Status Bar in Excel can be useful for seeing the progress of certain actions, like page layout changes or printing. However, there are times when the status bar doesn’t seem to update, even when the action is completed. This can be frustrating, but there are a few things you can try to get the Status Bar updated again. In this article, I will discuss 4 effective solutions regarding the Status Bar not updating in Excel using VBA. So, without further discussion, let’s get straight into the topic.
What Is a Status Bar in Excel?
In Excel, the Status Bar is located at the bottom of the window. It shows information about the current cell, such as the address, the data type, and any comments. It also offers information about the current selection, such as the number of cells selected, the sum of the values in the cells, the average of the values, etc.
The Status Bar can be customized to show other information, such as the number of sheets in a workbook, the number of cells that contain data, the number of cells that are selected, and the number of cells that have been changed since the last save, etc.
Why Status Bar Doesn’t Update?
The Status Bar may not get updated for several reasons. But one prominent reason is sometimes the Excel window doesn’t have enough time to update the Status Bar. Because the action that’s going on is way too fast to update the status. If your case is so, the Status Bar may fail to update the current status of an action.
Excel VBA Status Bar Not Updating: 4 Easy Solutions
1. Turning On Status Bar to Update
First, you need to make sure that the Status Bar is activated. If it is not enabled, then the Status Bar won’t update in real-time.
To activate the Status Bar,
❶ Press ALT + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
❷ After that, go to Insert ➤ Module to create a new module.
❸ Then insert the following piece of code in the new Module.
Sub Status_Bar_Activate()
Application.DisplayStatusBar = True
End Sub
❹ To run the VBA code, click on the Run Sub button. Or you can use F5 keys to run the VBA code.
After running the code, the Status Bar will be activated. Now the status bar will update the status of any action that’s running currently.
2. Use DoEvents to Force Update Status Bar
Sometimes the Status Bar is enabled, yet it’s not updating in real-time. To fix this problem, you can use the DoEvents property to force the Status Bar update in real-time.
Now follow the steps below to use the DoEvents property.
❶ Press ALT + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
❷ After that, go to Insert ➤ Module to create a new module.
❸ Then insert the following piece of code in the new Module.
Sub Force_Update_Status_Bar()
Do
DoEvents
Application.StatusBar = Now()
Loop
End Sub
❹ To run the VBA code, click on the Run Sub button. Or you can use F5 keys to run the VBA code.
This code will force the Status Bar to synchronize its updating status in real-time. Thus, this code can be helpful to fix the Status Bar not updating issue.
3. Optimize Screen Processing Speed to Update Status Bar
When the screen processing speed is less than the action speed in Excel, the Status Bar fails to update the data in real time. Thus, you may find the Status Bar not updating.
To solve this, you need to speed up the screen processing speed.
For that,
❶ Press ALT + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
❷ After that, go to Insert ➤ Module to create a new module.
❸ Then insert the following piece of code in the new Module.
❹ Inside the following code, insert your code.
Sub Optimize_Speed()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.DisplayStatusBar = False
Application.EnableEvents = False
ActiveSheet.DisplayPageBreaks = False
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
'Enter your code here
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.DisplayStatusBar = True
Application.EnableEvents = True
ActiveSheet.DisplayPageBreaks = True
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
End Sub
❺ To run the VBA code, click on the Run Sub button. Or you can use ATL + F5 keys to run the VBA code.
The extra lines will speed up the screen processing speed. Thus, the status bar not updating problem will be fixed.
4. Force Quit Excel Using Task Manager to Fix Status Bar Not Updating Issue
If none of the above methods work, then you need to restart your Excel program.
To do that,
❶ Right-click on the Taskbar first.
❷ From the context menu, select Task Manager to open it.
❸ After opening the Task Manager go to the Processes tab.
❹ Now find Microsoft Excel from the list.
❺ Right-click on Microsoft Excel.
❻ From the context menu choose the End task command.
This will terminate the program. Now re-open your Excel program. I hope, this time the Status Bar will update in real-time.
Download Practice Workbook
You can download the Excel file from the following link and practice along with it.
Conclusion
To sum up, we have discussed 4 solutions regarding the status bar not updating in Excel using VBA code. Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions in the comment section below. We will try to respond to all the relevant queries asap.
My solution:
Sub Force_Update_Status_Bar()
Application.StatusBar = “”
Application.StatusBar = “Message”
End Sub