Error in finding last used cell in Excel with VBA

Question

When I want to find the last used cell value, I use:

Dim LastRow As Long

LastRow = Range("E4:E48").End(xlDown).Row

Debug.Print LastRow

I am getting the wrong output when I put a single element into a cell. But when I put more than one value into the cell, the output is correct. What's the reason behind this?

Answer 1

Here's my two cents.

IMHO the risk of a hidden row with data being excluded is too significant to let xlUp be considered a One stop answer. I agree it's simple and will work MOST of the time, but it presents the risk of understating the last row, without any warning. This could produce CATASTROPHIC results at some poinit for someone who jumped on Stack Overlow and was looking to "sure way" to capture this value.

The Find method is flawless and I would approve of it as a One Stop Answer. However the drawback of changing the Find settings can be annoying, particularly if this is part of a UDF.

The other answers posted are okay, however the complexity gets a little excessive. Thus here's my attempt to find a balance of reliability, minimal complexity, and not using Find.

Function LastRowNumber(Optional rng As Range) As Long

If rng Is Nothing Then
    Set rng = ActiveSheet.UsedRange
Else
    Set rng = Intersect(rng.Parent.UsedRange, rng.EntireColumn)
    If rng Is Nothing Then
        LastRowNumber = 1
        Exit Function
    ElseIf isE = 0 Then
        LastRowNumber = 1
        Exit Function

    End If

End If

LastRowNumber = rng.Cells(rng.Rows.Count, 1).Row

Do While IsEmpty(Intersect(rng, _
    rng.Parent.Rows(LastRowNumber)))

    LastRowNumber = LastRowNumber - 1
Loop

End Function

Why this is good:

• Reasonably simple, not a lot of variables.
• Allows for multiple columns.
• Doesn't modify Find settings
• Dynamic if used as a UDF with the entire column selected.

Why this is bad:

• With very large sets of data and a massive gap between used range and last row in specified columns, this will perform slower, in rare cases SIGNIFICANTLY slower.

However, I think a One-Stop-Solution that has a drawback of messing up find settings or performing slower is a better overall solution. A user can then tinker with their settings to try to improve, knowing what's going on with their code. Using xLUp will not warn of the potential risks and they could carry on for who knows how long not knowing their code was not working correctly.

Answer 2

Since the original question is about problems with finding the last cell, in this answer I will list the various ways you can get unexpected results; see my answer to "How can I find last row that contains data in the Excel sheet with a macro?" for my take on solving this.

I'll start by expanding on the answer by sancho.s and the comment by GlennFromIowa, adding even more detail:

[...] one has first to decide what is considered used. I see at least 6 meanings. Cell has:

• 1) data, i.e., a formula, possibly resulting in a blank value;
• 2) a value, i.e., a non-blank formula or constant;
• 3) formatting;
• 4) conditional formatting;
• 5) a shape (including Comment) overlapping the cell;
• 6) involvement in a Table (List Object).

Which combination do you want to test for? Some (such as Tables) may be more difficult to test for, and some may be rare (such as a shape outside of data range), but others may vary based on the situation (e.g., formulas with blank values).

Other things you might want to consider:

• A) Can there be hidden rows (e.g. autofilter), blank cells or blank rows?
• B) What kind of performance is acceptable?
• C) Can the VBA macro affect the workbook or the application settings in any way?

With that in mind, let's see how the common ways of getting the "last cell" can produce unexpected results:

• The .End(xlDown) code from the question will break most easily (e.g. with a single non-empty cell or when there are blank cells in between) for the reasons explained in the answer by Siddharth Rout here (search for "xlDown is equally unreliable.")

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Answer 3

NOTE: I intend to make this a "one stop post" where you can use the Correct way to find the last row. This will also cover the best practices to follow when finding the last row. And hence I will keep on updating it whenever I come across a new scenario/information.

---

Unreliable ways of finding the last row

Some of the most common ways of finding last row which are highly unreliable and hence should never be used.

1. UsedRange
2. xlDown
3. CountA

UsedRange should NEVER be used to find the last cell which has data. It is highly unreliable. Try this experiment.

Type something in cell A5. Now when you calculate the last row with any of the methods given below, it will give you 5. Now color the cell A10 red. If you now use the any of the below code, you will still get 5. If you use Usedrange.Rows.Count what do you get? It won't be 5.

Here is a scenario to show how UsedRange works.

xlDown is equally unreliable.

Consider this code

lastrow = Range("A1").End(xlDown).Row

What would happen if there was only one cell (A1) which had data? You will end up reaching the last row in the worksheet! It's like selecting cell A1 and then pressing End key and then pressing Down Arrow key. This will also give you unreliable results if there are blank cells in a range.

CountA is also unreliable because it will give you incorrect result if there are blank cells in between.

And hence one should avoid the use of UsedRange, xlDown and CountA to find the last cell.

---

Find Last Row in a Column

To find the last Row in Col E use this

With Sheets("Sheet1")
    LastRow = .Range("E" & .Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
End With

If you notice that we have a . before Rows.Count. We often chose to ignore that. See THIS question on the possible error that you may get. I always advise using . before Rows.Count and Columns.Count. That question is a classic scenario where the code will fail because the Rows.Count returns 65536 for Excel 2003 and earlier and 1048576 for Excel 2007 and later. Similarly Columns.Count returns 256 and 16384, respectively.

The above fact that Excel 2007+ has 1048576 rows also emphasizes on the fact that we should always declare the variable which will hold the row value as Long instead of Integer else you will get an Overflow error.

Note that this approach will skip any hidden rows. Looking back at my screenshot above for column A, if row 8 were hidden, this approach would return 5 instead of 8.

---

Find Last Row in a Sheet

To find the Effective last row in the sheet, use this. Notice the use of Application.WorksheetFunction.CountA(.Cells). This is required because if there are no cells with data in the worksheet then .Find will give you Run Time Error 91: Object Variable or With block variable not set

With Sheets("Sheet1")
    If Application.WorksheetFunction.CountA(.Cells) <> 0 Then
        lastrow = .Cells.Find(What:="*", _
                      After:=.Range("A1"), _
                      Lookat:=xlPart, _
                      LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
                      SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
                      SearchDirection:=xlPrevious, _
                      MatchCase:=False).Row
    Else
        lastrow = 1
    End If
End With

---

Find Last Row in a Table (ListObject)

The same principles apply, for example to get the last row in the third column of a table:

Sub FindLastRowInExcelTableColAandB()
Dim lastRow As Long
Dim ws As Worksheet, tbl as ListObject
Set ws = Sheets("Sheet1")  'Modify as needed
'Assuming the name of the table is "Table1", modify as needed
Set tbl = ws.ListObjects("Table1")

With tbl.ListColumns(3).Range
    lastrow = .Find(What:="*", _
                After:=.Cells(1), _
                Lookat:=xlPart, _
                LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
                SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
                SearchDirection:=xlPrevious, _
                MatchCase:=False).Row
End With

End Sub

Answer 4

However this question is seeking to find the last row using VBA, I think it would be good to include an array formula for worksheet function as this gets visited frequently:

{=ADDRESS(MATCH(INDEX(D:D,MAX(IF(D:D<>"",ROW(D:D)-ROW(D1)+1)),1),D:D,0),COLUMN(D:D))}

You need to enter the formula without brackets and then hit Shift + Ctrl + Enter to make it an array formula.

This will give you address of last used cell in the column D.

Answer 5

I wonder that nobody has mentioned this, But the easiest way of getting the last used cell is:

Function GetLastCell(sh as Worksheet) As Range
    GetLastCell = sh.Cells(1,1).SpecialCells(xlLastCell)
End Function

This essentially returns the same cell that you get by Ctrl + End after selecting Cell A1.

A word of caution: Excel keeps track of the most bottom-right cell that was ever used in a worksheet. So if for example you enter something in B3 and something else in H8 and then later on delete the contents of H8, pressing Ctrl + End will still take you to H8 cell. The above function will have the same behavior.

Answer 6

I created this one-stop function for determining the last row, column and cell, be it for data, formatted (grouped/commented/hidden) cells or conditional formatting.

Sub LastCellMsg()
    Dim strResult As String
    Dim lngDataRow As Long
    Dim lngDataCol As Long
    Dim strDataCell As String
    Dim strDataFormatRow As String
    Dim lngDataFormatCol As Long
    Dim strDataFormatCell As String
    Dim oFormatCond As FormatCondition
    Dim lngTempRow As Long
    Dim lngTempCol As Long
    Dim lngCFRow As Long
    Dim lngCFCol As Long
    Dim strCFCell As String
    Dim lngOverallRow As Long
    Dim lngOverallCol As Long
    Dim strOverallCell As String

    With ActiveSheet

        If .ListObjects.Count > 0 Then
            MsgBox "Cannot return reliable results, as there is at least one table in the worksheet."
            Exit Sub
        End If

        strResult = "Workbook name: " & .Parent.Name & vbCrLf
        strResult = strResult & "Sheet name: " & .Name & vbCrLf

        'DATA:
        'last data row
        If Application.WorksheetFunction.CountA(.Cells) <> 0 Then
            lngDataRow = .Cells.Find(What:="*", _
             After:=.Range("A1"), _
             Lookat:=xlPart, _
             LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
             SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
             SearchDirection:=xlPrevious, _
             MatchCase:=False).Row
        Else
            lngDataRow = 1
        End If
        'strResult = strResult & "Last data row: " & lngDataRow & vbCrLf

        'last data column
        If Application.WorksheetFunction.CountA(.Cells) <> 0 Then
            lngDataCol = .Cells.Find(What:="*", _
             After:=.Range("A1"), _
             Lookat:=xlPart, _
             LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
             SearchOrder:=xlByColumns, _
             SearchDirection:=xlPrevious, _
             MatchCase:=False).Column
        Else
            lngDataCol = 1
        End If
        'strResult = strResult & "Last data column: " & lngDataCol & vbCrLf

        'last data cell
        strDataCell = Replace(Cells(lngDataRow, lngDataCol).Address, "$", vbNullString)
        strResult = strResult & "Last data cell: " & strDataCell & vbCrLf

        'FORMATS:
        'last data/formatted/grouped/commented/hidden row
        strDataFormatRow = StrReverse(Split(StrReverse(.UsedRange.Address), "$")(0))
        'strResult = strResult & "Last data/formatted row: " & strDataFormatRow & vbCrLf

        'last data/formatted/grouped/commented/hidden column
        lngDataFormatCol = Range(StrReverse(Split(StrReverse(.UsedRange.Address), "$")(1)) & "1").Column
        'strResult = strResult & "Last data/formatted column: " & lngDataFormatCol & vbCrLf

        'last data/formatted/grouped/commented/hidden cell
        strDataFormatCell = Replace(Cells(strDataFormatRow, lngDataFormatCol).Address, "$", vbNullString)
        strResult = strResult & "Last data/formatted cell: " & strDataFormatCell & vbCrLf

        'CONDITIONAL FORMATS:
        For Each oFormatCond In .Cells.FormatConditions

            'last conditionally-formatted row
            lngTempRow = CLng(StrReverse(Split(StrReverse(oFormatCond.AppliesTo.Address), "$")(0)))
            If lngTempRow > lngCFRow Then lngCFRow = lngTempRow

            'last conditionally-formatted column
            lngTempCol = Range(StrReverse(Split(StrReverse(oFormatCond.AppliesTo.Address), "$")(1)) & "1").Column
            If lngTempCol > lngCFCol Then lngCFCol = lngTempCol
        Next
        'no results are returned for Conditional Format if there is no such
        If lngCFRow <> 0 Then
            'strResult = strResult & "Last cond-formatted row: " & lngCFRow & vbCrLf
            'strResult = strResult & "Last cond-formatted column: " & lngCFCol & vbCrLf

            'last conditionally-formatted cell
            strCFCell = Replace(Cells(lngCFRow, lngCFCol).Address, "$", vbNullString)
            strResult = strResult & "Last cond-formatted cell: " & strCFCell & vbCrLf
        End If

        'OVERALL:
        lngOverallRow = Application.WorksheetFunction.Max(lngDataRow, strDataFormatRow, lngCFRow)
        'strResult = strResult & "Last overall row: " & lngOverallRow & vbCrLf
        lngOverallCol = Application.WorksheetFunction.Max(lngDataCol, lngDataFormatCol, lngCFCol)
        'strResult = strResult & "Last overall column: " & lngOverallCol & vbCrLf
        strOverallCell = Replace(.Cells(lngOverallRow, lngOverallCol).Address, "$", vbNullString)
        strResult = strResult & "Last overall cell: " & strOverallCell & vbCrLf

        MsgBox strResult
        Debug.Print strResult

    End With

End Sub

Results look like this:

For more detailed results, some lines in the code can be uncommented:

One limitation exists - if there are tables in the sheet, results can become unreliable, so I decided to avoid running the code in this case:

If .ListObjects.Count > 0 Then
    MsgBox "Cannot return reliable results, as there is at least one table in the worksheet."
    Exit Sub
End If