Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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.
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:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: 
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()
With Application
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = False
Range("H1").Select
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True
.Goto Reference:=Range("Z1"), Scroll:=True
End With
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:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10523) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Positioning a Column on the Screen.
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!
When developing a macro, you may want to display on the status bar what the macro is doing. Here's how to use this ...
Discover MoreWhen you need to stop a macro while it is running, you normally press Ctrl+Break. What are you to do if the keypress ...
Discover MoreMany times you need to select just the visible cells before taking some action. It is helpful to know how to make this ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-04-01 02:50:22
Thanks @Willy Vanhaelen
I understand the usage of the with block when referring to a number of properties; I thought I was missing something with only one statement.
Cheers
Tom
2019-03-29 12:21:33
Willy Vanhaelen
@tom
In Escel's VBA Editor Press [F1] and type With: you get ample information.
You are quite right that in the second macro it has no sence to use With ... End With.
Sub GotoCol2()
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = False
Range("H1").Select
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True
Application.Goto Reference:=Range("Z1"), Scroll:=True
End Sub
is exactly the same as:
Sub GotoCol2()
With Application
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = False
Range("H1").Select
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True
.Goto Reference:=Range("Z1"), Scroll:=True
End With
End Sub
But in this example for instance it is beneficial to use With ... End With:
With Selection.Offset(0, -1)
If Not .Comment Is Nothing Then
A = MsgBox(.Comment.Text, vbOKCancel, "Delete comment?")
If A = vbOK Then .Comment.Delete
End If
End With
Although you have 2 lines extra the lines between With and End With are much shorter and easier to write and the code executes slightly faster.
2019-03-24 21:55:17
What is the reason for the with block, containing statements not relating to the Application object.
In the second example, only one method of the object is used, possibly making the with block redundant.
Is there any benefit to this?
2019-03-20 05:30:42
Mike
If, for example, column C is the leftmost visible column when this macro is run, columns A and B remain unseen. It would seem that
.Goto Range("A1")
is needed before selecting H1 to ensure that column A is included in the freeze pane. Particularly if one is freezing some rows at the top as well.
2014-12-10 05:53:03
...Huh, I didn't know GoTo Range was a thing. Nice to know.
Like Gary I have used ScrollColumn in the past, but this sounds faster.
2014-12-08 04:53:30
Gary Allen
One slight variation on this that I have found really helpful is to combine the scroll function with a named cell (in the example below, cell Z1 is named "NAME").
This means that you can ensure the right cells are shown, even if additional columns are inserted into the sheet (so if the information you had in Z is now in AA or later).
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = False
Range("H1").Select
ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True
myCol = Range("NAME").Column
ActiveWindow.ScrollColumn = myCol
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments