Strange Value for PageSetup.FirstPageNumber

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Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. In Microsoft Excel, to set the first page number of a sheet, do either of the following:

To Manually Set the First Page Number

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.
2. Click the Page tab.
3. In the First Page Number edit box, enter a starting page number (a positive integer from 1 to 32767) or enter Auto to have Microsoft Excel automatically determine the starting page number.
4. Click OK to accept the change.

To Set the First Page Number Using Visual Basic Code

   ActiveSheet.PageSetup.FirstPageNumber = <value>
				

where <value> is an integer from -32765 to 32767, or the word xlAutomatic.

You can also check and store the FirstPageNumber property of a worksheet in a variable by using this code:

   <variable> = ActiveSheet.PageSetup.FirstPageNumber
				

The value returned to <variable> by this statement may be either:

   Value                     Indicates
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------
   A positive integer        User-defined starting page number
   -4105                     Automatically determined starting page number
				

Note that -4105 is the value of the built-in constant "xlAutomatic"; when the worksheet has "Auto" in its First Page Number edit box, this is the value actually stored in the FirstPageNumber property.

You can check whether a worksheet is using automatic page numbering by using a line of code such as this:

   If ActiveSheet.PageSetup.FirstPageNumber = xlAutomatic Then
       <action>
   End If
				

The following Visual Basic code example illustrates one possible use of this procedure.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

The following sample Sub procedure loops through all of the worksheets in the active workbook, reporting the first page number assigned to each worksheet. If the worksheet is using automatic page numbering, the Sub will report this.

   Option Explicit

   Sub CheckFirstPageNumbers()

       ' Dimension variables.
       Dim MsgString As String, xWorksheet As Variant

       ' Iterate through the loop once for each worksheet in the active
       ' workbook.
       For Each xWorksheet In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets

           ' Begin making the string to be shown in the message box below.
           MsgString = "The worksheet '" & xWorksheet.Name & "'"

           ' If the worksheet is using automatic page numbering...
           If xWorksheet.PageSetup.FirstPageNumber = xlAutomatic Then

               ' ...complete the message string accordingly.
               MsgString = MsgString & " is using automatic page " & _
                   "numbering."

           ' Otherwise...
           Else

               ' ...complete the message string accordingly.
               MsgString = MsgString & " starts its page numbers at " & _
                   xWorksheet.PageSetup.FirstPageNumber

           End If

           ' Show the message.
           MsgBox MsgString
       Next xWorksheet                       ' Loop until finished.
   End Sub