Checking for a Text Selection Length

Summary: Need to know if the user selected some text before running your macro? Here's how to make that check. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

There are numerous times when you are writing macros when you will need to determine if the user has made a selection. There are numerous ways you can do this in a macro. The following code illustrates one possible method for accomplishing this in VBA. It sets the value of a flag, InSelection, to True if there is currently a selection. Otherwise InSelection is set to False.

InSelection = False
If Len(Selection) > 0 Then InSelection = True

The technique used here relies on the fact that if a selection has been made, it will have a length. This length is returned by the Len function of VBA.

Tip #740 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Checking for a Text Selection Length