Excel – Copy-paste doesn’t trigger worksheet_change

excelmacosvba

Here is what I need to do: When I have written something into a cell in the sheet, my Worksheet_Change code should check if the cell contains certain characters and then replace those characters. That part of the code is working fine.

However there is a slightly odd behavior. Here's the code so far: 

    Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
        Target.Value = Replace(Target.Value, "ß", "ß")

        MsgBox "This is the value: " & Target.Value
    End Sub

What's happening is that when I have the characters that need to be changed in my clipboard (using Ctrl+C). When I double-click onto the cell, paste the characters into the cell using Ctrl+V, and then press Enter, the code works just fine, the characters are changed. (Note: Without the double-click, you can't see the cursor.)

However, if I just go to the cell with my arrow keys and paste over whatever else is in the cell, nothing happens. I suspect the Worksheet_Change isn't even triggered, or else it would at least display my MsgBox.

(I don't know if it's relevant to this, but i am using Excel 2010 in a Mac)

Best Answer

You can use Worksheet_Calculate on a trigger sheet.

  • Create a new sheet which only contains a link to the range you want to watch (i.e. =Sheet1!A1:B3)
  • Add a macro called Worksheet_Calculate to your trigger sheet
  • Now whenever any date in the linked range changes a recalculation of your trigger sheet gets triggered which in turn sets off your macro

This also works when the user enters a formula in the corresponding cell and one of the predecessors changes.

With manual calculation the recalculation of the trigger sheet and the macro only happen when the user presses F9.

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