Clear contents of cells in VBA using column refere

Question

I am trying to get a piece of code to clear the data in some cells, using the column references. I am using the following code:

Worksheets(sheetname).Range(.Cells(2, LastColData), .Cells(LastRowData, LastColData)).ClearContents

To do this, however I am getting an error at the first .Cells section, why is this?

Answer 1

For anyone like me who came across this and needs a solution that doesn't clear headers, here is the one liner that works for me:

ActiveSheet.Range("A3:A" & Range("A3").End(xlDown).Row).ClearContents

Starts on the third row - change to your liking.

Answer 2

As Gary's Student mentioned, you would need to remove the dot before Cells to make the code work as you originally wrote it. I can't be sure, since you only included the one line of code, but the error you got when you deleted the dots might have something to do with how you defined your variables.

I ran your line of code with the variables defined as integers and it worked:

Sub TestClearLastColumn()

    Dim LastColData As Long
        Set LastColData = Range("A1").End(xlToRight).Column

    Dim LastRowData As Long
        Set LastRowData = Range("A1").End(xlDown).Row

    Worksheets("Sheet1").Range(Cells(2, LastColData), Cells(LastRowData, LastColData)).ClearContents

End Sub

I don't think a With statement is appropriate to the line of code you shared, but if you were to use one, the With would be at the start of the line that defines the object you are manipulating. Here is your code rewritten using an unnecessary With statement:

With Worksheets("Sheet1").Range(Cells(2, LastColData), Cells(LastRowData, LastColData))
    .ClearContents
End With

With statements are designed to save you from retyping code and to make your coding easier to read. It becomes useful and appropriate if you do more than one thing with an object. For example, if you wanted to also turn the column red and add a thick black border, you might use a With statement like this:

With Worksheets("Sheet1").Range(Cells(2, LastColData), Cells(LastRowData, LastColData))
    .ClearContents
    .Interior.Color = vbRed
    .BorderAround Color:=vbBlack, Weight:=xlThick
End With

Otherwise you would have to declare the range for each action or property, like this:

    Worksheets("Sheet1").Range(Cells(2, LastColData), Cells(LastRowData, LastColData)).ClearContents
    Worksheets("Sheet1").Range(Cells(2, LastColData), Cells(LastRowData, LastColData)).Interior.Color = vbRed
    Worksheets("Sheet1").Range(Cells(2, LastColData), Cells(LastRowData, LastColData)).BorderAround Color:=vbBlack, Weight:=xlThick

I hope this gives you a sense for why Gary's Student believed the compiler might be expecting a With (even though it was inappropriate) and how and when a With can be useful in your code.