Excel may repeatedly update any query tables when you change any cell or refresh a query table

View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

If you change any cell or refresh a query table in a Microsoft Office Excel workbook, Excel may repeatedly refresh any query tables in the workbook without stopping.

↑ Back to the top

Cause

This behavior can occur if you have a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro that refreshes query tables when a Change event occurs. Refreshing the query table triggers another Change event, which causes the macro to start again. The following sample macro causes this behavior to occur.

Private Sub WorkSheet_Change(ByVal Target as Range)
   ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Range("A2").QueryTable.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
End Sub

This sample macro refreshes the query table that intersects cell A2 on Sheet1 when a change is made to the worksheet.

↑ Back to the top

Resolution

To stop the repeated refreshing of the query table, press the ESC key.

↑ Back to the top

Workaround

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 work around this issue, change your macro code so that the QueryTable does not trigger a change event by disabling events before refreshing the QueryTable.

Private Sub WorkSheet_Change(ByVal Target as Range)
   Application.EnableEvents = False
   ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Range("A2").QueryTable.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
   Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

↑ Back to the top