XL: Macro Doesn't Function on Multiple Sheets in Group Mode

• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, when you use a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications procedure to perform an action while worksheets are selected in group mode, the action performed may only be performed on one of the worksheets instead of on every worksheet in the selection.

This behavior may also occur if you use a Visual Basic Standard or Professional Edition procedure or an AppleScript script to perform an action while worksheets are selected in group mode in Microsoft Excel.

For example, if you use a Visual Basic procedure or an AppleScript script to select multiple worksheets, and you spell check the selected worksheets, if you use the Change All button to change a word that is found on all of the selected worksheets, the word is only changed on the active worksheet.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because some of the Visual Basic commands in Microsoft Excel perform an action on one worksheet at a time, even if the equivalent menu command performs the action on all selected sheets.

WORKAROUNDS

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/default.asp

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub SpellCheck()

      ' Dimension variable x as Object type
      Dim x as Object
      ' Group select Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3 worksheets
      ' Note that there are other methods for selecting multiple sheets
      Sheets(Array("sheet1", "sheet2", "sheet3")).Select

      ' Perform spell check on each selected sheet
      ' Note that the Change All button will only change
      ' words on one worksheet, but the spell checker dialog
      ' will appear once for each sheet selected.
      For Each x In ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets
         x.CheckSpelling CustomDictionary:="CUSTOM.DIC", _
            IgnoreUpperCase:=False, AlwaysSuggest:=True
      Next x

   End Sub

AppleScript Example

The following AppleScript script does the following:

1. Activates Microsoft Excel.

2. Selects worksheets Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3.

3. Displays Spell Checker once for each selected worksheet.

   tell Application "Microsoft Excel"
      Activate
      Select Sheet { "Sheet1", "Sheet2", "Sheet3" }
      repeat with x in ( SelectedSheets of ActiveWindow )
         SpellCheck x UsingDictionary "Macintosh HD:Microsoft:Custom
            Dictionary" with AlwaysSuggest without IgnoreUppercase
      end repeat
  end tell

Visual Basic, Standard or Professional Edition Example

NOTE: The following example assumes that the worksheets that you want to spell check are already selected in the active workbook in Microsoft Excel before you run this procedure.

   Sub XL_SpellChk_Selection ()
      ' Dimension variables
      Dim xl As Object, NumSheets as Integer, x as Integer
      ' Activate Microsoft Excel and assign to variable xl
      Set xl = GetObject(, "Excel.Application.5")

      NumSheets = xl.activewindow.selectedsheets.count

      For x = 1 to numSheets
         ' Note that the following command should be entered on one line
         xl.ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets.Item(x).CheckSpelling "CUSTOM.DIC",
           False, True
      Next x

      Set xl = Nothing
   End Sub

   Sub XL_SpellChk()
      ' Dimension variables
      Dim xl As Object, n As Integer, wksheet()
      ' Dimension wksheet variable as array with 3 elements
      ReDim wksheet(3)
      ' Assign worksheet you want to spell check
      ' as elements of wksheet array
      wksheet(1) = "sheet1"
      wksheet(2) = "sheet2"
      wksheet(3) = "sheet3"

      ' Activate Microsoft Excel and assign to variable xl
      Set xl = GetObject(, "Excel.Application.5")

      For n = 1 To 3
         ' Display Spell Checker dialog, once for each sheetname in array
         xl.Sheets(wksheet(n)).CheckSpelling "CUSTOM.DIC", False, True
      Next n

      Set xl = Nothing
   End Sub

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

REFERENCES

For more information about Selecting A Sheet Or Sheets, choose the Search button in Help and type:

   selecting worksheets