page basis, you can ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Delaying in a Macro

At times, you may want your macro to pause execution. This tip presents four different ways you can add a delay into your ...

Discover More

Worksheet Events

You can create macros that are automatically executed whenever certain events occur within a worksheet. This tip details ...

Discover More

Changing Macro Cell References Based on Edits

Place a cell reference in a macro, modify the structure of your worksheet, and you may soon find that the cell reference ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five minus 4?

2022-03-19 11:14:55

J. Woolley

My Excel Toolbox includes ProgressBar_Text, which uses the status bar, and ProgressBar_Form, which includes a UserForm. I like to use the latter with Lightbox_Initiate to obscure the Excel window while a long macro is running, followed by Lightbox_Terminate.
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.