You receive a "Run-time error '91'" error message when you use a macro to search for a fill color in Excel 2002 and in Excel 2003 (282153)

SYMPTOMS

When you run a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro that searches for a cell that contains a specific fill color in Microsoft Excel 2002 and Microsoft Office Excel 2003, you may receive an error message similar to the following:

Run-time error '91':
Object variable or With block variable not set.

When you click the Debug button on the error message, the line that fails contains the function Cells.Find().

CAUSE

This behavior can occur when a macro searches for cell containing a specified color, and it also specifies a pattern color after specifying the fill color. The following example illustrates this issue:

With Application.FindFormat.Interior
    .ColorIndex = 6
    .Pattern = xlSolid
    .PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With
Application.FindFormat.Locked = True
Application.FindFormat.FormulaHidden = False
Cells.Find(What:="", After:=ActiveCell, LookIn:=xlFormulas, LookAt:= _
    xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, MatchCase:=False _
    , SearchFormat:=True).Activate

If you record a macro that searches for a fill color, the recorded macro places the lines in this order, causing the error message.

WORKAROUND

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To work around this issue, specify the fill color after you specify the pattern color. The macro example in the "Cause" section can be modified to match the following code, and then the macro runs without error:

With Application.FindFormat.Interior
    .Pattern = xlSolid
    .PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic
    .ColorIndex = 6
End With
Application.FindFormat.Locked = True
Application.FindFormat.FormulaHidden = False
Cells.Find(What:="", After:=ActiveCell, LookIn:=xlFormulas, LookAt:= _
    xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, MatchCase:=False _
    , SearchFormat:=True).Activate

You receive a "Run-time error '91'" error message when you use a macro to search for a fill color in Excel 2002 and in Excel 2003 (282153)

SYMPTOMS

CAUSE

WORKAROUND

STATUS