Determining Mouse Cursor Coordinates On a Graphic

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 2, 2021)

Gerald notes that when moving the mouse over a picture on a worksheet the mouse pointer is a cross. He wants to know how he can determine, using VBA, the coordinates of the cross when the mouse is clicked.

Excel doesn't allow you (even with VBA) to get the coordinates of the mouse pointer on a graphic inserted as a regular picture in the worksheet. If you insert the picture using an Image object in the Control toolbox, you have quite a bit more latitude. Indeed, you can use the MouseDown event handler to determine the coordinates, as shown here:

Private Sub Image1_MouseDown(ByVal Button As Integer, _
  ByVal Shift As Integer, ByVal X As Single, _
  ByVal Y As Single)
    MsgBox X & ", " & Y
End Sub

This code assumes that the image is named Image1. Similar code could be used to display the cursor coordinates in real time on the status bar:

Private Sub Image1_MouseMove(ByVal Button As Integer, _
  ByVal Shift As Integer, ByVal X As Single, _
  ByVal Y As Single)
    Application.StatusBar = Round(X, 0) & "," & Round(Y, 0)
End Sub

Either (or both) of these event handlers are obviously associated with Image1, so they need to be added to the code window for that object.

Note:

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ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3421) 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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