Excel Macro Autofilter issue with variable

Question

I have a table of data with the top row being filters, I have a loop that changes which filter needs to be used inside the loop is the variable filterColumn that is being assigned a new value every time the loop runs through.

when i try to use filterColumn to determine which filter will be 'switched on' i get an error

Autofilter method of Range Class Failed

ActiveSheet.Range("$U$83:$CV$1217").AutoFilter Field:=filterColumn, Criteria1:="<>"

What is the correct syntax in order to use a variable to determine which field the filter is in?

Problem Solved I found the solution. I was referencing the filters columns position in terms of the whole worksheet when in fact I should have been referencing what number it was in the group of filters. For example the filter I wanted to change was in 'CF' which is the 84th column but my the filter I wanted to change is the 64th in the group.

Answer 1

Dim filterColumn As Integer
filterColumn = 2
ActiveSheet.Range("$U$83:$CV$1217").AutoFilter Field:=filterColumn, _
    Criteria1:="<>"

Answer 2

EDIT : I tried @HeadofCatering's solution and initially it failed. However I filled in values in the referenced columns and it worked (my solution also failed under reverse conditions - make the column headers blank and it fails).

However this doesn't quite mesh with what I've (and probably you've) seen - you can definitely add filters to columns with blank headers. However one thing was consistent in the failures I saw - the filterColumn referenced a column that was outside of Application.UsedRange . You may want to try verifying that the column you are referencing is actually within Application.UsedRange (easy way: run Application.UsedRange.Select in the Immediate Window and see if your column is selected). Since you are referencing a decent amount of columns, it is possible that there are no values past a certain point (including column headers), and when you specify the column to filter, you are actually specifying something outside of your UsedRange .

An interesting (this is new to me as well) thing to test is taking a blank sheet, filling in values in cells A1 and B1 , selecting columns A:G and manually adding AutoFilters - this will only add filters to columns A and B (a related situation can be found if you try to add filters to a completely blank sheet).

Sorry for the babble - chances are this isn't even your problem :)

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Old solution (doesn't work when conditions described above are used)

I may be overkilling it, but try setting the sheet values as well (note I used a sample range here):

Sub SOTest()

Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim filterColumn As Integer

' Set the sheet object and declare your variable
Set ws = ActiveSheet
filterColumn = 2

' Now try the filter
ws.Range("$A$1:$E$10").AutoFilter Field:=filterColumn, Criteria1:="<>"

End Sub