Turning Off Screen Updating

Summary: Your Excel macros may be a bit slow if they do a lot of changes to data in your worksheets. You an significantly speed up the macros by adding just a couple of lines of code in order to turn off screen updating. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

Many people write their own macros to manipulate the information in a workbook. Many times the macro may do quite a bit with the data, such as selecting different cells, replacing values or formulas, and taking other types of actions. This means that the Excel screen can look like it has "gone crazy" while the macro is running.

One thing you may want to do with your macro to make it run faster and to prevent distracting flashes on the screen is to turn off screen updating while the macro is running. The following macro lines will, respectively, turn off screen updating and then turn it back on in a VBA macro.

Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

The idea is to use the first line near the beginning of your macro, and then use the second line near the end. Thus, the main body of your macro can do its work behind the scenes without the necessity of stopping to update the screen.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2498) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Save Time and Money! Many people need to keep track of employee time, but don't know where to start when it comes to creating a spreadsheet. Here's a way to save time, effort, and money with ready-to-use timesheet templates.

Check out Timesheet Templates today!

Helpful Links

Newest Tips

Subscribe

RSS Feeds

Turning Off Screen Updating