Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Reversing Cell Contents.

Reversing Cell Contents

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 30, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

Did you ever want to reverse the contents of what is contained in a cell? Using the Reverse macro, you can easily change "My text" to "txet yM." The macro is instructive in techniques to access and modify the contents of a cell.

Sub Reverse()
    If Not ActiveCell.HasFormula Then
        sRaw = ActiveCell.Text
        sNew = ""
        For J = 1 To Len(sRaw)
            sNew = Mid(sRaw, J, 1) + sNew
        Next J
        ActiveCell.Value = sNew
    End If
End Sub

This macro only affects a single selected cell, and it will not make any changes to a cell that already contains a formula.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2322) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Reversing Cell Contents.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Turning Off Paste Options

Paste information into a document and you'll immediately see a small icon next to the pasted information. This icon ...

Discover More

Hiding Formatting Changes in Track Changes

Word can easily (and handily) keep track of changes you make in your document. You may not want all your changes tracked, ...

Discover More

Storing Macros in Templates

How Excel uses templates is different than how Word uses templates. This tip looks at those differences and discusses ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Determining the RGB Value of a Color

Excel allows you to fill a cell's background with just about any color you want. If you need to determine the RGB value ...

Discover More

Determining if Calculation is Necessary

When processing a worksheet with a macro, it may be helpful to periodically recalculate the worksheet. Wouldn't it be ...

Discover More

Deleting a Macro

Don't need that old macro any more? Here's how to get rid of it so that it is no longer a part of your workbook.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is six minus 4?

2018-02-24 05:55:37

Rick Rothstein

You can eliminate the loop by using VB's built-in StrReverse function...

Sub Reverse()
If Not ActiveCell.HasFormula Then
ActiveCell.Value = StrReverse(ActiveCell.Text)
End If
End Sub


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.