Find where named ranges are being used in big workbook - excel

Question

I have a list of 594 named ranges in a workbook with nearly 20 sheets, each sheet has about 200 columns of data. I need to find out where the named ranges are being used so as to remove irrelevant ones. I pasted a list of named ranges onto the sheet and then I tried to find if they were used in a formula by recording them, and then using the find method in all sheets and columns. The problem is despite using lookin xlformulas, it retrieves the named range even if it is just a text.
Here is my (updated) attempt (if it is not evident already, i am an amateur):
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Count = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets.Count
Sheets(Count).Activate
Dim locr(1 To 595)
Dim locc(1 To 595)
Dim locn(1 To 595)
Dim nam(1 To 595)
Dim rng As Range
Range("a1").Select
For X = 1 To 595 'populate array with named ranges
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
nam(X) = ActiveCell.Value
Next X
For i = 1 To 595 'name loop
For j = 1 To (Count - 1) 'sheet loop
Sheets(j).Activate
On Error Resume Next
Set orange = Sheets(j).Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas) 'limit range to cells that only contain formulas
On Error GoTo 20 'if no formulas in sheet, go to next sheet
If Not orange Is Nothing Then
Set rng = orange.Find(What:=nam(i), _
LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
LookAt:=xlPart, _
SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
SearchDirection:=xlNext, _
MatchCase:=False) 'find named range
If Not rng Is Nothing Then 'if named range found
Application.Goto rng, True 'go to cell where name range found and record address
locr(i) = ActiveCell.Row
locc(i) = ActiveCell.Column
locn(i) = ActiveSheet.Name
GoTo 10 'value found, go to next sheet
Else
End If
Else
End If
20 Next j
locr(i) = "" 'record empty since "rng" is empty
locr(i) = ""
locr(i) = ""
10 Next i
Sheets(Count).Activate
Range("c1").Select
b = 1
For a = 1 To 595 'populate addresses of named ranges
ActiveCell.Offset(b, 2).Value = locr(a)
ActiveCell.Offset(b, 1).Value = locc(a)
ActiveCell.Offset(b, 0).Value = locn(a)
b = b + 1
Next a

Answer 1

Here is one way I can think of. I will explain this in 2 parts.
PART 1
Let's say we have a named range Sid.
This word Sid can appear in any one of these forms as shown in the image below. Why does it start with =? That has been explained in Part2 below.
=Sid '<~~ 1
="Sid" '<~~ 2
=XSid '<~~ 3
=SidX '<~~ 4
=_Sid '<~~ 5
=Sid_ '<~~ 6
=(Sid) '<~~ 7
Any other scenarios, I guess will be a subset of the above. Now out of these the only valid find in our case is the first one and the last one since we are looking for our named range.
So here is a quick function to check if the cell formula has a named range or not. I am sure it can be made more efficient
Function isNamedRangePresent(rng As Range, s As String) As Boolean
Dim sFormula As String
Dim pos1 As Long, pos2 As Long, sLen As Long, i As Long
sFormula = rng.Formula: sLen = Len(sFormula)
pos2 = 1
Do
pos1 = InStr(pos2, sFormula, s) - 1
If pos1 < 1 Then Exit Do
isNamedRangePresent = True
For i = 65 To 90
'~~> A-Z before Sid for example XSid
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos1, 1)) = Chr(i) Then
isNamedRangePresent = False
Exit For
End If
Next i
'~~> Check for " for example "Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos1, 1)) = Chr(34) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
'~~> Check for underscore for example _Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos1, 1)) = Chr(95) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
pos2 = pos1 + Len(s) + 1
If pos2 <= sLen Then
For i = 65 To 90
'~~> A-Z after Sid for example SidX
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos2, 1)) = Chr(i) Then
isNamedRangePresent = False
Exit For
End If
Next i
'~~> "Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos2, 1)) = Chr(34) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
'~~> _Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos2, 1)) = Chr(95) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
End If
Loop
End Function
So in the first and the last case, Debug.Print isNamedRangePresent(Range("D2"), "Sid") will give you True See this
PART 2
Now coming to the .Find. I see that you are searching only once in the worksheet. Since you can have many scenarios of the word Sid being present, you cannot just have one .Find. You will have to use .FindNext. See THIS link on how to use that. I have explained it there so I won't bother explaining that here.
We can make our .Find more efficient by searching only those cells which has formulas. To do that we have to use .SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas). This explains why we had "=" in our example in PART1. :)
Here is an example (PART1 Code added at the bottom)
Sub Sample()
Dim oRange As Range, aCell As Range, bCell As Range
Dim oSht As Worksheet
Dim strSearch As String, FoundAt As String
Set oSht = Worksheets("Sheet1")
'~~> Set your range where you need to find - Only Formula Cells
On Error Resume Next
Set oRange = oSht.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas)
On Error GoTo 0
If Not oRange Is Nothing Then
strSearch = "Sid"
Set aCell = oRange.Find(What:=strSearch, LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, _
MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False)
If Not aCell Is Nothing Then
Set bCell = aCell
'~~> Check if the cell has named range
If isNamedRangePresent(aCell, strSearch) Then FoundAt = aCell.Address
Do
Set aCell = oRange.FindNext(After:=aCell)
If Not aCell Is Nothing Then
If aCell.Address = bCell.Address Then Exit Do
'~~> Check if the cell has named range
If isNamedRangePresent(aCell, strSearch) Then FoundAt = FoundAt & ", " & aCell.Address
Else
Exit Do
End If
Loop
Else
MsgBox SearchString & " not Found"
Exit Sub
End If
If FoundAt = "" Then
MsgBox "The Named Range was not found"
Else
MsgBox "The Named Range has been found these locations: " & FoundAt
End If
End If
End Sub
Function isNamedRangePresent(rng As Range, s As String) As Boolean
Dim sFormula As String
Dim pos1 As Long, pos2 As Long, sLen As Long, i As Long
sFormula = rng.Formula: sLen = Len(sFormula)
pos2 = 1
Do
pos1 = InStr(pos2, sFormula, s) - 1
If pos1 < 1 Then Exit Do
isNamedRangePresent = True
For i = 65 To 90
'~~> A-Z before Sid for example XSid
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos1, 1)) = Chr(i) Then
isNamedRangePresent = False
Exit For
End If
Next i
'~~> Check for " for example "Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos1, 1)) = Chr(34) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
'~~> Check for underscore for example _Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos1, 1)) = Chr(95) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
pos2 = pos1 + Len(s) + 1
If pos2 <= sLen Then
For i = 65 To 90
'~~> A-Z after Sid for example SidX
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos2, 1)) = Chr(i) Then
isNamedRangePresent = False
Exit For
End If
Next i
'~~> "Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos2, 1)) = Chr(34) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
'~~> _Sid
If isNamedRangePresent = True Then _
If UCase(Mid(sFormula, pos2, 1)) = Chr(95) Then isNamedRangePresent = False
End If
Loop
End Function
Output
PHEW!!!

Answer 2

This code creates a copy of the workbook with the names. It then goes through and deletes each name in your list of names from the that copied workbook. It counts up the number of formula errors in the workbook before and after. If the error count is the same, the name wasn't used. If it's different, the name was used.
I like to do this kind of test for really complicated situations like this. It means you don't have to worry so much about complicated rules for testing. You can just base your answer on the results.
Since the testing is all done on a copy, it should be safe. Be sure to save all your work before though!
To use, put put your list of names in a workbook and name the range with that list "NamesToTest":
Then put this code in the same workbook and run it:
Sub CheckNameUsage()
Dim WorkbookWithList As Excel.Workbook
Dim WorkbookWithNames As Excel.Workbook
Dim TempWb As Excel.Workbook
Dim cell As Excel.Range
Dim NameToCheck As String
Dim ws As Excel.Worksheet
Dim ErrorRange As Excel.Range
Dim ErrorsBefore As Long
Dim ErrorsAfter As Long
Dim NameUsed As Boolean
Set WorkbookWithList = ThisWorkbook
Set WorkbookWithNames = Workbooks("SO - wb to test.xlsx") 'adjust to suit
WorkbookWithNames.Worksheets.Copy 'Workbooks.Add(WorkbookWithNames.FullName)
Set TempWb = ActiveWorkbook
For Each cell In WorkbookWithList.Names("NamesToTest").RefersToRange.Cells
NameToCheck = cell.Value
ErrorsBefore = 0
For Each ws In TempWb.Worksheets
Set ErrorRange = Nothing
On Error Resume Next
Set ErrorRange = ws.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas, 16)
On Error GoTo 0
If Not ErrorRange Is Nothing Then
ErrorsBefore = ErrorsBefore + ErrorRange.Cells.Count
End If
Next ws
TempWb.Names(NameToCheck).Delete
ErrorsAfter = 0
For Each ws In TempWb.Worksheets
Set ErrorRange = Nothing
On Error Resume Next
Set ErrorRange = ws.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas, 16)
On Error GoTo 0
If Not ErrorRange Is Nothing Then
ErrorsAfter = ErrorsAfter + ErrorRange.Cells.Count
End If
Next ws
NameUsed = True
If ErrorsBefore = ErrorsAfter Then
NameUsed = False
End If
Debug.Print NameToCheck; " - Errors Before = " & ErrorsBefore; ", Errors After = " & ErrorsAfter; ", Used = " & NameUsed; ""
Next cell
TempWb.Close False
End Sub
The results will show in the Debug window:
The code is hopefully fairly self-explanatory. SpecialCells is worth knowing about, so read up on it if necessary. In this case it identifies cells with errors - that's the 16 argument.
Note that this only checks for workbook-level names. You could add checks for worksheet-level if necessary.

Answer 3

The following code works for me. The interesting points are
1) You can use the method range.ShowDependents to draw arrows to cells that are dependent on that range. When you are done, use range.ShowDependents True to remove the arrows.
2) Once the arrows are drawn, range.NavigateArrow can follow those arrows, and return the resulting range. I was unable to find any documentation on what happens if there are no dependent ranges. By experimenting, I was able to determine, that it will return the original range if there are no dependents.
Sub test_for_dependents(nm As Name)
Dim nm_rng As Range, result As Range
Dim i As Long
Set nm_rng = nm.RefersToRange
nm_rng.ShowDependents
Set result = nm_rng.NavigateArrow(False, 1, 1)
If result.Parent.Name = nm_rng.Parent.Name And result.Row = nm_rng.Row _
And result.Column = nm_rng.Column Then
MsgBox "Named range """ & nm.Name & """ isn't used!"
End If
nm_rng.ShowDependents True
Set nm_rng = Nothing
Set result = Nothing
End Sub
Sub test_all_names()
Dim nm As Name
Dim sht As Worksheet
For Each nm In ThisWorkbook.Names
test_for_dependents nm
Next nm
For Each sht In ThisWorkbook.Sheets
For Each nm In sht.Names
test_for_dependents nm
Next nm
Next sht
Set nm = Nothing
Set sht = Nothing
End Sub

Answer 4

The following NamesInCells macro reports the number of formula cells referencing each defined name (named range) in the active workbook. Results are in columns A:D (Scope, Name, RefersTo, Cells) starting at row 1 of the workbook's NamesInCells worksheet. If that worksheet does not exist, it will be added after the last sheet.
For each Name that is Visible (not hidden), the macro uses Private Function Formula_Errors to determine how many formula cells have errors before and after the Name's RefersTo property is made invalid. The before and after difference is the number of cells referencing that Name in a formula. However, if a Name is used in a cell formula that produced an error before, the after result will be the same for that cell. This issue is resolved by Private Function Prior_Errors which determines if the Name appears in an error cell's formula before the Name was made invalid. The InStr method used by Prior_Errors is imperfect, but only for formulas that had errors before initiating the macro (hopefully few). Also, a Name with workbook scope and a duplicate Name with sheet scope might be extraneously counted if they are in separate formulas that had initial errors.
This macro was inspired by Doug Glancy's answer above: https://stackoverflow.com/a/26691025/10172433
Public Sub NamesInCells()
Const myName As String = "NamesInCells"
Dim WB As Workbook, oName As Name, A() As Variant, vCells As Variant
Dim sScope As String, sName As String, sRefersTo As String
Dim nRows As Long, nR As Long, nBase As Long, n As Integer
Set WB = ActiveWorkbook
nRows = WB.Names.Count
If nRows = 0 Then
MsgBox "There are no defined names in the active workbook", _
vbInformation, myName
Exit Sub
End If
nRows = nRows + 1
ReDim A(1 To 4, 1 To nRows)
nR = 1
A(1, 1) = "Scope"
A(2, 1) = "Name"
A(3, 1) = "RefersTo"
A(4, 1) = "Cells"
nBase = Formula_Errors(WB)
For Each oName In WB.Names
With oName
If .Visible Then 'skip hidden names
n = InStrRev(.Name, "!")
If n = 0 Then
sScope = "Workbook"
sName = .Name
ElseIf n > 1 Then
sScope = Left(.Name, (n - 1))
sName = Mid(.Name, (n + 1))
End If
sRefersTo = .RefersTo
If Left(sScope, 1) = "'" Then _
sScope = Mid(sScope, 2, (Len(sScope) - 2))
.RefersTo = "#REF!"
vCells = Formula_Errors(WB) - nBase
.RefersTo = sRefersTo
vCells = vCells + Prior_Errors(WB, .Name)
nR = nR + 1
A(1, nR) = sScope
A(2, nR) = sName
A(3, nR) = "'" & sRefersTo
A(4, nR) = vCells
End If
End With
Next oName
If nR < 2 Then
MsgBox "There are no visible defined names in the active workbook", _
vbInformation, myName
Exit Sub
ElseIf nR < nRows Then
ReDim Preserve A(1 To 4, 1 To nR)
End If
On Error Resume Next
With WB
.Worksheets(myName).Activate
If Err = 0 Then
Range("A:D").Clear
Else
.Worksheets.Add After:=.Sheets(.Sheets.Count)
ActiveSheet.Name = myName
End If
End With
On Error GoTo 0
Range("A1").Select
Selection.Resize(nR, 4).Value = Application.Transpose(A)
End Sub
Private Function Formula_Errors(WB As Workbook) As Long
Dim WS As Worksheet, R As Range, nCount As Long
For Each WS In WB.Worksheets
On Error Resume Next
Set R = WS.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas, xlErrors)
If Err = 0 Then nCount = nCount + R.Count
On Error GoTo 0
Next WS
Formula_Errors = nCount
End Function
Private Function Prior_Errors(WB As Workbook, Name As String) As Long
Dim WS As Worksheet, R As Range, rCell As Range, nCount As Long
Dim sWS As String, sN As String, sF As String, n As Integer
n = InStrRev(Name, "!")
If n > 1 Then
sN = Mid(Name, (n + 1))
sWS = Left(Name, (n - 1))
If Left(sWS, 1) = "'" Then sWS = Mid(sWS, 2, (Len(sWS) - 2))
End If
For Each WS In WB.Worksheets
On Error Resume Next
Set R = WS.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas, xlErrors)
If Err = 0 Then
For Each rCell In R
sF = rCell.Formula
If WS.Name = sWS Then
If InStr(1, sF, sN, vbBinaryCompare) > 0 Then
nCount = nCount + 1
End If
ElseIf InStr(1, sF, Name, vbBinaryCompare) > 0 Then
nCount = nCount + 1
End If
Next rCell
End If
On Error GoTo 0
Next WS
Prior_Errors = nCount
End Function