VBA Code To Change All Shape & Chart Placement Properties
What This VBA Macro Does
I deal with shapes and charts on a daily basis and one of my (many) pet peeves is needing to resize column widths and screwing up the size of my shapes and charts. I’m going to share with you a few VBA macros that will allow you to change the Placement property of all the shapes and charts on your ActiveSheet with the click of the button. The last VBA snippet is the one I use personally almost daily. Enjoy!
Change Every Shape & Chart To A Specific Placement
In this first macro, you can write which specific Placement property you want every shape and graph to change to. Your options are xlMove, xlFreeFloating, or xlMoveAndSize.
Sub Shapes_ResizeMoveProperty()
'PURPOSE: Change All Shapes Object Positioning Property
'SOURCE: www.TheSpreadsheetGuru.com/the-code-vault
Dim shp As Shape
Dim cht As ChartObject
Dim PropertyOption As Integer
'Options: xlFreeFloating, xlMoveAndSize, xlMove
PropertyOption = xlMove
'Loop Through Shapes & Controls
For Each shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes
shp.Placement = PropertyOption
Next shp
'Loop Through Charts
For Each cht In ActiveSheet.ChartObjects
cht.Placement = PropertyOption
Next cht
End SubAsk The User To Decide The Shape & Chart Placement
In this next VBA macro, your code will ask you which Placement type you want to apply to all the shapes and charts.
Sub Shapes_ResizeMoveProperty_Input()
'PURPOSE: Change All Shapes Object Placement Property (User Input)
'SOURCE: www.TheSpreadsheetGuru.com/the-code-vault
Dim shp As Shape
Dim cht As ChartObject
Dim PropertyOption As Integer
'Retrieve Input from User
PropertyOption = Application.InputBox("Change Everything To What Placement Property?" & _
"(Must be 1, 2, or 3)" & vbCr & vbCr & " [1] Move and Size with Cells" & vbCr & _
" [2] Move but Don't Size with Cells" & vbCr & " [3] Don't Move or Size with Cells" & _
vbCr & " ", Type:=1, Title:="Placement Property For All")
'Handle If User Cancels
If PropertyOption = 0 Then Exit Sub
'Loop Through Shapes & Controls
For Each shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes
shp.Placement = PropertyOption
Next shp
'Loop Through Charts
For Each cht In ActiveSheet.ChartObjects
cht.Placement = PropertyOption
Next cht
End SubCycle Through The 3 Different Placement Options
This is the VBA macro I personally use where I can keep running the code until it lands on the specific Placement option I am wanting. This VBA code is currently sitting in my Quick Access Toolbar and I use it all the time!
Sub Shapes_ResizeMoveProperty_Cycle()
'PURPOSE: Change All Shapes Object Placement Property (Cycle)
'SOURCE: www.TheSpreadsheetGuru.com/the-code-vault
'ENUMERATIONS: xlMoveAndSize = 1, xlMove = 2, xlFreeFloating = 3
Dim shp As Shape
Dim cht As ChartObject
Dim PropertyOption As Integer
'Determine which Placement to Apply
For Each shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes
PropertyOption = Choose(shp.Placement, 2, 3, 1)
GoTo PlacementChoosen
Next shp
For Each cht In ActiveSheet.ChartObjects
PropertyOption = Choose(cht.Placement, 2, 3, 1)
GoTo PlacementChoosen
Next cht
'Nothing Found
MsgBox "No objects were found to adjust the placement property"
Exit Sub
PlacementChoosen:
'Handle If User Cancels
If PropertyOption = 0 Then Exit Sub
'Loop Through Shapes & Controls
For Each shp In ActiveSheet.Shapes
shp.Placement = PropertyOption
Next shp
'Loop Through Charts
For Each cht In ActiveSheet.ChartObjects
cht.Placement = PropertyOption
Next cht
'Report action taken to user
Select Case PropertyOption
Case 1: MsgBox "All Charts & Shapes set to: " & Chr(34) & "Move and Size with Cells" & Chr(34)
Case 2: MsgBox "All Charts & Shapes set to: " & Chr(34) & "Move but Don't Size with Cells" & Chr(34)
Case 3: MsgBox "All Charts & Shapes set to: " & Chr(34) & "Don't Move or Size with Cells" & Chr(34)
End Select
End SubUsing VBA Code Found On The Internet
Now that you’ve found some VBA code that could potentially solve your Excel automation problem, what do you do with it? If you don’t necessarily want to learn how to code VBA and are just looking for the fastest way to implement this code into your spreadsheet, I wrote an article (with video) that explains how to get the VBA code you’ve found running on your spreadsheet.
Getting Started Automating Excel
Are you new to VBA and not sure where to begin? Check out my quickstart guide to learning VBA. This article won’t overwhelm you with fancy coding jargon, as it provides you with a simplistic and straightforward approach to the basic things I wish I knew when trying to teach myself how to automate tasks in Excel with VBA Macros.
Also, if you haven’t checked out Excel’s latest automation feature called Power Query, I have put together a beginner’s guide for automating with Excel’s Power Query feature as well! This little-known built-in Excel feature allows you to merge and clean data automatically with little to no coding!
How Do I Modify This To Fit My Specific Needs?
Chances are this post did not give you the exact answer you were looking for. We all have different situations and it’s impossible to account for every particular need one might have. That’s why I want to share with you: My Guide to Getting the Solution to your Problems FAST! In this article, I explain the best strategies I have come up with over the years to get quick answers to complex problems in Excel, PowerPoint, VBA, you name it!
I highly recommend that you check this guide out before asking me or anyone else in the comments section to solve your specific problem. I can guarantee that 9 times out of 10, one of my strategies will get you the answer(s) you are needing faster than it will take me to get back to you with a possible solution. I try my best to help everyone out, but sometimes I don’t have time to fit everyone’s questions in (there never seem to be quite enough hours in the day!).
I wish you the best of luck and I hope this tutorial gets you heading in the right direction!
After 10+ years of creating macros and developing add-ins, I've compiled all the hacks I wish I had known years ago!
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Chris Newman
Chris is a finance professional and Excel MVP recognized by Microsoft since 2016. With his expertise, he founded TheSpreadsheetGuru blog to help fellow Excel users, where he shares his vast creative solutions & expertise. In addition, he has developed over 7 widely-used Excel Add-ins that have been embraced by individuals and companies worldwide.