Excel VBA - Searching in a Loop - vba

Question

First, my code (below) works, but I am trying to see if it can be simplified. The macro in which this code is located will have a lot of specific search items and I want to make it as efficient as possible.
It is searching for records with a specific category (in this case "Chemistry") then copying those records into another workbook. I feel like using Activate in the search, and using Select when moving to the next cell are taking too much time and resources, but I don't know how to code it to where it doesn't have to do that.
Here are the specifics:
Search column T for "Chemistry"
Once it finds "Chemistry", set that row as the "top" record. e.g. A65
Move to the next row down, and if that cell contains "Chemistry", move to the next row (the cells that contain "Chemistry" will all be together"
Keep going until it doesn't find "Chemistry", then move up one row
Set that row for the "bottom" record. e.g. AX128
Combine the top and bottom rows to get the range to select. e.g. A65:AX128
Copy that range and paste it into another workbook
Here is the code:
'find "Chemistry"
Range("T1").Select
Cells.Find(What:="Chemistry", After:=ActiveCell, LookIn:=xlFormulas, LookAt _
:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, MatchCase:= _
False, SearchFormat:=False).Activate
'set top row for selection
toprow = ActiveCell.Row
topcellselect = "A" & toprow
'find all rows for Chemistry
Do While ActiveCell = "Chemistry"
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop
ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Select
'set bottom row for selection
bottomrow = ActiveCell.Row
bottomcellselect = "AX" & bottomrow
'define selection range from top and bottom rows
selectionrange = topcellselect & ":" & bottomcellselect
'copy selection range
Range(selectionrange).Copy
'paste into appropriate sheet
wb1.Activate
Sheets("Chemistry").Select
Range("A2").PasteSpecial
Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

You never need to select or activate unless that's really what you want to do (at the end of the code, if you want the user to see a certain range selected). To remove them, just take out the activations and selections, and put the things on the same line. Example:
wb1.Activate
Sheets("Chemistry").Select
Range("A2").PasteSpecial
Becomes
wb1.Sheets("Chemistry").Range("A2").PasteSpecial
For the whole code; I just loop thorugh the column and see where it starts and stops being "chemistry". I put it in a Sub so you only have to call the sub, saying which word you're looking for and where to Paste it.
Sub tester
Call Paster("Chemistry", "A2")
End sub
Sub Paster(searchWord as string, rngPaste as string)
Dim i as integer
Dim startRange as integer , endRange as integer
Dim rng as Range
With wb1.Sheets("Chemistry")
For i = 1 to .Cells(Rows.Count,20).End(XlUp).Row
If .Range("T" & i ) = searchWord then 'Here it notes the row where we first find the search word
startRange = i
Do until .Range("T" & i ) <> searchWord
i = i + 1 'Here it notes the first time it stops being that search word
Loop
endRange = i - 1 'Backtracking by 1 because it does it once too many times
Exit for
End if
Next
'Your range goes from startRange to endRange now
set rng = .Range("T" & startRange & ":T" & endRange)
rng.Copy
.Range(rngPaste).PasteSpecial 'Paste it to the address you gave as a String
End with
End sub
As you can see I put the long worksheet reference in a With to shorten it. If you have any questions or if it doesn't work, write it in comments (I haven't tested)

Answer 2

The most efficient way is to create a Temporary Custom Sort Order and apply it to your table.
Sub MoveSearchWordToTop(KeyWord As String)
Dim DestinationWorkSheet As Workbook
Dim SortKey As Range, rList As Range
Set SortKey = Range("T1")
Set rList = SortKey.CurrentRegion
Application.AddCustomList Array(KeyWord)
rList.Sort Key1:=SortKey, Order1:=xlAscending, Header:=xlGuess, _
OrderCustom:=Application.CustomListCount + 1, MatchCase:=False, _
Orientation:=xlTopToBottom, DataOption1:=xlSortNormal
Application.DeleteCustomList Application.CustomListCount
Set DestinationWorkSheet = Workbooks("Some Other Workbook.xlsx").Worksheets("Sheet1")
rList.Copy DestinationWorkSheet.Range("A1")
End Sub