How to duplicate rows

How to Duplicate Rows in Excel Using VBA: A Comprehensive Guide

Learn various methods to duplicate rows in Excel using VBA, from simple repetition to conditional duplication, enhancing your data manipulation capabilities.

Duplicating rows in Excel is a common task, especially when preparing data for analysis, simulations, or report generation. While manual methods work for small datasets, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) offers powerful automation capabilities for larger, more complex scenarios. This article will guide you through different VBA techniques to duplicate rows, including basic duplication, duplicating based on a specific number of times, and conditional duplication.

Basic Row Duplication

The simplest form of row duplication involves copying a selected row and inserting it immediately below the original. This is useful when you need an exact replica of a row's data and formatting. We'll start with a straightforward VBA subroutine that takes a specified row and duplicates it once.

Sub DuplicateSelectedRow()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim selectedRow As Long
    
    Set ws = ActiveSheet
    
    ' Get the row number of the currently selected cell
    selectedRow = Selection.Row
    
    ' Copy the selected row
    ws.Rows(selectedRow).Copy
    
    ' Insert the copied row below the original
    ws.Rows(selectedRow + 1).Insert Shift:=xlDown
    
    Application.CutCopyMode = False ' Clear clipboard
    MsgBox "Row " & selectedRow & " duplicated successfully!", vbInformation
End Sub

VBA code to duplicate the currently selected row once.

Duplicating Rows Multiple Times

Often, you might need to duplicate a row a specific number of times. This can be achieved by incorporating a loop into our VBA code. The following example demonstrates how to ask the user for the number of duplications and then perform the operation.

Sub DuplicateRowMultipleTimes()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim selectedRow As Long
    Dim numCopies As Variant
    Dim i As Long
    
    Set ws = ActiveSheet
    selectedRow = Selection.Row
    
    ' Ask user for number of copies
    numCopies = InputBox("Enter the number of times to duplicate row " & selectedRow & ":", "Duplicate Row", 1)
    
    ' Validate input
    If Not IsNumeric(numCopies) Or CLng(numCopies) < 0 Then
        MsgBox "Invalid input. Please enter a non-negative number.", vbCritical
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    numCopies = CLng(numCopies)
    
    If numCopies = 0 Then Exit Sub ' User entered 0 or cancelled
    
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False ' Turn off screen updating for speed
    
    ' Duplicate the row 'numCopies' times
    For i = 1 To numCopies
        ws.Rows(selectedRow).Copy
        ws.Rows(selectedRow + i).Insert Shift:=xlDown
    Next i
    
    Application.CutCopyMode = False
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True ' Turn screen updating back on
    MsgBox numCopies & " copies of row " & selectedRow & " created successfully!", vbInformation
End Sub

VBA code to duplicate the selected row a user-specified number of times.

Workflow for duplicating a row multiple times with user input.

Conditional Row Duplication

Advanced scenarios might require duplicating rows only if a certain condition is met in one of its cells. For instance, duplicating all rows where a specific column contains a particular value. This introduces conditional logic into our VBA script.

Sub DuplicateRowsBasedOnCondition()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim lastRow As Long
    Dim i As Long
    Dim conditionColumn As Long
    Dim conditionValue As String
    
    Set ws = ActiveSheet
    
    ' Define the column to check (e.g., Column B is 2)
    conditionColumn = 2 ' Change this to your desired column number
    conditionValue = "DuplicateMe" ' Change this to your desired condition value
    
    lastRow = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, conditionColumn).End(xlUp).Row
    
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual ' Turn off automatic calculation
    
    ' Loop from the last row upwards to avoid issues with inserted rows
    For i = lastRow To 1 Step -1
        If ws.Cells(i, conditionColumn).Value = conditionValue Then
            ws.Rows(i).Copy
            ws.Rows(i + 1).Insert Shift:=xlDown
        End If
    Next i
    
    Application.CutCopyMode = False
    Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic ' Turn on automatic calculation
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
    MsgBox "Conditional duplication complete!", vbInformation
End Sub

VBA code to duplicate rows where a cell in a specified column matches a condition.

Steps to Implement and Run VBA Code

Follow these steps to integrate and execute the provided VBA code in your Excel workbook.

1. Step 1

Open your Excel workbook and press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor (Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications).

2. Step 2

In the VBA editor, right-click on your workbook name in the Project Explorer (usually on the left side), then select Insert > Module.

3. Step 3

A new module window will appear. Copy and paste the desired VBA code (e.g., DuplicateSelectedRow or DuplicateRowMultipleTimes) into this module.

4. Step 4

Close the VBA editor and return to your Excel worksheet. Select the row or a cell within the row you wish to duplicate.

5. Step 5

Press Alt + F8 to open the Macro dialog box. Select the name of the macro you just pasted (e.g., DuplicateSelectedRow) and click Run.