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: Moving the Insertion Point in a Macro.
VBA allows you to use commands to move the insertion point up, down, left, and right within your document. You do this by using the MoveUp, MoveDown, MoveLeft, and MoveRight methods. You must then specify the type of units you want to move, as well as how many. The basic syntax is as follows:
Selection.direction Unit:=units, Count:=num, Extend:=extension
where direction is one of the methods (MoveUp, MoveDown, MoveLeft, or MoveRight). If you are using the MoveUp or MoveDown methods, you can use units of wdLine, wdParagraph, wdWindow, or wdScreen. If you are using the MoveLeft or MoveRight methods, you can use units of wdCharacter, wdWord, or wdSentence. The num setting indicates how many of the units you want to move the insertion point. The extension value is either wdMove (if you only want to move the insertion point) or wdExtend (if you want to enlarge the selection by your movement).
As an example, let's say you want to move the insertion point to the right by five characters. The proper command to do this would be the following:
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=5, Extend:=wdMove
If you instead want to move the insertion point up two paragraphs, and select the text from the current insertion point location to the new one, you would use the following line:
Selection.MoveUp Unit:=wdParagraph, Count:=2, Extend:=wdExtend
You can similarly construct other movement commands for your macro.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12074) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Moving the Insertion Point in a Macro.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
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2015-11-10 18:08:14
Chris Madsen
This simple method works for me in Word 10. Don't know about earlier versions. The insertion point is returned back to its original location, where it "started."
Dim starter as Range
Set starter = Selection.Range
...
starter.Select
2013-07-04 18:04:31
Michael
I selected the text in a block, copied it, and pasted it into a doc, thereby seeing that the missing letters are simply the rest of the word "extension" without anything after that.
2013-07-04 17:59:38
Michael
the ad is covering up part of the line that gives the basic syntax of the command.
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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: 
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