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Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Flashing Cells.
Many people use the conditional formatting features of Excel to draw attention to specific values or areas of their worksheets. For instance, a cell might be formatted so that its contents are displayed in red or in boldface if above or below a certain threshold.
What is missing, however, is a way to make the contents of a cell flash, or blink on and off. For such a feat, you are left to your own devices and the miracle of macros. By utilizing these tools, you can make cells blink by first designing a special style for the blinking cells, and then running a simple macro.
To create the special style, follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Style dialog box.
You can now apply the style to any other cells you desire in your workbook. Now create the macros (there are two of them), as follows:
Dim NextTime As Date Sub StartFlash() NextTime = Now + TimeValue("00:00:01") With ActiveWorkbook.Styles("Flashing").Font If .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic Then .ColorIndex = 3 .ColorIndex = 5 - .ColorIndex End With Application.OnTime NextTime, "StartFlash" End Sub Sub StopFlash() Application.OnTime NextTime, "StartFlash", schedule:=False ActiveWorkbook.Styles("Flashing").Font.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic End Sub
To start the items flashing, simply run StartFlash. The cells formatted with the Flashing style will alternate between red and white text approximately once a second. When you want to turn the flashing off, simply run the StopFlash macro.
There is one important thing to note about this macro: the variable NextTime is declared outside of the actual procedure in which it is used. This is done so that NextTime maintains its value from one invocation of StartFlash to the next.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2134) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Flashing Cells.
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