How to delete everything outside of the print area in Excel? - excel

Question

I am new to VBA and am trying to delete everything outside of the specified print area for every worksheet in my file. I have code that is working alright, but for some tabs, the print area begins in column B, and I need to delete column A because it is not in the print area. I cannot figure out how to rewrite my code to ensure that the column to the left of the specified print area will get deleted.
Dim FirstEmptyRow As Long
Dim FirstEmptyCol As Integer
Dim rng As Range
With ActiveSheet.PageSetup
If .PrintArea = "" Then
Set rng = ActiveSheet.UsedRange
Else
Set rng = ActiveSheet.Range(.PrintArea)
End If
End With
FirstEmptyCol = rng.Cells(rng.Cells.Count).Column + 1
FirstEmptyRow = rng.Rows.Count + rng.Cells(1).Row
Range(Cells(1, FirstEmptyCol), Cells(1, 256)).EntireColumn.Delete
Range(Cells(FirstEmptyRow, 1), Cells(Rows.Count, 1)).EntireRow.Delete

Answer 1

Try adding this additional code:
If rng.Column > 1 Then
Range(Cells(1, 1), Cells(1, rng.Column - 1)).EntireColumn.Delete
End If

Answer 2

You could try this. Find the PrintAreaand then using Intersect you could loop through the cells and find which cells are not in the PrintArea, Union the cells and then delete them at the end. Doing it this way you can delete everything that's not a part of the PrintArea, all at the same time. Hope this helps:
Sub testPrintArea()
Dim printAreaRange As Range
With ActiveSheet.PageSetup
If .PrintArea = "" Then
Set printAreaRange = ActiveSheet.UsedRange
Else
Set printAreaRange = ActiveSheet.Range(.PrintArea)
End If
End With
' Get non print area cells and union them
Dim nonPrintAreaCells As Range
Dim cell As Range
For Each cell In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
If Intersect(cell, printAreaRange) Is Nothing Then
If nonPrintAreaCells Is Nothing Then
Set nonPrintAreaCells = cell
Else
Set nonPrintAreaCells = Union(nonPrintAreaCells, cell)
End If
End If
Next cell
' do whatever...
nonPrintAreaCells.Value = ""
End Sub

Answer 3

You can use the Column and Row properties of a range to determine where it starts, like this
Sub DeleteOutsidePrintArea(ws As Worksheet)
Dim rng As Range
With ws
If .PageSetup.PrintArea = vbNullString Then
Set rng = .UsedRange
Else
Set rng = .Range(.PageSetup.PrintArea)
End If
' Delete columns to left, if any
If rng.Column > 1 Then
.Columns(1).Resize(, rng.Column - 1).Delete
End If
' Delete rows above, if any
If rng.Row > 1 Then
.Rows(1).Resize(rng.Row - 1).Delete
End If
' Delete columns to right, if any
If rng.Columns.Count < (.UsedRange.Columns.Count + .UsedRange.Column - 1) Then
.Columns(rng.Columns.Count + 1).Resize(, .UsedRange.Columns.Count + .UsedRange.Column - 1 - rng.Columns.Count).Delete
End If
' Delete rows below, if any
If rng.Rows.Count < (.UsedRange.Rows.Count + .UsedRange.Row - 1) Then
.Rows(rng.Rows.Count + 1).Resize(.UsedRange.Rows.Count + .UsedRange.Row - 1 - rng.Rows.Count).Delete
End If
End With
End Sub
Call it like this
Sub Demo()
Dim wb As Workbook
Dim ws As Worksheet
Set wb = ThisWorkbook '<~~~ Adjust to suit
For Each ws In wb.Worksheets
DeleteOutsidePrintArea ws
Next
End Sub