Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Determining if a Text Selection Exists.
There are numerous times when you are writing macros when you will need to determine if the user has made a selection. The following VBA code will let you know if a selection has been made. The variable designated to be a flag (InSelection) is first set to False, and then the Type property of the Selection object is used to determine if there is a selection. If so, then InSelection is set to True.
InSelection = False If Selection.Type = wdSelectionIP Then InSelection = True
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8927) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Determining if a Text Selection Exists.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
Using a macro to format your document (or portions of your document) is not all that uncommon. If you want your macro to ...
Discover MoreBookmarks can be very handy in a document. Word provides a VBA command you can use to easily select any of those bookmarks.
Discover MoreWhen creating macros, it is often necessary to move the insertion point around the document so that text can be processed ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2017-10-20 11:37:35
Big Fan
Thank you Rick and George for posting working code!
2015-05-12 14:29:59
Derek Brown
For what it's worth, I have for many years nested as required a macro "SIP" which sets a public variable "IP" at 1 if the cursor is at an Insertion Point, and at 0 if not -- macro name and variable name are easier to remember than the lengthy vba codes.
Same sort of macro for whether the cursor is in a table ("SIT", "IT") or at the top of a document. Similarly, my "SSEL" macro generates variables for what the features of a Selection are (length "LSEL", leftmost character and its ASCI, rightmost character and its ASCI, Trimmed length etc.).
2015-05-12 11:27:30
Rick G.
I agree with George, Allen wrote the logic the opposite of what it should be.
Also, you could skip the initialization statement:
InSelection = False
and just write:
InSelection = Selection.Type <> wdSelectionIP
2015-05-12 10:01:38
George
This is exactly the opposite of the correct test; wdSelectionIP indicates the selection is an insertion point, i.e., not in a selection. The correct code should be
If Selection.Type <> wdSelectionIP Then InSelection = True
2015-04-16 19:00:44
David
How to determine if the selection is a paragraph?
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: 
Comments