CAUSE
This problem may occur when you run a macro that uses the Select method to
select a range of cells and performs an action on the selected cells.
If you programmatically select a merged cell in a range, the selection may
be enlarged such that it encompasses the columns and/or rows that are
occupied by the merged cell. For example, if the range A2:C2 is merged, the
following statement selects cells A1:C10 and not A1:A10 as you might
expect:
ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Select
The selection is expanded to include B1:C10 because range A1:A10 contains a
merged cell that extends into cells in columns B and C.
NOTE: In this scenario in Microsoft Excel 97, you cannot select only cells
A1:A10 with the mouse. Microsoft Excel automatically extends the selection
to include cells B1:C10 because the range A2:C2 is merged.
This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel.
WORKAROUND
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 professionals 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 a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based
consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified
Partners, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:
For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods.
Method 1
Apply the property or method to specific a Range object rather than the
Selection object if the selection contains merged cells that span cells
outside of that specified range.
For example, the following macro selects cells A1:A10 and applies a bold
font format to the selection:
Sub FormatCells()
ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Select
Selection.Font.Bold = True
End Sub
If cells A2:C2 are merged, this macro applies a bold font format to the
cells A1:C10. If you wish to limit the application of the bold font format
to cells A1:A10, use the following macro instead. The following example
applies a bold font format to the specific Range object:
Sub FormatCells()
ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Font.Bold = True
End Sub
Method 2
Another alternative is to check whether merged cells exist in the range
prior to performing an action. The following macro determines if there are
any merged cells in the range A1:A10 prior to formatting the cells:
Sub FormatCells()
ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A10").Select
'Apply Bold to the selection if it does not contain merged cells.
If Not(Selection.MergeCells = True) Then
Selection.Font.Bold = True
End If
End Sub