XL98: Error Applying Comment When Worksheets Are Grouped (182136)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
This article was previously published under Q182136

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, if you run a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro that attempts to add a comment to a cell in a worksheet, you may receive the following error message:
Run-time error '1004':
NoteText method of Range class failed
The same macro works without error in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

CAUSE

This error message occurs when the macro contains a line of code similar to the following 
   ActiveCell.NoteText Text:="This is a comment."
to add a comment to a cell, and two or more worksheets are grouped or selected.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1: Use the Range and NoteText Methods

Do not use the NoteText method with the ActiveCell property directly. Instead, use the ActiveCell property to determine what cell to comment, and then apply the comment to that cell using the Range and NoteText methods. The following sample macro demonstrates this technique: 
    Sub Test1()

       'Use "Range(ActiveCell.Address)" in place of "ActiveCell."
       Range(ActiveCell.Address).NoteText Text:="This is a comment."

   End Sub

Method 2: Use a Loop

To apply the same comment to the active cell in all of the grouped worksheets, you can use For Each and Next statements to loop through all of the worksheets. The following sample macro demonstrates this technique: 
   Sub Test2()

       'For each currently selected worksheet...
       For Each xSheet In ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets

           '...add a comment to the active cell in that sheet.
           xSheet.Range(ActiveCell.Address).NoteText Text:="Hello!"

       'Repeat for all of the grouped worksheets.
       Next xSheet

   End Sub

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition.

MORE INFORMATION

In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, if you run a macro that contains the following line of code 
   ActiveCell.NoteText Text:="This is a comment."
the comment is only applied to the active cell in the active worksheet. Even though other worksheets may be grouped, the comment is not applied to them, and you do not receive an error message.

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, if you run a macro that contains this line of code when multiple worksheets are grouped, you receive the error message mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

Note that in all versions of Microsoft Excel, you cannot manually comment a cell by clicking Comment or Note on the Insert menu when multiple worksheets are grouped.

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/10/2006
Keywords:kbdtacode kbprb kbProgramming KB182136
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