VBA - Selection Object

The Selection object represents the current selection in a window or pane.
The current selection is either the area that is currently highlighted or if nothing is highlighted then it represents the insertion point.
There can only be one Selection object per window (or pane) and there is only ever one selection that is currently active.

Creating a Selection Object

You can use the Pane object from the active Window object to return the current selection at any time.
The Selection object can only be returned from either an Application, Pane and Window object.

Dim objSelection As Selection 
Set objSelection = Application.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.Selection 
Set objSelection = Application.ActiveWindow.Selection 
Set objSelection = Application.Selection 
Set objSelection = ActiveWindow.Selection 
Set objSelection = ActiveWindow.Panes(1).Selection 
Set objSelection = ActivePane.Selection 
Set objSelection = Selection 
Set objSelection = ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.Selection 

Important Differences

The Range and Selection objects refer to a continuous area within a document.
The Range and Selection objects are very similar but have some important differences:
1) There can only be one Selection object per window (or pane), but there can be many range objects
2) The active selection is always highlighted, whereas the range object is not visible unless selected.
The Selection object shares a lot of the same properties and methods as the Range object.

Redefining a Selection Object

You can use the SetRange method to redefine an existing Selection object
The following example defines a selection object to the be equal to the current selection and then redefines it to refer to the current selection plus the next 10 characters.

Dim objSelection As Selection 
Set objSelection = ActiveWindow.Selection 
objSelection.SetRange Start:=objRange.Start, _ 
                      End:=objRange.End + 10 

Using the Selection Object

You should always check the Type of the Selection object to make sure that it is sensible.
It is possible for the user to select a vertical block of text that does not have to be represent contiguous text. This can be done by holding down the alt key and dragging with the mouse.

If (Selection.Type <> wdSelectionType.wdSelectionNormal) Then 
   Call MsgBox("This is not a valid selection") 
End If 

Default Property (Text)

The Text property is the default property for a Selection object.

ActiveWindow.Selection.Text 
ActiveWindow.Selection 

Identifying a Selection Object

You can use the Type property to help return information about the current selection

ActiveWindow.Selection.Type = wdSelectionType.wdSelectionNormal 

You can use the Flags property to

You can use the Information property to

Selection.Paste

Selection.Paste 

Selection.TypeText

Inserts the text at the beginning of the current selection.
The selection is turned into an insertion point at the end of the inserted text.
If Options.ReplaceSelection = True then the original selection will be replaced.

Selection.TypeText "some text" 

This behaves exactly the same as typing some text at the keyboard.

Selection.TypeParagraph

Insert a paragraph mark at the beginning of the current selection.
The selection is turned into an insertion point after the inserted paragraph mark.
If Options.ReplaceSelection = True then the original selection will be replaced.

Selection.TypeParagraph 

This behaves exactly the same as pressing the Enter key.

Selection.TypeBackspace

Insert a paragraph mark at the beginning of the current selection.
If the selection is an insertion point, delete the character in front of the insertion point.
If something is currently selected then the selection is turned into an insertion point at the beginning of the current selection.
If Options.ReplaceSelection = True then the original selection will be replaced.

Selection.TypeBackspace 

Selection.PasteAndFormat

Selection.PasteAndFormat(wdRecoveryType.wdPasteDefault)
This method pastes the selected table cells and formats them as specified

Pastes the table cells and formats them as specified

Selection.PasteAndFormat(wdRecoveryType. 

It doesn't matter what the Zoom percentage is, the image is automatically resized to fit the width of the page
This line will paste an Excel chart as a picture

Selection.PasteAndFormat(wdRecovery.wdChartPicture) 

Selection.PasteExcelTable

Selection.PasteFormat

This example inserts the Clipboard contents at the insertion point as unformatted text.

Selection.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart 

This example copies the first paragraph in the document and pastes it at the insertion point.

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Range.Copy 
Selection.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart 
Selection.Paste 

This example copies the selection and pastes it at the end of the document.

If Selection.Type <> wdSelectionType.wdSelectionIP Then 
    Selection.Copy 
    Set Range = ActiveDocument.Content 
    Range.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd 
    Range.Paste 
End If 

This example copies the selected text and pastes it into a new document as a hyperlink. The source document must first be saved for this example to work.

If Selection.Type = wdSelectionType.wdSelectionNormal Then 
    Selection.Copy 
    Documents.Add.Content.PasteSpecial Link:=True, _ 
        DataType:=wdPasteDataType.wdPasteHyperlink 
End If 

Selection.Extend

Turns extend mode on (sets the ExtendMode property to True), or if extend mode is already on, extends the Selection object to the next larger unit of text.
The progression of selected units of text is as follows: word, sentence, paragraph, section, entire document.

objSelection.Extend(Character:="A") 

Character - The character through which the selection is extended. This argument is case sensitive and must evaluate to a String or an error occurs. Also, if the value of this argument is longer than a single character, the command is ignored.

This example collapses the current selection to an insertion point and then selects the current sentence.

With Selection 
    ' Collapse current selection to insertion point.
    .Collapse 
    ' Turn extend mode on.
    .Extend 
    ' Extend selection to word.
    .Extend 
    ' Extend selection to sentence.
    .Extend 
End With 

Here is an example that accomplishes the same task without the Extend method.

With Selection 
    ' Collapse current selection.
    .Collapse 
    ' Expand selection to current sentence.
    .Expand Unit:=wdUnits.wdSentence 
End With 

This example makes the end of the selection active and extends the selection through the next instance of a capital "R".

With Selection 
    .StartIsActive = False 
    .Extend Character:="R" 
End With 

Selection - ExtendMode

This property is True when the Extend mode is active.
This property can only be set during run time; attempts to set it in Immediate mode are ignored. The Extend arguments of the EndOf and StartOf methods are not affected by this property.

This example moves to the beginning of the paragraph and selects the paragraph plus the next two sentences.

With Selection 
    .MoveLeft Unit:=wdUnits.wdCharacter, Count:=4, Extend:=True 
    .MoveRight Unit:=wdUnits.wdSentence, Count:=2 
    .ExtendMode = True 
    .MoveUp Unit:=wdUnits.wdParagraph 
    .MoveDown Unit:=wdUnits.wdParagraph 
End With 

This example collapses the current selection, turns on Extend mode, and selects the current sentence.

With Selection 
    .Collapse 
    .ExtendMode = True 
    ' Select current word.
    .Extend 
    ' Select current sentence.
    .Extend 
End With 

Expanding the current Selection

The easiest way to expand a range is to use either the MoveRight or MoveLeft methods.
The Extend argument can either be wdMove or wdExtend. The default is wdMove.

Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdUnits.wdCharacter, _ 
                    Count:=1, _ 
                    Extend:=wdMovementType.wdExtend 

This method cannot be used with a Range.

You can also use the Expand method. This method returns the number of characters added to the range.

Selection.Expand (Unit:=wdUnits.wdWord) 

This example expands the selection to include the entire sentence.

Selection.Expand Unit:=wdUnits.wdSentence 

objSelection.MoveStart wdUnits.wdCharacter, 3 

If objSelection.Active = True Then 
   'this selection is currently active, ie highlighted
End If 

Selection Object - Collapsing

Even when a selection is collapsed to an insertion point it is not empty.
The Text property of a collapsed Selection object will still return the character immediately to the right of the insertion point.
This character will also appear in the Characters collection of the Selection object.

Selection.HomeKey

Moves the Selection object to the beginning of the specified unit.

lNoOfChars = objSelection.HomeKey(Unit:=wdUnits.wdStory, _ 
                                  Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

Unit -
Extend - The default is wdMove.
This method returns a value (Long) that indicates the number of characters the selection has actually moved.
If it returns zero (0) then the moved was unsuccessful.

Selection.EndKey

Moves the Selection object to the end of the specified unit.

lNoOfChars = objSelection.EndKey(Unit:=wdUnits.wdStory, _ 
                                 Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

Unit -
Extend - The default is wdMove.
This method returns a value (Long) that indicates the number of characters the selection has actually moved.
If it returns zero (0) then the moved was unsuccessful.

Selection.MoveUp

Moves the Selection object up and returns the number of units it has moved.
The current selection is collapsed to the end point before being moved up.
The wdWindow constant can also be used to move to the top of the current screen.
The wdScreen constant can also be used to move more than one screen.

lNoOfChars = objSelection.MoveUp(Unit:=wdUnits.wdParagraph, _ 
                                 Count:=1, _ 
                                 Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

Unit - The unit can be either wdLine, wdParagraph, wdWindow, wdScreen. The default value is wdLine.
Count - The number of units to move. The default is 1.
Extend - The default is wdMove.

Selection.MoveDown

Moves the Selection object down and returns the number of units it has moved.
The current selection is collapsed to the end point before being moved up.
The wdWindow constant can also be used to move to the top of the current screen.
The wdScreen constant can also be used to move more than one screen.

lNoOfChars = objSelection.MoveDown(Unit:=wdUnits.wdParagraph, _ 
                                   Count:=1, _ 
                                   Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

Unit - The unit can be either wdLine, wdParagraph, wdWindow, wdScreen. The default value is wdLine.
Count - The number of units to move. The default is 1.
Extend - The default is wdMove.

Selection.MoveLeft

Moves the Selection object to the left and returns the number of units it has moved.
The current Selection object is collapsed to the end point before being moved left.

lNoOfChars = objSelection.MoveLeft(Unit:=wdUnits.wdCharacters, _ 
                                   Count:=1, _ 
                                   Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

Selection.MoveRight

Moves the Selection object to the right and returns the number of units it has moved.
The current Selection object is collapsed to the end point before being moved right.

lNoOfChars = objSelection.MoveRight(Unit:=wdUnits.wdCharacters, _ 
                                    Count:=1, _ 
                                    Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

Selection.

The following methods also exist for a Selection:
Move, MoveStart, MoveEnd, MoveUntil, MoveWhile, MoveStartUntil, MoveEndUntil, MoveStartWhile, MoveEndWhile

Selection.Move 
Selection.MoveUntil 
Selection.MoveWhile 
Selection.MoveStart 
Selection.MoveStartUntil 
Selection.MoveStartWhile 
Selection.MoveEnd 
Selection.MoveEndUntil 
Selection.MoveEndWhile 

The following moves to the start of the current line.

objSelection.HomeKey(Unit:=wdUnits.wdLine, _ 
                     Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

The following moves to the end of the line

objSelection.EndKey(Unit:=wdUnits.wdLine, _ 
                    Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

This following moves the selection up three lines.

objSelection.MoveUp(Unit:=wdUnits.wdLine, _ 
                  Count:=3, _ 
                  Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

Selection.Paragraphs(1).Range.Characters(1).Select 
Selection.Collapse wdCollapseStart 

The following moves the selection down two paragraphs.

objSelection.MoveDown(Unit:=wdUnits.wdParagraph, _ 
                      Count:=2, _ 
                      Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

The following moves to the end of the document.

objSelection.EndKey(Unit:=wdUnits.wdStory, _ 
                    Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

The following example moves to the start of the document.

objSelection.HomeKey(Unit:=wdUnits.wdStory, _ 
                     Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

The following moves the Selection object two words to the left.

objSelection.MoveLeft(Unit:=wdUnits.wdWords, _ 
                      Count:=2, _ 
                      Extend:=wdMovementType.wdMove) 

The following moves the start position backwards until a capital "I" is found.
When the movement is backwards, the Range is expanded.

Selection.MoveStartUntil Cset:="I", _ 
                         Count:=wdConstants.wdBackward 

The following moves the start position forwards until a "%" characters is found or for a maximum of ten 10.
When the movement is forwards, the Range is reduced.

Selection.MoveStartUntil Cset:="%", _ 
                         Count:=10 

Backspace

Selection.TypeBackspace 
Selection.Delete Unit:=wdUnits.wdCharacter, Count:=1 

selection.startof(wdline) 
selection.endof(wdline) 

This example inserts the text "Solutions" (enclosed in quotation marks) before the selection and then collapses the selection.

With Selection 
    .InsertBefore Chr(34) & "Solutions" & Chr(34) & Chr(32) 
    .Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd 
End With 

This example inserts all the font names in the FontNames collection into a new document.

Documents.Add 
For Each aFont In FontNames 
    With Selection 
        .InsertBefore aFont 
        .Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd 
        .TypeParagraph 
    End With 
Next aFont 

This example inserts text at the end of the selection and then collapses the selection to an insertion point.

With Selection 
    .InsertAfter "appended text" 
    .Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd 
End With 

Deleting text

Selection.TypeBackspace 
Selection.Delete Unit:=wdUnits.wdCharacter, Count:=1 

Removes all character formatting (formatting applied either through character styles or manually applied formatting) from the selected text.

Selection.ClearCharacterAllFormatting 

Removes character formatting (formatting that has been applied manually using the buttons on the Ribbon or through the dialog boxes) from the selected text.

Selection.ClearCharacterDirectFormatting 

Removes character formatting that has been applied through character styles from the selected text.

Selection.ClearCharacterStyle 

Removes text and paragraph formatting from a selection.

Selection.ClearFormatting 

Removes all paragraph formatting (formatting applied either through paragraph styles or manually applied formatting) from the selected text.

Selection.ClearParagraphAllFormatting 

Removes paragraph formatting that has been applied manually (using the buttons on the Ribbon or through the dialog boxes) from the selected text.

Selection.ClearParagraphDirectFormatting 

Removes paragraph formatting that has been applied through paragraph styles from the selected text.

Selection.ClearParagraphStyle 

Selection.Paragraph.Reset 

Selection.Paragraphs.Reset 

Selection.ParagraphFormat.Reset 

Selection.Font.Reset 

Selection Object - Properties

Selection Object - Methods