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Excel - Fixing Excel Macro Recorder Issues: Dynamically Name Ranges - Episode 676

1,080 views · Published 19 February 2009 · 3:03 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial:  Fixing Excel Macro Recorder Issues: Dynamically Name Ranges.

Welcome back to another MrExcel netcast! In this episode, we have a question from Paul in Derby who had previously shared a great tip on using named ranges with VLOOKUP. This time, Paul has a question about using the macro recorder to record a named range. He noticed that the recorded macro always hard-codes the range, making it frustrating to use when the data changes. But don't worry, we have a solution for this issue!

To start, we'll use the macro recorder to record a new macro and name it "aaaNameRange". Then, we'll select the entire current region by pressing control+& and define a name for it, such as "MyData". However, when we run the macro on a different set of data, we'll notice that it still refers to the original range. This is where Paul's frustration lies, and we'll show you how to fix it.

Let's take a look at the code generated by the macro recorder. We'll see that it uses the CurrentRegion.Select method, which is not very efficient. Instead, we can simply use the Selection.Name method and specify the name of the range in quotes. This will ensure that the named range is always referring to the current region, no matter how the data changes.

Now, let's test it out. We'll delete a few cells and the original definition of "MyData". Then, we'll run the macro again and see that it correctly names the entire current region. This trick not only solves the issue of hard-coded ranges, but it also simplifies the code.

So, thank you to Paul for sending in this great question and thank you for tuning in to another MrExcel netcast. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest videos. We'll see you next time for more Excel tips and tricks!"

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Paul uses the macro recorder to record the action of naming the current region. The macro recorder never gets this correct. There is a far simpler version of code to create named ranges. Episode 676 will show you how to replace the recorded code.

Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction and question from Paul 
(00:15) Paul's suggestion for using macro recorder 
(00:25) Paul's issue with macro recorder 
(00:35) Paul's solution for naming ranges 
(01:03) Problem with macro recorder's hard-coded range 
(01:26) Alternative solution for naming ranges 
(02:39) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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