Finding the End of the Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 18, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


2

When you press Ctrl+End, Excel takes you to the bottom cell of your worksheet. This is defined as the intersection of the right-most column and the bottom row. If you delete some rows or columns in the worksheet, you would expect that Ctrl+End would still take you to the bottom cell. It does not, however. What it does is take you to the original bottom cell.

For instance, if you load a worksheet for which the bottom cell is H20, and then delete three rows and one column, you would expect Ctrl+End to take you to G17. Instead, it still takes you to H20.

The only way around this is to save the file. You don't have to close it, simply save the file. Doing so causes Excel to recalculate the bottom cell.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1923) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is two minus 0?

2016-06-12 06:28:47

Willy Vanhaelen

You can also add this macro to your personal book:

Sub GoToLastCell()
If TypeName(Selection) <> "Range" Then Exit Sub
ActiveSheet.UsedRange.SpecialCells(xlLastCell).Select
End Sub

You can it assign the shortcut key Alt+Ctrl+End in "ThisWorkbook" of you personal book:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Application.OnKey "^%{end}", "GoToLastCell" 'Alt+Ctrl+End
End Sub

From now on when you press Alt+Ctrl+End you always get the real last cell no matter whether you deleted some column/rows or not even if your file hasn't been saved.


2016-06-11 05:09:47

Rick Rothstein

Another way around the problem (in case you don't want to physically save the file at that particular time) is to go into the VB editor (press Alt+F11 from any worksheet) and execute a command in the Immediate Window (press Ctrl+G if not visible) that involves the UsedRange. For example, executing this in the Immediate window clears the problem...

? ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Address


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