Selection.InsertFormula Method

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Word Developer Reference

Inserts an = (Formula) field that contains a formula at the selection.

Syntax

expression.Formula(Formula, NumberFormat)

expression   Required. A variable that represents a Selection object.

Parameters

Name Required/Optional Data Type Description
Formula Optional Variant The mathematical formula you want the = (Formula) field to evaluate. Spreadsheet-type references to table cells are valid. For example, "=SUM(A4:C4)" specifies the first three values in the fourth row. For more information about the = (Formula) field, see Field codes:= (Formula) field.
NumberFormat Optional Variant A format for the result of the = (Formula) field. For information about the types of formats you can apply, see Numeric Picture (\#) field switch.

Remarks

The formula replaces the selection, if the selection is not collapsed.

If you are using a spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Office Excel, embedding all or part of a worksheet in a document is often easier than using the = (Formula) field in a table.

The Formula argument is optional only if the selection is in a cell and there is at least one cell that contains a value above or to the left of the cell that contains the insertion point. If the cells above the insertion point contain values, the inserted field is {=SUM(ABOVE)}; if the cells to the left of the insertion point contain values, the inserted field is {=SUM(LEFT)}. If both the cells above the insertion point and the cells to the left of it contain values, Microsoft Word uses the following rules to determine which SUM function to insert:

  • If the cell immediately above the insertion point contains a value, Word inserts {=SUM(ABOVE)}.
  • If the cell immediately above the insertion point does not contain a value but the cell immediately to the left of the insertion point does, Word inserts {=SUM(LEFT)}.
  • If neither cell immediately above the insertion point nor the cell immediately below it contains a value, Word inserts {=SUM(ABOVE)}.
  • If you don't specify Formula and all the cells above and to the left of the insertion point are empty, using the = (Formula) field causes an error.

Example

This example creates a table with three rows and three columns at the beginning of the active document and then calculates the average of all the numbers in the first column.

Visual Basic for Applications 
  Set MyRange = ActiveDocument.Range(0, 0)
Set myTable = ActiveDocument.Tables.Add(MyRange, 3, 3)
With myTable
    .Cell(1, 1).Range.InsertAfter "100"
    .Cell(2, 1).Range.InsertAfter "50"
    .Cell(3, 1).Select
End With
Selection.InsertFormula Formula:="=Average(Above)"

The example inserts a formula field that is subtracted from a value represented by the bookmark named "GrossSales." The result is formatted with a dollar sign.

Visual Basic for Applications 
  Selection.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseStart
Selection.InsertFormula Formula:= "=GrossSales-45,000.00", _
    NumberFormat:="$#,##0.00"

See Also