Creating an Animated Count Up

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 15, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


1

Ray would like, if possible, a way to animate a "count up" for a value in a cell. For instance, in cell B7 he might have a value of 23. He would like to reference that value in cell E4 and have cell E4 count up from 0 to 23 (0, 1, 2, 3, etc.), showing each number in turn.

There is no built-in way to do this in Excel, but you can use a macro to do the animation. Basically, the macro would need to find out what is in cell B7, and then use a For...Next loop to step through the values between 0 and whatever is in B7. During each iteration of the loop, the value in E4 is changed and some sort of delay is introduced.

The delay portion of the macro is what actually provides the ability to vary how the macro does its work. The delay is necessary to make the animation seem to work; without it, the numbers in E4 would increment too quickly. Excel provides a couple of handy ways to implement the delay. For instance, this example of the macro relies on the Sleep function:

#If VBA7 Then
Private Declare PtrSafe Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
#Else
Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
#End If
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim n As Integer
    Const cellWatch As String = "$B$7"
    Const cellCount As String = "$E$4"
    Const msec As Long = 200 ' milliseconds
    If Target.Address = cellWatch Then
        Application.EnableEvents = False
        Range(cellCount).Show
        If IsNumeric(Target) Then
            For n = 0 To Target ' skipped if Target < 0
                Range(cellCount) = n
                Sleep msec ' delay each increment
            Next n
        End If
        Range(cellCount) = Target
        Application.EnableEvents = True
    End If
End Sub

This code should be added to the ThisWorksheet module, as it is designed to run every time something changes in the worksheet. The code checks to see if the cell being changed is the target cell (B7). If it is, then it grabs the value there and jumps into a For...Next loop that updates whatever is in cell E4. The Sleep function is used to delay, in this instance, 200 milliseconds between each update of E4.

If you want a macro that is shorter and doesn't rely on the Worksheet_Change event handler, you might consider the following. It utilizes the Wait method to pause in the For...Next loop:

Sub CountUp()
    Dim J As Integer
    For J = 0 To Range("B7").Value
        Range("E4").Value = J
        Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("0:00:01"))
    Next J
    Range("E4").Value = Range("B7").Value
End Sub

This version of the macro pauses a full second between each update to cell E4.

Whenever you use a macro like this that implements some sort of delay, remember that your worksheet may seem less responsive. This is because of that delay and however large the value is that is in cell E4. (The larger the value, the longer the aggregate delay.)

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 (13753) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

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

Inserting a Voice Annotation in Your Document

Like to make audio notes to yourself? Word allows you to include these types of notes with your documents. Here's how to ...

Discover More

Selecting a Column or Row in a Table

Selecting rows and columns in tables is a common task. Because of this, Word provides a couple of ways you can accomplish ...

Discover More

Pasting a Hyperlink

When you paste information into a document, you can specify that it be inserted as a hyperlink rather than as normal ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Making Common Functions Available to Others

When you use macros to create functions, you might want to share those functions with others�"particularly if they ...

Discover More

Hiding Macros

Need to hide some macros in your workbook? There are three ways you can do it, as covered in this discussion.

Discover More

Copying Worksheets in a Macro

Copying worksheets (one or many) is easy to do manually. What is not well known is that it is even easy to make the ...

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.

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 seven more than 1?

2020-03-28 15:29:06

Frederick Costello

I tried this method to update a graph, but it did not work. Only after VBA stopped running (e.g., with STOP) would the graph update.


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.