Excel resetting “UsedRange”

Question

Don't know what I'm missing, but the examples I see posted do not appear to work.

I import data from a web query. I set the query to clear unused cells when it re-queries.

I used this imported data to generate a report of variable length.

However if the user (as they need to do in my case) insert rows then the ActiveSheet.UsedRange is expanded. This means I cannot any longer just do a "Ctrl-End" to find the last row in the data set when a new query is performed.

I can easily clear any data with ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Clear. However if the previous query generated a 2 or 3 page report any subsequent query will also be that long even when there is less data because the "UsedRange" still points to that last row way down there.

The examples shown like

ActiveSheet.UsedRange
ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Clear
a = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count

do not reset the range.

MS defines UsedRange as a readOnly property.

It appears what needs to happen is a "File Save" in order to complete the action.

ActiveWorkbook.Save

One post noted that in older versions of Excel you also had to close the workbook and reopen it to complete the action.

I would like to know 1. What is the version cutoff where this behavior changed? 2. Is there some other method using a VBA macro which will reset the range?

Answer 1

Here is how I inserted your code.

    Sheets("Edit Data").Select
'    Range("A6").Select
'    Range(Selection, ActiveCell.SpecialCells(xlLastCell)).Select
'    Selection.Delete Shift:=xlUp
'    ActiveWorkbook.Save
    With Worksheets("Edit Data")
        Debug.Print .UsedRange.Address(0, 0)
        .UsedRange.Clear
        .UsedRange    '<~~ called by itself will reset it
        Debug.Print .UsedRange.Address(0, 0)
    End With

Here is the full used range with data

Here is the used range after your code executed

The end of range should be i7 instead it is still i26

However the code which I commented out does reset range to i7

From what you are saying just to confirm. My commented out code will only work for Excel 2010 and newer. We have some 2007 versions hanging around. For those the workbook will actually have to be closed and reopened for the range to reset?

Note- the code examples were executed on version 2016

Answer 2

Best code that worked for me:

Sub DeleteUnused()
Dim myLastRow As Long
Dim myLastCol As Long
Dim dummyRng As Range
Dim AnyMerged As Variant
'http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlfaqApp.html#Unused
'Helps to reset the usedrange by deleting rows and columns AFTER your true used range

    'Check for merged cells
    AnyMerged = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.MergeCells
    If AnyMerged = True Or IsNull(AnyMerged) Then
        MsgBox "There are merged cells on this sheet." & vbCrLf & _
               "The macro will not work with merged cells.", vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "Macro will be Stopped"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    With ActiveSheet
        myLastRow = 0
        myLastCol = 0
        Set dummyRng = .UsedRange
        On Error Resume Next
        myLastRow = _
        .Cells.Find("*", after:=.Cells(1), _
                    LookIn:=xlFormulas, lookat:=xlWhole, _
                    searchdirection:=xlPrevious, _
                    searchorder:=xlByRows).Row
        myLastCol = _
        .Cells.Find("*", after:=.Cells(1), _
                    LookIn:=xlFormulas, lookat:=xlWhole, _
                    searchdirection:=xlPrevious, _
                    searchorder:=xlByColumns).Column
        On Error GoTo 0

        If myLastRow * myLastCol = 0 Then
            .Columns.Delete
        Else
            .Range(.Cells(myLastRow + 1, 1), _
                   .Cells(.Rows.Count, 1)).EntireRow.Delete
            .Range(.Cells(1, myLastCol + 1), _
                   .Cells(1, .Columns.Count)).EntireColumn.Delete
        End If
    End With

End Sub

Answer 3

Thanks to Claus for having the correct answer, but it is incomplete, and he completed it with a comment on the main post. I'll answer here to combine the useful bits into a single working solution.

Note: I have not tried variations to see which steps are necessary, but these steps work to clear unnecessary used range.

Sub ResetUsedRange()
dim rngToDelete as range

set rngToDelete = 'Whatever you want

rngToDelete.EntireRow.Clear
rngToDelete.EntireRow.Select
Selection.Delete Shift:=xlUp

ActiveWorkbook.Save 'This step has been stated to be necessary for the range to reset.

End Sub

Answer 4

This works for me in Excel 2010:

Worksheets("Sheet1").UsedRange.Clear  
Worksheets("Sheet1").UsedRange.Calculate

Answer 5

This is the solution I used.

Sub CorrectUsedRange()
    Dim values
    Dim usedRangeAddress As String
    Dim r As Range
    'Get UsedRange Address prior to deleting Range
    usedRangeAddress = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Address
    'Store values of cells to array.
    values = ActiveSheet.UsedRange
    'Delete all cells in the sheet
    ActiveSheet.Cells.Delete
    'Restore values to their initial locations
    Range(usedRangeAddress) = values
End Sub