Referencing an "icon"

[jerH]

On the INSERT menu of the Excel ribbon, right under "shapes" you can insert an "icon". Once you've done that, how can you reference the resulting picture via VBA? I tried searching but most of what comes up for "icons" is in relation to conditional formatting....

Thanks!

 

[Scott Huish]

I assume you mean you're just inserting one of the shapes. In this example, I used the Left Right Arrow. In the name box above the spreadsheet, make a note of what it's called. You can copy the name right out of that box.

Sub test()
ActiveSheet.Shapes("Left-Right Arrow 2").Delete
End Sub

 

[jerH]

Sort of. In Excel 2019 Professional, on the Insert tab under "shapes" there is also "icons". (see attached screenshot) There is a much richer set of shapes to add here. You're right that they are still referenced via the Shapes collection....so if I go to Excel and insert one, it gets a name like "Graphic 2" and I can do
ActiveSheet.Shapes("Graphic 2").delete
and that deletes it....in that sense you have answered my original poorly formed question. Thanks

But building on that, I now need to be able to insert one of these programatically. If I look at the object model for the shapes object though, I can find the .addShape method (reference) but it wants the type to be a member of the MsoAutoShapeType enumeration. And that is just the stuff you see under the "shapes" button, not the "icon" button. For instance, under the icon button the first section that shows up is "Accessibility" and it has wheelchair icons, an ear with a line through it for deafness, a braille icon, etc. Do you have any idea how those might be accessed?

Thanks!

 

[Bombdiggity]

This question is very old but I thought I might add something that helped me locate the names of the icons in my sheet to reference them in VBA, as well as rename them, for future visitors.

To find the names of icons you've used on your sheet follow these steps:

1. Click on the icon you've inserted into your Excel worksheet to select it.
2. Review the Name in the Selection Pane:
   • Go to the "Home" tab on the Excel ribbon.
   • In the "Editing" group, click on "Find & Select."
   • Click on "Selection Pane."
   • The Selection Pane will appear on the right side of your worksheet. It will list all the objects on your sheet with their names.
   • To change the pre-determined icon names, double click on the icon name in the selection pane and replace with desired name.
3. To reference icon in VBA use this code: ActiveSheet.Shapes.Range(Array("ICONNAME")).Select

Hope this helps someone! Cheers