Find where named ranges are being used in big workbook

Question

I have a list of 594 named ranges in a workbook with nearly 20 sheets, each sheet has about 200 columns of data. I need to find out where the named ranges are being used so

Answer 1

This code creates a copy of the workbook with the names. It then goes through and deletes each name in your list of names from the that copied workbook. It counts up the number of formula errors in the workbook before and after. If the error count is the same, the name wasn't used. If it's different, the name was used.

I like to do this kind of test for really complicated situations like this. It means you don't have to worry so much about complicated rules for testing. You can just base your answer on the results.

Since the testing is all done on a copy, it should be safe. Be sure to save all your work before though!

To use, put put your list of names in a workbook and name the range with that list "NamesToTest":

Then put this code in the same workbook and run it:

Sub CheckNameUsage()
Dim WorkbookWithList As Excel.Workbook
Dim WorkbookWithNames As Excel.Workbook
Dim TempWb As Excel.Workbook
Dim cell As Excel.Range
Dim NameToCheck As String
Dim ws As Excel.Worksheet
Dim ErrorRange As Excel.Range
Dim ErrorsBefore As Long
Dim ErrorsAfter As Long
Dim NameUsed As Boolean

Set WorkbookWithList = ThisWorkbook
Set WorkbookWithNames = Workbooks("SO - wb to test.xlsx")    'adjust to suit
WorkbookWithNames.Worksheets.Copy    'Workbooks.Add(WorkbookWithNames.FullName)
Set TempWb = ActiveWorkbook

For Each cell In WorkbookWithList.Names("NamesToTest").RefersToRange.Cells
    NameToCheck = cell.Value
    ErrorsBefore = 0
    For Each ws In TempWb.Worksheets
        Set ErrorRange = Nothing
        On Error Resume Next
        Set ErrorRange = ws.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas, 16)
        On Error GoTo 0
        If Not ErrorRange Is Nothing Then
            ErrorsBefore = ErrorsBefore + ErrorRange.Cells.Count
        End If
    Next ws
    TempWb.Names(NameToCheck).Delete
    ErrorsAfter = 0
    For Each ws In TempWb.Worksheets
        Set ErrorRange = Nothing
        On Error Resume Next
        Set ErrorRange = ws.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas, 16)
        On Error GoTo 0
        If Not ErrorRange Is Nothing Then
            ErrorsAfter = ErrorsAfter + ErrorRange.Cells.Count
        End If
    Next ws
    NameUsed = True
    If ErrorsBefore = ErrorsAfter Then
        NameUsed = False
    End If
    Debug.Print NameToCheck; " - Errors Before = " & ErrorsBefore; ", Errors After = " & ErrorsAfter; ", Used = " & NameUsed; ""
Next cell
TempWb.Close False
End Sub

The results will show in the Debug window:

The code is hopefully fairly self-explanatory. SpecialCells is worth knowing about, so read up on it if necessary. In this case it identifies cells with errors - that's the 16 argument.

Note that this only checks for workbook-level names. You could add checks for worksheet-level if necessary.