Flashing Cells
by
Allen Wyatt
(last updated February 1, 2014)
Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions:
2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip
may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of
Excel, click here: Flashing Cells.
Many people use the conditional formatting features of Excel to draw attention to
specific values or areas of their worksheets. For instance, a cell might be
formatted so that its contents are displayed in red or in boldface if above or
below a certain threshold.
What is missing, however, is a way to make the contents of a cell flash, or blink
on and off. For such a feat, you are left to your own devices and the miracle of
macros. By utilizing these tools, you can make cells blink by first designing a
special style for the blinking cells, and then running a simple macro.
To create the special style, follow these steps:
1.
Select the cell that you want to flash on and off. (Make sure the
cell has something in it; it should not be blank.)
2.
Make sure the Home tab is displayed on the ribbon.
3.
In the Styles group, click Cell Styles. Excel displays a drop-down
selections of pre-defined styles.
Figure 1. The Style dialog box.
5.
In the Style Name box enter the name "Flashing" (without the
quote marks).
6.
Using the controls in the dialog box, modify any attributes for the
style, as you desire.
7.
Click on OK.
You can now apply the style to any other cells you desire in your workbook. Now
create the macros (there are two of them), as follows:
Dim NextTime As Date
Sub StartFlash()
NextTime = Now + TimeValue("00:00:01")
With ActiveWorkbook.Styles("Flashing").Font
If .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic Then .ColorIndex = 3
.ColorIndex = 5 - .ColorIndex
End With
Application.OnTime NextTime, "StartFlash"
Sub StopFlash()
Application.OnTime NextTime, "StartFlash", schedule:=False
ActiveWorkbook.Styles("Flashing").Font.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End Sub
To start the items flashing, simply run StartFlash. The cells formatted with the
Flashing style will alternate between red and white text approximately once a
second. When you want to turn the flashing off, simply run the StopFlash macro.
There is one important thing to note about this macro: the variable NextTime is
declared
outside
of the actual procedure in which it is used. This is done so that
NextTime maintains its value from one invocation of StartFlash to the next.
ExcelTips
is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip
(7223) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version
of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here:
Flashing Cells
.
Related Tips:
Formatting Currency
Using Fractional Number Formats
Professional Looking Fractions
Displaying Negative Times
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Comments for this tip:
Sat
25 Jun 2015, 08:29
Excellent! Worked like a charm. Thank you!
I too have the same question like Dave. I wanted to enable the flash everytime I open the
excel book, not manually running the macro, any idea if this is possible please
STEVE
28 May 2015, 15:36
INSTRUCTION ARE NOT CLEAR, STEPS ARE NOT 100% COMPLETE
NItesh
15 Apr 2015, 15:22
Its Working Good.
Thanks :)
One more question how to flash the cell background(fill color)???
Abdul
18 Feb 2015, 01:56
Hi,
It's not clear please explain with Screenshoot.
MNDooley
21 Dec 2014, 13:01
If you are getting a:
Runtime error 9
With ActiveWorkbook.Styles("Flashing").Font
is highlighted you need to change Flashing to what ever you named your style.
Barry
18 Dec 2014, 05:22
It is sometimes easier for Users simply to have the macro toggle a cell value between TRUE
and FALSE and use conditional formatting to flash whatever formatting the user desires
without the need to delve into the macro itself and the to have knowledge of properties of the
of cells and restrictions on the value they can be set to.
This will eliminate most of the "script out of range" errors people are experiencing.
Aldo
12 Dec 2014, 17:19
KC
"Subscript out of Range"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa264519%28v=vs.60%29.aspx
Ezi Suhaini Idrus
09 Dec 2014, 01:51
Hi,
This works wonderfully for me to do my presentation.
However, am having one tiny problem that is to start flashing once the file is saved and
emailed.
hope i can get some tips on this one.
KC
03 Dec 2014, 09:17
Myself and others are getting the Run-Time Error "9" saying "Subscript out of Range" on the
.ColorIndex = 5 - .ColorIndex statement in the macro. Can anyone tell me (us) how to
resolve this issue?
Hi I ran this macro but I cannot stop it..message pops up -Runtime error 1004, Method
'ontime' of the object'_application'failed.
Can anyone please help
Greg
17 Sep 2014, 12:00
The very first part has me confused.
How do I "dim next time as date"
John Chapman
09 Aug 2014, 04:37
I cannot make this work. I get the following error - Cannot run the Macro... The macro may
not be available in this workbook, or all macro's may be disabled.
I have enabled Macros and the Macro is in the workbook!!
michael
16 Jul 2014, 04:50
where are the responses to questions?
Girish Y Sutar
03 Jul 2014, 14:40
Please teach me...once again cause unable to run macro
shamsher
17 Jun 2014, 06:23
runtime error 9
script out of range
yellowcolor on this line
.ColorIndex = 5 - .ColorIndex
Sk Reyazuddin
13 Jun 2014, 07:59
Hi Allen!
Its a great knowledge for me to use "Flashing" function in my workbook.
Its really great.
But it has not actual I needed. When I apply "Flashing" the whole workbook is set to flash. I
only want to flash some specified cells.
Thanks & looking forward.
Sk Reyazuddin
Shubhabrata Dey
06 Mar 2014, 06:21
HI,
What if I have a conditional formatting on a cell and its value is variable i.e. it will keep on
changing based on certain calculations and I want the entire cell/text in the cell to blink even
though the background color of the cell changes based on its value? Your above code works
only when the Cell Style has been defined at the very beginning. I do not wish to define the
Cell Style as I want my cell to be dynamic.
Please help.
Many thanks.
Mark
21 Feb 2014, 16:31
The Styles group from my Home ribbon does not display New Cells Style, only Conditional
Formatting and Format A Table. Is there another way to edit cell styles?
Nitin
05 Feb 2014, 05:00
Can the flash format be activated conditionally ?
Say if the value in each of a particular range of cells goes below a specified limit, the value
flashes - drawing attention...
Dave
03 Feb 2014, 12:10
This worked great, but is there a way to make the macro automatically start when the
workbook is open?
jaub
03 Feb 2014, 09:41
Works great! Thanks - this is fun.
Andrew
03 Feb 2014, 04:36
It work fine for me as well as long as I put into a module rather than try to make a sheet
Jack
01 Feb 2014, 17:28
Dave:
It worked just fine for me.
At first, it did not.
I needed to apply the "Flashing" style to the cell, then run the macro.
Dave Hansen
01 Feb 2014, 16:03
I copied these macros exactly as shown and pasted them in the individual macro
I made sure the cell involved was formatted as shown in the instructions.
Upon running the "Start Flash" macro nothing happens.
I placed a stop in the sub just before the "End With" statement.
If .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic Then .ColorIndex = 3
.ColorIndex = 5 - .ColorIndex
When the macro stopped I then looked at the beginning variable ".colorindex ="
That variable had a value of "1" not "Automatic" so the If statement fails and the macro stops
without exicution of the actual flashing operation.
This causes a HMMMM in my mind. Something is not right somewhere. If the Format is
correct then something in the code does not create an error but is not finding the
"xlAutomatic" correctly.
????????
Dave Hansen
Barry Fitzpatrick
01 Feb 2014, 08:56
Note: Also because macros are running every second the "Undo" stack will be cleared every
second, rendering it unusable.
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