XL97: ScreenUpdating Causes Problems in MS Internet Explorer

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, version 3.x

SYMPTOMS

When you view a Microsoft Excel worksheet in Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 3.0 or 3.01, and run a Visual Basic for Applications macro, Microsoft Excel may not redraw the worksheet correctly after the macro is finished running. When this behavior occurs, cells and objects in the worksheet may not appear to be updated by the macro.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when you run a macro that turns off screen updating with the following line of code:

   Application.ScreenUpdating = False

   Application.ScreenUpdating = True

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic for Applications procedures 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. The Visual Basic procedures in this article are provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in all situations. While Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular macro, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality, nor will they help you construct macros to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to consult one of the Microsoft Solution Providers. Solution Providers offer a wide range of fee-based services, including creating custom macros. For more information about Microsoft Solution Providers, call Microsoft Customer Information Service at (800) 426-9400.

To work around this behavior, use either of the following methods.

Method 1

You can force the worksheet to be redrawn correctly by resizing the Microsoft Internet Explorer window in any way. For example, resize the window by doing any of the following:

• Minimize, and then restore the window
• Maximize, and then restore the window
• Resize the window manually

Method 2

If the macro includes the following line of code:

   Application.ScreenUpdating = True

   Set xRange = Selection    'Set a variable to the active selection.
   Range("IV65536").Select   'Select another cell in the sheet.
   xRange.Select             'Select the original range.

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.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Excel, you can disable screen updating while running a macro by adding the following line of code:

   Application.ScreenUpdating = False

If you run a macro that sets ScreenUpdating to False while you view a worksheet in Microsoft Internet Explorer, ScreenUpdating is not correctly re-enabled when the macro is finished running.