Understanding the Range Object

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In Microsoft® Excel, the Range object is the most powerful, dynamic, and often-used object. When you develop a full understanding of the Range object and how to use it effectively in Microsoft® Visual Basic® for Applications (VBA) procedures, you will be well on your way to harnessing the power of Excel.

The Excel Range object is somewhat unique in terms of objects. In most cases, an "object" is a thing with some clearly identifiable corollary in the Excel user interface. For example, a Workbook object is recognizable as an .xls file. In a workbook, the collection of Worksheet objects is represented in the user interface by separate tabbed sheets. But the Range object is different. A range can be a different thing in different circumstances. A Range object can be a single cell or a collection of cells. It can be a single object or a collection of objects. It can be a row or column, and it can represent a three-dimensional collection of cells that span multiple worksheets. In addition, unlike other objects that exist as objects and as members of a collection of objects, there is no Ranges collection containing all Range objects in a workbook or worksheet. It is probably easiest to think of the Range object as your handle to the thing you want to work with.

In This Section

  • The Range Property
    Use the Range property to return a Range object in many different circumstances.
  • The ActiveCell and Selection Properties
    Learn how the ActiveCell property returns a Range object representing the currently active cell and the Selection property returns a Range object representing all the cells within the current selection when a cell or group of cells is selected.
  • Using the CurrentRegion and UsedRange Properties
    Use the CurrentRegion and UsedRange properties to work with a range of cells whose size you have no control over.
  • Using the Cells Property
    Understand how the Cells property loops through a range of cells on a worksheet or refers to a range by using numeric row and column values.
  • Using the Offset Property
    Use the Offset property to return a Range object with the same dimensions as a specified Range object but offset from the specified range.
  • Working with Microsoft Excel Objects
    Use Microsoft® Visual Basic® for Applications (VBA) to work with Microsoft® Excel objects, from within either Excel itself or another Microsoft® Office XP application to gain access to every part of Excel.
  • Understanding the Excel Application Object
    Use the Microsoft® Excel Application object to determine or specify application-level properties or execute application-level methods.
  • Understanding the Workbook Object
    Work with the Workbook object to use with a single Microsoft® Excel workbook, and use the Workbooks collection to work with all currently open Workbook objects.
  • Understanding the Worksheet Object
    Use a worksheet, containing a grid of cells, to work with data and hundreds of properties, methods, and events.