Knowledge Base

Goal Seek Records Incorrectly with Relative References

Article ID: 146057

Article Last Modified on 10/10/2006


APPLIES TO


This article was previously published under Q146057

SYMPTOMS

When you run a macro that uses Goal Seek, and the macro was recorded with relative references turned on, one of the following may occur:
Goal Seek may evaluate the wrong cells

-or-

You may receive the error message:

Runtime Error '1004'
Error in Formula

-or-

You may receive this error message if a cell reference is offsetting to a cell outside the valid spreadsheet area:
Runtime Error '1004'
Offset method of Range class failed

WORKAROUND

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. The following macro uses relative references and may cause a run-time error as described in the "Symptoms" section:
    Sub Recorded_GoalSeek()

      ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Range("A1").GoalSeek Goal:=50, _
         ChangingCell:=ActiveCell

   End Sub
				
To avoid the run-time error, correct the macro as follows. Note that it does not contain any relative references:
     Sub Correct_GoalSeek()

      ActiveCell.GoalSeek Goal:=50, ChangingCell:=ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0)

   End Sub
				

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

REFERENCES

"User's Guide," version 5.0, Chapter 6, "Seeking a Value That Solves a Formula"

For more information about the GoalSeek Method, click the Search button in Visual Basic Reference Help, and type the following:

GoalSeek

For more information about the Offset Method, click the Search button in Visual Basic Reference help, and type the following:

Offset

Keywords: kbbug kberrmsg kbpending kbprogramming KB146057