Iterate through all text (in cells, charts, textboxes) in Excel using vba

Question

I built a function to search for and replace specific text throughout an entire excel document. I can go through the entire document and all its cells just fine using

For Each WS In Worksheets
    For Each ActiveCell In WS.UsedRange
        If ActiveCell <> "" Then
            ActiveCell.Value = ReplaceWord(ActiveCell.Value, Search, Replacement)
        End If
     next
next

This works, but a lot of the documents have charts with titles in textboxes and other places and I am not sure how to access those without knowing their exact names etc. Basically I would like to do a search for every single string in the excel document and use my ReplaceWord function to replace the words. But I am lost on how :)

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

It seems like you will have to iterate over the properties of the chart. You can use the locals window in the VBE to view other properties of the cht variable once it's been set. This is not an exhaustive list of options, but it should be enough to get you started!

Sub ReplaceTextInChart()

Dim cObj As ChartObject
Dim cht As Chart
Dim ax As Axis
Dim legEnt As LegendEntry
Dim srs As Series

Dim str As String 'this variable will use to hold the various text of the chart.'
Dim strSearch As String
Dim strReplace As String

strSearch = "s"  '<-- test that I used, modify as needed.'
strReplace = "##" '<-- test that I used, modify as needed.'

For Each cObj In ActiveSheet.ChartObjects

    Set cht = cObj.Chart
    With cht

        '## Check if the chart has a title, if so, do the replace.'
        If .HasTitle Then
            str = .ChartTitle.Characters.Text
            .ChartTitle = Replace(.ChartTitle, strSearch, strReplace)
        End If

        '## Check if the chart has a legend, if so, do the replace'
        If .HasLegend Then
            For Each legEnt In .Legend.LegendEntries
            str = legEnt.Format.TextFrame2.TextRange.Characters.Text
            legEnt.Format.TextFrame2.TextRange.Characters.Text = _
                Replace(str, strSearch, strReplace)
            Next

        End If


        For Each ax In .Axes
            '## Check if each Axis has a Title, if so, do the replace'
            If ax.HasTitle Then
                str = ax.AxisTitle.Characters.Text
                ax.AxisTitle.Characters.Text = Replace(str, strSearch, strReplace)

            End If

        Next

        '## For each series, do the replace in series.name'
        For Each srs In .SeriesCollection
            str = srs.Name
            srs.Name = Replace(str, strSearch, strReplace)

        Next

    End With
Next

End Sub

Answer 2

This deals with shapes, including textboxes, and charts included in sheets, as well as charts on their own sheets:

Sub ReplaceTextInShapesAndCharts()
Dim ws As Excel.Worksheet
Dim chtObject As Excel.ChartObject
Dim chtChart As Excel.Chart
Dim shp As Excel.Shape

For Each ws In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
    'textboxes and other shapes
    For Each shp In ws.Shapes
        'charts don't have TextFrames - handled separately
        If Not shp.Type = msoChart Then
            shp.TextFrame.Characters.Text = Replace(shp.TextFrame.Characters.Text, "great", "fantastic")
        End If
    Next shp
    'in-sheet charts
    For Each chtObject In ws.ChartObjects
        ChartTextReplace chtObject.Chart
    Next chtObject
    'charts on their own sheets
    For Each chtChart In ThisWorkbook.Charts
        ChartTextReplace chtChart
    Next chtChart
Next ws
End Sub

Sub ChartTextReplace(chtChart As Excel.Chart)
Dim shp As Excel.Shape

With chtChart
    'textboxes in chart
    For Each shp In .Shapes
        shp.TextFrame.Characters.Text = Replace(shp.TextFrame.Characters.Text, "great", "fantastic")
    Next shp
    'expand this section as needed
    .ChartTitle.Text = Replace(.ChartTitle.Text, "great", "fantastic")
End With
End Sub