Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 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: Positioning a Column on the Screen.

Positioning a Column on the Screen

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated October 26, 2019)

Riek encountered a problem while developing a macro that sets up the screen for user input. Columns A:G always need to stay on the screen, so his macro freezes those columns. He then issues a command to move to column Z to start input. This places columns T:Z to the right of the frozen columns A:G. What Riek really wants is for columns Z:AF to appear to the right of A:G, but he doesn't know how to accomplish that.

There are several ways that the desired results can be achieved. The first is to simply move "past" the desired target, and then move back to it, as in the following macro:

Sub GotoCol1()
    With Application
        ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = False
        Range("H1").Select
        ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True
        .Goto Range("IV1")
        .Goto Range("Z1")
    End With
End Sub

The important code lines are those that use the Goto method. The first jump is to the last cell of the first row, and the second jump moves back to the true target, Z1. By moving in this way, column Z ends up just to the right of the frozen range, A:G.

While this works just fine, a better solution would be to use the Scroll parameter with the Goto method. Consider the following example:

Sub GotoCol2()
    ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = False
    Range("H1").Select
    ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True
    Application.Goto Reference:=Range("Z1"), Scroll:=True
End Sub

The Scroll parameter is optional with the Goto method; it defaults to False. If you set it to True, then Goto scrolls through the window so that the upper-left corner of the target range (Z1) appears in the upper-left corner of the window.

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 (10523) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Positioning a Column on the Screen.

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

Limiting Input to Two Decimal Places

When entering data in a worksheet, you may want to exercise some degree of control on the values that can be entered. ...

Discover More

Getting Input from a Text File

You can use a macro to read information from a text file. The steps are easy, and then you can use that information in ...

Discover More

Selecting to the Next Punctuation Mark

Writing macros often involves selecting different parts of your document so that some sort of processing can be ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel 2013 Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Dissecting a String

VBA is a versatile programming language. It is especially good at working with string data. Here are the different VBA ...

Discover More

Finding Other Instances of Excel in a Macro

When processing information using a macro, you may need to know if there are any other instances of Excel running on a ...

Discover More

Writing a Macro from Scratch

Creating macros can help extend what you can do in Excel. If you work with macros, you know that creating macros from ...

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}] 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 6 + 6?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

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 AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.