Create Range Name in Excel

Today I am sharing quickest way to create Range Name in Excel. Just 3 easy steps

1. Select the cell(s) you want to name
2. Type Range name in the name box
3. Press Enter

The following is a list of syntax rules that you need to be aware of when you create and edit names.

Valid characters The first character of a name must be a letter, an underscore character (_), or a backslash (\). Remaining characters in the name can be letters, numbers, periods, and underscore characters.

Cell references disallowed Names cannot be the same as a cell reference, such as Z$100 or R1C1. Spaces are not valid Spaces are not allowed as part of a name. Use the underscore character (_) and period (.) as word separators, such as, Sales_Tax or First.Quarter.

Name length A name can contain up to 255 characters.

Case sensitivity Names can contain uppercase and lowercase letters. Excel does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase characters in names. For example, if you created the name Sales and then create another name called SALES in the same workbook, Excel prompts you to choose a unique name

Check out screen cast below to see it happening.

Named ranges is part of defined names in excel. It is just not limited to a cell on the worksheet or range of cells, it can also be a constant or a formula in your workbook.

It has many uses in Excel, some of them are :-

1. Make your formulas much easier to understand.
2. Refer to dynamic ranges in excel by creating dynamic range names
3. Can be used in data validation based on contents on another worksheet
4. Can be used for conditional formatting based on contents on another worksheet.
5. These are best used in Excel Macros. It makes your macros more robust
6. Use them as constant value without referring to contents on your worksheet.

Will be covering some of the topics in my upcoming posts, so stay tuned to learn more uses of defined names in excel.

Macros in Excel : Selecting Multiple Ranges in Excel VBA

Selecting multiple ranges in Excel VBA helps your code to work faster. You can select multiple ranges in single line code and perform the action you want to perform.

Normally we code a range by writing it within "" as under

Range("A1:A10").Select 

However if you put , between multiple ranges within the same line of the code you can select multiple ranges as given under

Range("A1:A10,D1:D10,F1:F10").Select 

How to use Multiple Ranges in Excel VBA

Following macro code will explain you how to use multiple ranges in Excel VBA

Sub Multiple_ranges()
Range("A1:A10").Select                                                                                                       
MsgBox ("Single Range Selected")
Range("A1:A10,D1:D10,F1:F10").Select
MsgBox ("Multiple Ranges Selected")
Selection.Copy
Range("A11").Select
ActiveSheet.Paste
End Sub 

In the above macro we have selected range three different ranges

A1:A10
D1:D10
F1:F10

After selection we have copied the contents to Range A11. Another option for doing this was to copy the contents one by one for each of the range. However copy and paste is only one of the example you can use this for any desired action by you.

You can combine multiple ranges into one Range object using the Union method.

The following example creates a Range object called myMultipleRange, defines it as the ranges A1:B2 and C3:D4, and then formats the combined ranges as bold.

Sub MultipleRange() Dim r1, r2, myMultipleRange As Range Set r1 = Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:B2") Set r2 = Sheets("Sheet1").Range("C3:D4") Set myMultipleRange = Union(r1, r2) myMultipleRange.Font.Bold = True End Sub

Macros in Excel : Pivot Table with Dynamic Data Range

One common issue while creating / recording a macro for Pivot table is the data range of Pivot table gets recorded. Next time when you use the same macro data range for the pivot table will be same as it was at the time of recording of macro. If you do not notice this the report created by macro may represent wrong picture. This may be due to increase in the data size.

However there is a way to overcome this problem by using dynamic data range with the help of Excel Offset Function. Before creating the pivot by macro you need to create dynamic data range using offset function.

Then you create a Pivot with the named range.

See the macro code given below for better understanding

Sub Pivot_with_Dynamic_range()
' This creates Dynamic data range named "PvtData"

ActiveWorkbook.Names.Add Name:="PvtData", RefersToR1C1:= _
"=OFFSET('Data'!R2C1,0,0,COUNTA('Data'!C1),COUNTA('Data'!R2))"

' This creates Pivot using Dynamic data range named "PvtData"

ActiveWorkbook.PivotCaches.Add(SourceType:=xlDatabase, SourceData:= _
"PvtData").CreatePivotTable TableDestination:="", TableName:="PivotTable1"
ActiveSheet.PivotTableWizard TableDestination:=ActiveSheet.Cells(3, 1)
ActiveSheet.Cells(3, 1).Select
ActiveSheet.PivotTables("PivotTable1").SmallGrid = False

End Sub

The above code handles the major issue of dynamic data range and will create blank pivot table for your data, you need to add the required fields to complete your report. In this data is available at Sheet named "Data" and starting point of the data is Row 2 Column 1 or Cell "A2". You will need to change these references while using the above code in your macro.

Macro Pivot Table , Pivottable VBA , Pivot Table VBA , Pivot Table Macro , Dynamic Pivot Table , Pivot Table Dynamic Range

Defining dynamic ranges / range names in Excel

Many time we use a range in our working which keeps on changing with addition/deletion of data. Common problem here is that user needs to keep refreshing / redefining the range.

However we can use dynamic range / range names and do away with redefining problem for ever. This is done with the help of OFFSET function of excel.

Offset returns a reference to a range that is a specified number of rows and columns from a cell or range of cells. The reference that is returned can be a single cell or a range of cells. You can specify the number of rows and the number of columns to be returned.
See the picture on defining dynamic date range name.



Formula used is =OFFSET(Sheet1!$B$3,0,0,COUNTA(Sheet1!$B:$B),4)

See video for further explanation



Where all excel offset function can be used
You can use excel offset function wherever you use range in your formula. Such as Vlookup, Hlookup, Sum, Min, Max, Pivot tables etc.

Syntax
OFFSET(reference,rows,cols,height,width)
Reference is the reference from which you want to base the offset. Reference must be a reference to a cell or range of adjacent cells; otherwise, OFFSET returns the #VALUE! error value

Rows is the number of rows, up or down, that you want the upper-left cell to refer to. Using 5 as the rows argument specifies that the upper-left cell in the reference is five rows below reference. Rows can be positive (which means below the starting reference) or negative (which means above the starting reference).

Cols is the number of columns, to the left or right, that you want the upper-left cell of the result to refer to. Using 5 as the cols argument specifies that the upper-left cell in the reference is five columns to the right of reference. Cols can be positive (which means to the right of the starting reference) or negative (which means to the left of the starting reference).

If rows and cols offset reference over the edge of the worksheet, OFFSET returns the #REF! error value.

Height is the height, in number of rows, that you want the returned reference to be. Height must be a positive number.

Width is the width, in number of columns, that you want the returned reference to be. Width must be a positive number.

If height or width is omitted, it is assumed to be the same height or width as reference.

How to fill blank cells in excel data range with cell above it

Many times we need to compile data using pivot table. However when you copy data from a pivot table we find blank cells below a row label and it is big challenge to fill all those blanks with row lables. There is very simple way to fill all blank cells.

Step 1 - Select the entire range you need to fill

Step - 2Edit > Goto > Special > Blanks.

Once you click OK button, excel will select the blank cells.

Step -3 Enter the cell reference of immediate above cell in active cell without changing the selection. Hold control key and press enter



See video attached.