5 Instant Fixes For Excel No Cells Were Found Error

Stuck with the “No cells were found” error in your Excel workbook? Looking for some easy fixes to resolve Excel runtime error 1004 no cells were found?

Tried every possible way to fix it up but all your efforts seem worthless? No need to get worried…!

As in our today’s topic, we will talk about Excel runtime error 1004 no cells were found. Most importantly about the methods to fix Excel no cells were found error.

Before approaching the solution, let’s have a look over the circumstances under which no cells were found error occurs.

To extract data from corrupt Excel workbook, we recommend this tool:

This software will prevent Excel workbook data such as BI data, financial reports & other analytical information from corruption and data loss. With this software you can rebuild corrupt Excel files and restore every single visual representation & dataset to its original, intact state in 3 easy steps:

  1. Download Excel File Repair Tool rated Excellent by Softpedia, Softonic & CNET.
  2. Select the corrupt Excel file (XLS, XLSX) & click Repair to initiate the repair process.
  3. Preview the repaired files and click Save File to save the files at desired location.

Practical Scenario:

Before approaching the solution, let’s have a look over the different circumstances under which no cells were found error occurs.

Scenario 1:

So when I go to run a macro, it won’t run at all, and I keep getting a “No Cells Were Found” pop up. I’m not sure why, seeing as how this macro worked fine yesterday. I tried stepping through the macro to find where it fails at, and it goes through the entire macro fine without any errors, yet when I try to run the entire macro, it fails. Any idea why> I am running Excel 2010. I have searched all over the web and forums trying to find an answer to this issue, and I have found nothing.

Source: https://www.excelarticles.com/hottopics/no_cells_were_found_error_when_macro_is_run.html

 Scenario 2:

I don’t seem to be able to do any conditional formatting in Excel 2010.
Whenever I try to select a single cell or range of cells and go to Conditional Formatting, I get a popup error “No cells were found.” I have tried multiple files, even opening an old 2003 file in 2010.
Any thoughts on what I should try next?

Source:

https://www.excelforum.com/excel-general/1083652-conditional-formatting-no-cells-were-found.html

Error Details:

Error code: Runtime Error 1004

Error name: no cells were found

Screenshot of the error:

No Cells Were Found excel Error

How To Fix Excel No Cells Were Found Error?

Try the following fixes to troubleshoot Excel No Cells Were Found error.

Method 1# Locate hidden cells on a worksheet

Method 2# Deleting Empty rows in Excel using VBA

Method 3: Use The Notepad Or Notepad C++

Method 4: Move the File

Method 5: Utilize the Excel Recovery Tool

So, let’s start knowing about each of these fixes in detail.

Method 1# Locate hidden cells on a worksheet

No Cells Were Found issue can also be encountered when the cell of your excel worksheet may reside within the hidden columns or rows. Well, it’s a quite tough task to find them out but not impossible.

So, try the following steps to find hidden cells on the Excel worksheet:

1. Open the Excel worksheet which is showing the runtime error 1004 no cells were found. Now you need to access the Excel feature “special” through one of the following ways:

  • Go to the Home tab then to Editing After then hit on the Find & Select icon side arrow key. This will show a drop-down menu, choose the Go To Special option from it.
  • Or on your excel worksheet simply press Ctrl+G button from your keyboard. This will open the go to a dialogue box in which you have to press the Special button present at the bottom.
  • Press F5Special.
  • Or just press the F5 key from your keyboard in your opened workbook. This will also open the go to dialogue box from which you have to press the Special

2. In the go to special box hit on the Visible cells only After then tap to the OK option.

Locate hidden cells on a worksheet

3.You will see that all visible cells are been selected now. Besides that, the column/row borders adjoining to hidden rows and columns will seems with the white border.

Method 2# Deleting Empty rows in Excel using VBA

In my Excel macro, there is a segment that appears at the range which searches the blank cells and fills it up.

Range(“E10:A” & CStr(bottom – 1)).Select

Selection.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeBlanks).Select

Selection.Value = “N/A”

where

bottom = ActiveSheet.Cells(Rows.Count, “B”).End(xlUp).Row

Well, the above macro code works correctly when there is a blank cell within the range. But it will show “1004 Error: No cells were found error” in the line “specialcells.select”.

After checking my complete Excel macro coding, I have concluded to one point that.  Throughout the range, I need to run a loop that will check for the blank cells. But when I tried that, I have noticed that this method is quite slow and clunky.

At last, I found that “No cells were found“error can easily be fixed just by adding an error handler.

For Example:

Sub Main()

On Error GoTo NoBlanks

Range(“A1:A10”).SpecialCells(xlCellTypeBlanks).Value = “N/A”

NoBlanks:

Resume Next

‘ or just add code here to run whenever there is no empty cells found

End Sub

Method 3: Use The Notepad Or Notepad C++

One of the simplest ways to fix Excel No cells were found error is just making use of the notepad or notepad application. Learn how it is to be done:

Step 1:

First of all open the Excel worksheet in which you are getting the No cells were found error.

Step 2:

After then make selections of the cell in which you are encountering No cells were found error meanwhile entering any formula. Copy all the selected cells from the Excel worksheet and then paste them into the Notepad or Notepad++ application Window.

Step 3:

Now once again copy the entire cells from the Notepad or Notepad++. After then paste it into your active Excel worksheet.

Step 4:

It’s time to make a check whether you are getting the same “No cells were found” error again or it gets resolved.

Method 4: Move the File

If nothing works then try the easy trick like moving the Excel file to the new workbook.

  • Open corrupted Excel file > right-click on sheet tab > Select All Sheets.
  • Now right-click the Excel sheet tab > click Move or Copy.
  • Select New workbook > choose Create a copy box > Click OK

Method 5: Utilize the Excel Recovery Tool

Well, another very common reason behind this Excel No cells were found error can also be the corruption issue. As it is found that when the Excel file gets corrupted all its data either goes missing. Or your Excel worksheet becomes inaccessible to get used.

So, all I want to say that No cells were found error occurring due to the corruption of your Excel worksheet.

To fix corrupted Excel file its recommended to make use of the Excel Recovery Tool, this is the professional recommended utility that helps you to repair and recover corrupted, damaged and inaccessible data from the Excel workbook. It is capable to fix different errors and issues related to the Excel workbook and recover deleted Excel data.

This is a unique tool and is capable to restore entire data including the charts, worksheet properties cell comments, and other data without doing any modification. It is easy to use and supports all Excel versions.

* Free version of the product only previews recoverable data.

Hope the given methods help you to repair the corrupted Excel workbook. But if you can’t open the workbook in Excel, then there are some recovery methods that help in recovering workbook data.

So, try the given solutions to recover corrupted Excel workbook data.

Wrap Up:

This specific Excel No cells were found issue is faced by many Excel users meanwhile the application of the Excel formula over the special cells.

Now that you know how to fix No cells were found. So, just follow the above fixes and free yourself from this annoying excel error.

Additionally, I want to conclude it’s important to maintain the Excel file carefully and backup your Excel data regularly to avoid data loss in the future. So, take good care of your Excel worksheet by making a habit of maintaining a proper backup.



Priyanka is an entrepreneur & content marketing expert. She writes tech blogs and has expertise in MS Office, Excel, and other tech subjects. Her distinctive art of presenting tech information in the easy-to-understand language is very impressive. When not writing, she loves unplanned travels.