XL97: Range.PasteSpecial Changes Selection (159944)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, if you use a line of code in a Visual Basic for Applications macro that is similar to the following:

   Range(<cell address>).PasteSpecial

where <cell address> is a range of cells, the active selection changes to the range that is specified by <cell address>.

This behavior is different from behavior in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel. Earlier versions of Microsoft Excel do not change the selection when this line is executed. The macro may not produce the desired results if the selection must remain unchanged after the macro executes the PasteSpecial method.

CAUSE

In Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 7.0, whether the PasteSpecial method leaves the selection on the pasted cells depends on the object to which the PasteSpecial method is applied. If PasteSpecial is applied to the Activecell or Selection objects, the selection changes. However, if the PasteSpecial method is applied to a Range object, the selection does not change.

For consistency, this behavior changed in Microsoft Excel 97. When the macro executes the PasteSpecial method, the selection changes to the pasted cells in all cases.

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel.

WORKAROUND

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To restore the selection after the macro executes a PasteSpecial method, store the selection in a variable before the macro executes the PasteSpecial method, and then select that range after the PasteSpecial method is completed. The following sample macro illustrates how to do this:

   Sub CopyAndPaste()

       Range("A1:B5").Copy                 ' Copy cells A1:A5
       Set rng = Selection                 ' Store the selection
       Range("D1").PasteSpecial xlValues   ' Perform the PasteSpecial
       rng.Select                          ' Reselect the range

   End Sub