XL2000: Macro to Search for Cell Formats: Font, Border, and Interior

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Summary

In Microsoft Excel, there is no built-in feature to allow you to search on the characteristics of a cell. However, you can create a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications procedure that allows you to search this way.

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More information

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to 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 requirements. To create a sample Visual Basic macro that selects a range and searches it for specific formatting:

Open a new workbook.

Type the following data on Sheet1:

      A1: 1  B1: 2   C1: 3   D1: 4

Format cell B1 with bold formatting by clicking the Bold button on the Formatting toolbar.
Format cell C1 with a single underline by clicking Cells on the Format menu, clicking the Font tab, and then clicking Single in the Underline list.
Format cell D1 with a double underline by clicking Cells on the Format menu, clicking the Font tab, and clicking Double in the Underline list. Also, format this cell as italic by clicking the Italic button on the Formatting toolbar.
Insert a new module sheet:

On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor. Then, click Module on the Insert menu.

Type the following macro on the module sheet:

      Sub Checking_the_Format()

         Range("A1:D1").Select

         ' Use a loop to check each cell in the selection.
         For Each cel In Selection

         ' The next line tests for the bold property of the font.

         If cel.Font.Bold = True Then MsgBox "This cell is bold: " _
            & cel.Address

         ' The following line will display the font style of the current
         ' it is not bold or italic.

         If cel.Font.FontStyle <> "bold" Or _
            cel.Font.FontStyle <> "italic" Then _
            MsgBox cel.Font.FontStyle

         ' This example will check the underline of the font in the
         ' current cell to see if it is a single line (xlsingle).

         If cel.Font.Underline = xlSingle Then _
            MsgBox "Here is the single underline: " _
            & cel.Address

         ' Finish the loop.
         Next cel

         ' The next line sets the weight and color of the left border of
         ' the current selection.

         With Range("B3").Borders(xlLeft)
            .Weight = xlMedium
            .ColorIndex = 3
         End With

         Range("A10").Select

      End Sub

Return to Sheet1 and run the macro. To do this, point to Macro on the Tools menu and then click Macros. Click to select the macro and then click Run.

When the macro finds the specified formatting, the cell address appears in a message box.

Note that although this macro displays message boxes to indicate the result of the code, you can customize this code to perform a variety of actions when the correct cells are located.

Testing for Properties of the Font Object

The following tables describe properties of the Font object that you can test for in a Visual Basic macro.

Properties That Return a Boolean Value (True Or False)

   For this property  True means this        False means this
   -------------------------------------------------------------

   Bold               Font is bold           Font is not bold

   Italic             Font is italic         Font is not italic

   OutlineFont        Font is outline Font   Font is not outline Font

   Shadow             Font is shadow Font    Font is not shadow Font

   Strikethrough      Font is formatted      Font is not formatted with
                      with strike through    strike through 

   Subscript          Font is subscript      Font is not subscript

   Superscript        Font is superscript    Font is not superscript

Properties That Return a String or Numeric Value

   For this property      Test for this value
   ------------------------------------------------------------------

   Color                  The font color as an RGB value

   ColorIndex             The color as an index number from
                          the current color palette

   FontStyle              The font style as a string (for
                          example, "Bold")

   Name                   The name for the font (for example, "Arial")

   Size                   The size of the font (for example, 12)

   Underline              The type of underline applied to text in a
                          the cell (for example, "xlSingle")

Testing for Properties of the Border Object

   For this property  Test for this value
   -----------------------------------------------------------------

   Color              The border color as an RGB value

   ColorIndex         The color as index of the current color palette
   
   Linestyle          The line style (for example "xlContinuous")

   Weight             The weight of the line (for example "xlHairline")

Testing for Properties of the Interior Object

The Interior object is used to detect the color or pattern in the cell itself. You can test the Interior object for the following properties.

   For this property  Test for this value
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

   Color              The primary color

   ColorIndex         The color as index of current color palette

   Pattern            The pattern (for example, "xlChecker")

   PatternColor       The pattern color as a RGB value

   PatternColorIndex  The color as index of current color palette

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References

For more information about the Font object, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type Font Object in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

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