[VBA Beginners] Summary of Methods to Find the Next Available Row for Data Entry

There are many situations where you want to automatically write data to the next blank row in Excel. Adding new information to the end of existing data is a standard task in business automation.

In this article, I will introduce multiple methods to find the “next data row” using VBA.

Method 1: Get the end of continuous vertical data

Range("A1").End(xlDown).Offset(1).Select

This method selects the row immediately below the last row of data, starting from cell A1 and looking downwards. This assumes the data is continuous without any gaps.

Method 2: Search upwards from the last row (Recommended)

Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Offset(1).Select

This method searches upwards from the very last row of Column A to find the last cell with data, and then selects the next row. This is effective even if there are blank cells in the middle of your data.

Method 3: Add to the next row of a table (CurrentRegion)

Dim entryTable As Range, headerRow As Range
Set entryTable = Range("B2").CurrentRegion
Set headerRow = entryTable.Rows(1)

headerRow.Offset(entryTable.Rows.Count).Value = _
    Array(1004, #7/2/2024#, "Mori Branch", 107908, "Hayashi Kimiko")

This code adds a row of data immediately below a table defined by CurrentRegion (a block of data surrounded by empty rows/columns).

Method 4: Find the last data position using the Find function

Dim searchCol As Range, lastDataCell As Range
Set searchCol = Range("C1", Range("C1").End(xlDown))

Set lastDataCell = searchCol.Find( _
    what:="*", _
    After:=searchCol.Cells(1), _
    LookIn:=xlValues, _
    SearchDirection:=xlPrevious)

lastDataCell.Offset(1).Value = "Mori Branch"

This method searches for the actual last data position in a specific column using the Find function and inserts new data right below it. This is a more flexible and stable approach.

Key Points and Notes

Summary

The process of “getting the next data row” appears very frequently in Excel automation using VBA. By choosing the appropriate method based on the characteristics of your work and data structure, you can achieve accurate and efficient processing.