If value is not in range excel vba

EXPLANATION

This tutorial shows how to test if a range does not contain a specific value and return a specified value if the formula tests true or false, by using an Excel formula and VBA.

This tutorial provides one Excel method that can be applied to test if a range does not contain a specific value and return a specified value by using an Excel IF and COUNTIF functions. In this example, if the Excel COUNTIF function returns a value of 0, meaning the range does not have cells with a value of 505, the test is TRUE and the formula will return a «Not in Range» value. Alternatively, if the Excel COUNTIF function returns a value of greater than 0, meaning the range has cells with a value of 505, the test is FALSE and the formula will return a «In Range» value.

This tutorial provides one VBA method that can be applied to test if a range does not contain a specific value and return a specified value and return a specified value.

FORMULA
=IF(COUNTIF(range, value)=0, value_if_true, value_if_false)

ARGUMENTS
range: The range of cells you want to count from.
value: he value that is used to determine which of the cells should be counted, from a specified range, if the cells’ value is equal to this value.
value_if_true: Value to be returned if the range does not contains the specific value.
value_if_false: Value to be returned if the range contains the specific value.

In Microsoft Excel, we can determine if a Cell is within a Range with IF Function, however, when it comes to identify the same via VBA code then we need to use if statement. Below is the VBA code and process which you need to paste in the code module of your file.

1. Open Excel
2. Press ALT + F11
3. The VBA Editor will open.
4. Click anywhere in the Project Window.
5. Click on Insert
6. Click on Module

7. In the Code Window, Copy and Paste the below mentioned Code

Function InRange(Range1 As Range, Range2 As Range) As Boolean
‘ returns True if Range1 is within Range2
Dim InterSectRange As Range
Set InterSectRange = Application.InterSect(Range1, Range2)
InRange = Not InterSectRange Is Nothing
Set InterSectRange = Nothing
End FunctionSub TestInRange()
If InRange(ActiveCell, Range(«A1:D100»)) Then
‘ code to handle that the active cell is within the right range
MsgBox «Active Cell In Range!»»»
Else
‘ code to handle that the active cell is not within the right range
MsgBox «Active Cell NOT In Range!»»»
End If
End Sub

8. Once this is pasted, go to the Excel file
9. Select cell A1
10. Click on the VIEW Tab on the ribbon
11. Click on Macros
12. Click on View Macros
13. Shortcut Key to View Macros is ALT + F8
14. A Window will popup

15. Select the Macro
16. Here the Macro is named as “TestInRange”
17. Select the Macro “TestInRange”
18. Click on Run
19. As this cell is in Range you will get a Popup which says “Active Cell In Range!”

20. Click OK to close the Box

Now we will select Cell G9 which is not in Range

1. Select cell G9
2. Click on the VIEW Tab on the ribbon
3. Click on Macros
4. Click on View Macros
5. Shortcut Key to View Macros is ALT + F8
6. A Window will popup

7. Select the Macro
8. Here the Macro is named as “TestInRange”
9. Select Macro “TestInRange”
10. Click on Run
11. As this cell is not in Range you will get a Popup which says “Active Cell NOT In Range!”

12. Click OK to close the Box

This is how we can determine whether a Cell is within a Range or not using VBA.

VBA that checks if a cell is in a range, named range, or any kind of range, in Excel.

Sections:

Check if Cell is in a Range Macro

Check if Cell is in a Named Range

Notes

Check if Cell is in a Range Macro

Sub CellinRange()

'######################################'
'#########   TeachExcel.com   #########'
'######################################'

'Tests if a Cell is within a specific range.

Dim testRange As Range
Dim myRange As Range

'Set the range
Set testRange = Range("B3:D6")

'Get the cell or range that the user selected
Set myRange = Selection

'Check if the selection is inside the range.
If Intersect(testRange, myRange) Is Nothing Then
    'Selection is NOT inside the range.

    MsgBox "Selection is outside the test range."

Else
    'Selection IS inside the range.

    MsgBox "Selection is inside the test range."

End If

End Sub

How to Use the Macro

B3:D6 change this to the range that you want to check to see if the cell is within it.

Selection keep this the same to use the currently selected cell or range from the user or change it to a regular hard-coded range reference like Range(«A1») or whatever range you want.

‘Selection is NOT inside the range. under this line, put the code that you want to run when the cell is not within the range.

‘Selection IS inside the range. under this line, put the code that you want to run when the cell is within the range.

How Does the Macro Know if the Cell is in the Range?

Intersect(testRange, myRange) this checks if the range within the myRange variable overlaps or intersects with the range in the testRange variable. This function, the Intersect function, will return a range object where the two ranges overlap, or, if they don’t overlap, it will return nothing.

As such, we can use the IF statement to check if nothing was returned or not and we do that using Is Nothing after the Intersect function. The Is Nothing is what checks if the Intersect function returned nothing or not, which evaluates to TRUE or FALSE, which is then used by the IF statement to complete its logic and run.

This is how we get the full first line of the IF statement, and this is where all the magic happens:

If Intersect(testRange, myRange) Is Nothing Then

The rest of the IF statement is just a regular IF statement in VBA, with a section of code that runs if the cell is within the range and one that runs when the cell is outside of the range.

Check if Cell is in a Named Range

This is almost exactly the same as the previous macro except that we need to change the range reference from B3:D6 to the name of the named range; that’s it.

It could look like this:

Sub CellinRange()

'######################################'
'#########   TeachExcel.com   #########'
'######################################'

'Tests if a Cell is within a specific range.

Dim testRange As Range
Dim myRange As Range

'Set the range
Set testRange = Range("MyNamedRange")

'Get the cell or range that the user selected
Set myRange = Selection

'Check if the selection is inside the range.
If Intersect(testRange, myRange) Is Nothing Then
    'Selection is NOT inside the range.

    MsgBox "Selection is outside the test range."

Else
    'Selection IS inside the range.

    MsgBox "Selection is inside the test range."

End If

End Sub

For a more detailed expanation of how this macro works, look to the section above.

Notes

If the user makes a selection of multiple cells or a range, and any of those cells are within the test range, this macro will run the code for when the selection is inside the range.

Testing if a range is within a range simply uses the Intersect function in Excel VBA; however, due to how it works, it can seem confusing since we have to check if it Is Nothing or not. But, once you get used to writing this and seeing this in IF statements, it’s really not that difficult, just remember that, in this instance, you will want to pair the use of Intersect with Is Nothing and everything else should follow quite easily.

Download the sample file to get the macro in Excel.

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