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: Worksheet Events.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 6, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
One of the beauties of creating macros for Excel is that they can be event-driven. This means that you can create macros that will run automatically when specific, well-defined events happen within Excel. These events can happen either on a worksheet or a workbook level.
The easiest way to see what worksheet events are available is to follow these steps:
At this point, the right-hand drop-down list contains all the events that you can "trap" for this worksheet. The available events may vary, according to your version of Excel. In Excel 2003 the following events are available:
The names of the events should be descriptive enough that you can tell what triggers each of them. If you choose one of the events, you can create the macro you want run when the event actually occurs.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2569) 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: Worksheet Events.
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