Excel format all cells vba excel

This tutorial will demonstrate how to format cells using VBA.

Formatting Cells

There are many formatting properties that can be set for a (range of) cells like this:

Sub SetCellFormat()

    With Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("B5:C7")
     .HorizontalAlignment = xlHAlignDistributed
     .AddIndent = True
     .Font.FontStyle = "Italic"
     .NumberFormat = "General"
     .Interior.Color = RGB(128, 100, 250)
    End With

End Sub

Let’s see them in alphabetical order:

AddIndent

By setting the value of this property to True the text will be automatically indented when the text alignment in the cell is set, either horizontally or vertically, to equal distribution (see HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment).

With Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
 .Orientation = xlVertical
 .VerticalAlignment = xlVAlignDistributed
 .AddIndent = True
End With

Borders

You can set the border format of a cell. See here for more information about borders.

As an example you can set a red dashed line around cell B2 on Sheet 1 like this:

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("B2").BorderAround LineStyle:=xlDash, ColorIndex:=3

Font

You can adjust the cell’s font format by setting the font name, style, size, color, adding underlines and or effects (strikethrough, sub- or superscript). See here for more information about cell fonts.

Here are some examples:

With Range("A1:C5").Font
 .Name = "Century" 
 .FontStyle = "Bold" 
 .Strikethrough = True
End With

FormulaHidden

This property returns or sets a variant value that indicates if the formula will be hidden when the worksheet is protected. For example:

 Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:B1").FormulaHidden = True

HorizontalAlignment

This property cell format property returns or sets a variant value that represents the horizontal alignment for the specified object. Returned or set constants can be: xlGeneral, xlCenter, xlDistributed, xlJustify, xlLeft, xlRight, xlFill,  xlCenterAcrossSelection. For example:

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("D3").HorizontalAlignment = xlRight

IndentLevel

It returns or sets an integer value between 0 and 15 that represents the indent level for the cell or range.

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").IndentLevel = 7

Interior

You can set or get returned information about the cell’s interior: its Color, ColorIndex, Pattern, PatternColor, PatternColorIndex, PatternThemeColor, PatternTintAndShade, ThemeColor, TintAndShade, like this:

If Not Range("A1").Interior.ThemeColor = ThemeColorLight2 Then
   Range("A1").Interior.Pattern = xlPatternUp
End If

Locked

This property returns True if the cell or range is locked, False if the object can be modified when the sheet is protected, or Null if the specified range contains both locked and unlocked cells. It can be used also for locking or unlocking cells.

This example unlocks cells A1:B2 on Sheet1 so that they can be modified when the sheet is protected.

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:B2").Locked = False 
Worksheets("Sheet1").Protect

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MergeCells

Set this property to True if you need to merge a range. Its value gets True if a specified range contains merged cells. For example, if you need to merge the range of C5:D7, you can use this code:

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("C5:D7").MergeCells = True

NumberFormat

You can set the number format within the cell(s) to General, Number, Currency, Accounting, Date, Time, Percentage, Fraction, Scientific, Text, Special and Custom.

Here are the examples of scientific and percentage number formats:

Range("A1").NumberFormat = "0.00E+00"
Range("B1").NumberFormat = "0.00%"

NumberFormatLocal

This property returns or sets a variant value that represents the format code for the object as a string in the language of the user.

Orientation

You can set (or get returned) the text orientation within the cell(s) by this property. Its value can be one of these constants: xlDownward, xlHorizontal, xlUpward, xlVertical or an integer value from –90 to 90 degrees.

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").Orientation = -60

Parent

This is a read-only property that returns the parent object of a specified object.

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ShrinkToFit

This property returns or sets a variant value that indicates if text automatically shrinks to fit in the available column width.

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").ShrinkToFit = True

VerticalAlignment

This property cell format property returns or sets a variant value that represents the vertical alignment for the specified object. Returned or set constants can be: xlCenter, xlDistributed, xlJustify, xlBottom, xlTop. For example:

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").VerticalAlignment = xlTop

WrapText

This property returns True if text is wrapped in all cells within the specified range, False if text is not wrapped in all cells within the specified range, or Null if the specified range contains some cells that wrap text and other cells that don’t.

For example, if you have this range of cells:

this code below will return Null in the Immediate Window:

?Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:B1").WrapText

Below is a Sub that is being used to format all cells as text in the spreadsheet starting with worksheet3 onwards. As you’ll see there’s a line in bold that I will most likely need to change. One of the purposes of the line is to keep the values of the Column1 («Client ID») intact because in every sheet it consists ‘00001’ values that converted with this code would change to ‘1’. That’s wrong. Important thing is that Column1 in every worksheet always contains the same ‘00001’ values.

Sub formatAllCellsAsText()

Dim wsTemp As Worksheet
Dim LastRow As Long
Dim LastColumn As Long
Dim StartCell As Range
Dim Cell As Range

For sht = 3 To Worksheets.Count
    Set wsTemp = Sheets(sht)
    Set StartCell = wsTemp.Range("A4")
    LastRow = wsTemp.Range("A4").CurrentRegion.Rows.Count
    LastColumn = wsTemp.Range("A4").CurrentRegion.Columns.Count
    For Each Cell In wsTemp.Range(StartCell, wsTemp.Cells(LastRow, LastColumn)).Cells

    If Not IsEmpty(Cell.Value) And IsNumeric(Cell.Value) 
    And InStr(wsTemp.Cells(1, Cell.Column), "Client ID") <= 0 Then

        Dim Temp As Double
        Temp = Cell.Value
        Cell.ClearContents
        Cell.NumberFormat = "@"
        Cell.Value = CStr(Temp)
      End If
    Next
Next sht

End Sub

Now my problem is that in one worksheet there’s Column6 («Value») that I want to preseve 000s in front of a number. When I change the line to the following my macro still removes preceding 000s from the Column6 values. I guess the condition is not as straightforward as I have thought.

If Not IsEmpty(Cell.Value) And IsNumeric(Cell.Value) And 
InStr(wsTemp.Cells(1, Cell.Column), "Client ID") <= 0 And 
InStr(wsTemp.Cells(6, Cell.Column), "Value") <= 0 Then

Any suggestions?

By formatting cells and ranges you can give your worksheets a better look. Formatting applies to the following:

• The number format: Numeric, Date, Scientific …
• Text Alignment: Horizontal, Vertical, Orientation …
• Text Control: Wrap Text, Shrink to fit, Merge Cells …
• Text Direction
• Font Type: Calibri, Times new Roman …
• Font Style: Regular, Italic …
• Font Size: 8, 9, 10 …
• Font Color
• Font Effects: Strike through, Superscript …
• Borders: Style, Color, …
• Fill: Color, Pattern …
• Protection: Locked, Hidden
• …

As you can see there are a lot of different formatting options in excel. Listing all of them along with their syntax and examples would require an entire book. Fortunately excel has provided a tool for figuring out the syntax of the different formatting options, the macro recorder. Using the macro recorder you can figure out how to apply different formattings to ranges.

Jump To:

• Formatting Cells and the Macro Recorder
• Formatting Cell Borders
• Formatting Cell Protection
• Formatting Cell Font
• Formatting Cell Alignment
• Changing Cells Number Format

–

Formatting Cells and the Macro Recorder:

Below I will explain how to use macro recorder to figure out the required syntax for a specific type of formatting:

Step 1: In the developer tab click on Record Macro button:

Step 2: Click Ok:

Step 3: Apply the desired formatting to a range of cells. In this example I will change the color of the range to yellow and a apply a thick border to the exterior and interior sides of the range:

Step 4: Stop the macro recorder

Step 6: Open the visual basic editor. On the project window you will see a new folder which has been created called “Modules”. In this folder there will be a new file “Macro1”. By clicking on it you will see the generated Code:

For this example the code shown below has been generated:

Sub Macro1()
'
' Macro1 Macro
'

'
    Range("I11:P16").Select
    Selection.Borders(xlDiagonalDown).LineStyle = xlNone
    Selection.Borders(xlDiagonalUp).LineStyle = xlNone
    With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeLeft)
        .LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .Weight = xlThick
    End With
    With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeTop)
        .LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .Weight = xlThick
    End With
    With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeBottom)
        .LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .Weight = xlThick
    End With
    With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeRight)
        .LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .Weight = xlThick
    End With
    With Selection.Borders(xlInsideVertical)
        .LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .Weight = xlThick
    End With
    With Selection.Borders(xlInsideHorizontal)
        .LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .Weight = xlThick
    End With
    With Selection.Interior
        .Pattern = xlSolid
        .PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Color = 65535
        .TintAndShade = 0
        .PatternTintAndShade = 0
    End With
End Sub


Remember that the macro recorder, records your every action. So if you have the macro recorder on and you start doing random things, the final generated code will become very long. So when you are trying to record a macro try to avoid any unnecessary actions. The first line of code you see is:

Range("I11:P16").Select

You will have to replace “I11:P16” with the range you are trying to modify . Also instead of using the select command you could directly use the range object:

Range("I11:P16").Borders(xlDiagonalDown).LineStyle = xlNone
Range("I11:P16").Borders(xlDiagonalUp).LineStyle = xlNone
With Range("I11:P16").Borders(xlEdgeLeft)
    .LineStyle = xlContinuous
    .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
    .TintAndShade = 0
    .Weight = xlThick
End With



I have brought some examples below.

–

Formatting Cell Borders:

The following example creates a border on the left edge of cell A1. The pattern is continuous and thick

With Range("A1").Borders(xlEdgeLeft)
    .LineStyle = xlContinuous
    .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
    .TintAndShade = 0
    .Weight = xlThick
End With

I have covered this topic in detail in the article below:

• Excel VBA, Borders

–

Formatting Cell Protection:

The following example locks and hides cells A1:

Range("A1").Locked = True
Range("A1").FormulaHidden = True


–

Formatting Cell Font:

The following code changes the font in cell A1 to arial, bold with size 9, applies strike through and single line underline formatting:

With Range("A1").Font
    'font type
    .Name = "Arial"
    'font style
    .FontStyle = "Bold"
    'font size
    .Size = 9
    'uncheck strikethrough
    .Strikethrough = True
    'uncheck superscript
    .Superscript = False
    'uncheck subscript
    .Subscript = False
    .OutlineFont = False
    .Shadow = False
    'select single line underscript
    .Underline = xlUnderlineStyleSingle
    'set color to yellow
    .Color = 65535
    .TintAndShade = 0
    .ThemeFont = xlThemeFontNone
End With


For more information about formatting font properties please see the article below:

• VBA, Excel Font Formatting

–

Formatting Cell Alignment:

The following code sets the horizontal alignment of cell A1 to left, justifies its vertices alignment. Checks the wrap text and merge cell options and applies a -45 degree orientation:

With Range("A1")
    'set the horizontal alignement to left
    .HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft
    'set the verticle alignment to justify
    .VerticalAlignment = xlJustify
    'check the wrap text option
    .WrapText = True
    'apply a -45 deg orientation
    .Orientation = -45
    'check the merge cell option
    .MergeCells = True
End With



For more information about cell alignment please see the article below:

• VBA Excel, Alignment

–

Changing Cells Number Format:

The following code changes cells A1’s number format to a date with the mm/dd/yy format:

Range("A1").NumberFormat = "mm/dd/yy;@"


See Also:

• VBA Excel, Font Formatting.
• VBA Excel, Alignment
• Excel VBA, Borders

If you need assistance with your code, or you are looking to hire a VBA programmer feel free to contact me. Also please visit my website  www.software-solutions-online.com

1. 04-21-2005, 11:06 AM

   
   

   #1

   Formatting all cells or sheet
   

   Although I’m not familair with the Excel object libarary, I am familiar with
   VBA. How can I format the whole sheet to use Text as the cell formatting, as
   opposed to General, the default?

   Me.Cells.Format…?

   Thanks,

   Steve

   ---

2. 04-21-2005, 01:06 PM

   
   

   #2

   Re: Formatting all cells or sheet
   

   Activesheet.Cells.Numberformat = «@»

   —

   HTH

   RP
   (remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

   «Steve Schroeder» <sschroeder@somewhere.com> wrote in message
   news:urFX8znRFHA.2384@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl…

   
   > Although I’m not familair with the Excel object libarary, I am familiar
   with
   > VBA. How can I format the whole sheet to use Text as the cell formatting,
   as
   > opposed to General, the default?
   >
   > Me.Cells.Format…?
   >
   > Thanks,
   >
   > Steve
   >
   >

   ---

3. 04-21-2005, 01:06 PM

   
   

   #3

   RE: Formatting all cells or sheet
   

   Activesheet.cells.numberformat=»@»

   «Steve Schroeder» wrote:

   
   > Although I’m not familair with the Excel object libarary, I am familiar with
   > VBA. How can I format the whole sheet to use Text as the cell formatting, as
   > opposed to General, the default?
   >
   > Me.Cells.Format…?
   >
   > Thanks,
   >
   > Steve
   >
   >
   >

   ---

4. 04-22-2005, 11:06 AM

   
   

   #4

   Re: Formatting all cells or sheet
   

   Thanks both of you for your help, that did appear to work. As is usually the
   case, the situation is a bit more complicated.

   Becase the column I am formatting contains a string value of:

   12929.00000001 (case number, text, not an 8 decimal place number)

   Even formatting it to text still leaves it 12929, at least visually. If you
   pretend to edit the cell, then move to another, it then appears as wished,
   the full string. I should also mention that this data is coming in from an
   ASP.Net web page. I actually tried to add the formatting in the VBScript
   code, but only got an error, incidently not the line I add,
   i.e.Activesheet.Cells.Numberformat = «@»

   The error is: Invalid Procedure Call or argument, and it happens on:
   HTMLProjectItems(«Sheet1»).Text = sHTML. Here is the VBScript code I’m
   using. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

   Sub cmdExcel_onclick()
   Dim sHTML
   sHTML = window.document.forms(0).children(4).outerhtml
   Dim oXL, oBook
   Set oXL = CreateObject(«Excel.Application»)
   Set oBook = oXL.Workbooks.Add
   oXL.Sheets(«Sheet1»).Cells.NumberFormat = «@»
   oBook.HTMLProject.HTMLProjectItems(«Sheet1»).Text = sHTML
   oBook.HTMLProject.RefreshDocument
   oXL.Visible = true
   oXL.UserControl = true
   End Sub

   «Steve Schroeder» <sschroeder@somewhere.com> wrote in message
   news:urFX8znRFHA.2384@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl…

   
   > Although I’m not familair with the Excel object libarary, I am familiar
   with
   > VBA. How can I format the whole sheet to use Text as the cell formatting,
   as
   > opposed to General, the default?
   >
   > Me.Cells.Format…?
   >
   > Thanks,
   >
   > Steve
   >
   >

   ---

5. 04-22-2005, 01:06 PM

   
   

   #5

   Re: Formatting all cells or sheet
   

   Ok, well here’s what I did, although it isn’t a perfect solution:

   oXL.Sheets(«Sheet1»).Columns(1).Cells.NumberFormat = «#####.########»
   oXL.Sheets(«Sheet1»).Columns(1).Cells.HorizontalAlignment = -4131

   «Steve Schroeder» <sschroeder@somewhere.com> wrote in message
   news:eXkWcS0RFHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl…

   
   > Thanks both of you for your help, that did appear to work. As is usually
   the
   > case, the situation is a bit more complicated.
   >
   > Becase the column I am formatting contains a string value of:
   >
   > 12929.00000001 (case number, text, not an 8 decimal place number)
   >
   > Even formatting it to text still leaves it 12929, at least visually. If
   you
   > pretend to edit the cell, then move to another, it then appears as wished,
   > the full string. I should also mention that this data is coming in from an
   > ASP.Net web page. I actually tried to add the formatting in the VBScript
   > code, but only got an error, incidently not the line I add,
   > i.e.Activesheet.Cells.Numberformat = «@»
   >
   > The error is: Invalid Procedure Call or argument, and it happens on:
   > HTMLProjectItems(«Sheet1»).Text = sHTML. Here is the VBScript code I’m
   > using. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
   >
   > Sub cmdExcel_onclick()
   > Dim sHTML
   > sHTML = window.document.forms(0).children(4).outerhtml
   > Dim oXL, oBook
   > Set oXL = CreateObject(«Excel.Application»)
   > Set oBook = oXL.Workbooks.Add
   > oXL.Sheets(«Sheet1»).Cells.NumberFormat = «@»
   > oBook.HTMLProject.HTMLProjectItems(«Sheet1»).Text = sHTML
   > oBook.HTMLProject.RefreshDocument
   > oXL.Visible = true
   > oXL.UserControl = true
   > End Sub
   >
   >
   >
   > «Steve Schroeder» <sschroeder@somewhere.com> wrote in message
   > news:urFX8znRFHA.2384@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl…
   > > Although I’m not familair with the Excel object libarary, I am familiar
   > with
   > > VBA. How can I format the whole sheet to use Text as the cell
   formatting,
   > as
   > > opposed to General, the default?
   > >
   > > Me.Cells.Format…?
   > >
   > > Thanks,
   > >
   > > Steve
   > >
   > >
   >
   >

   ---