Run Time Error '1004': Paste Method Of worksheet Class Failed error - vba

Question

Copy pasting 1 line of text from word to excel using VBA.
When the code reaches the below line I am getting the below error.
ActiveSheet.Paste
Run Time Error '1004': Paste Method Of worksheet Class Failed error
But if I click Debug button and press F8 then it's pasting the data in excel without any error.
This error occurs each time the loop goes on and pressing debug and F8 pasting the data nicely.
I did several testing and unable to find the root cause of this issue.
Also used DoEvents before pasting the data code but nothing worked.
Any suggestions?
EDIT:-
I am posting the code since both of you are saying the same. Here is the code for your review.
Sub FindAndReplace()
Dim vFR As Variant, r As Range, i As Long, rSource As Range
Dim sCurrRep() As String, sGlobalRep As Variant, y As Long, x As Long
Dim NumCharsBefore As Long, NumCharsAfter As Long
Dim StrFind As String, StrReplace As String, CountNoOfReplaces As Variant
'------------------------------------------------
Dim oWord As Object
Const wdReplaceAll = 2
Set oWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
'------------------------------------------------
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
vFR = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").CurrentRegion.Value
On Error Resume Next
Set rSource = Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeConstants)
On Error GoTo 0
If Not rSource Is Nothing Then
For Each r In rSource.Cells
For i = 2 To UBound(vFR)
If Trim(vFR(i, 1)) <> "" Then
With oWord
.Documents.Add
DoEvents
r.Copy
.ActiveDocument.Content.Paste
NumCharsBefore = .ActiveDocument.Characters.Count
With .ActiveDocument.Content.Find
.ClearFormatting
.Font.Bold = False
.Replacement.ClearFormatting
.Execute FindText:=vFR(i, 1), ReplaceWith:=vFR(i, 2), Format:=True, Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End With
.Selection.Paragraphs(1).Range.Select
.Selection.Copy
r.Select
ActiveSheet.Paste'Error occurs in this line pressing debug and F8 is pasting the data
StrFind = vFR(i, 1): StrReplace = vFR(i, 2)
NumCharsAfter = .ActiveDocument.Characters.Count
CountNoOfReplaces = (NumCharsBefore - NumCharsAfter) / (Len(StrFind) - Len(StrReplace))
.ActiveDocument.UndoClear
.ActiveDocument.Close SaveChanges:=False
If CountNoOfReplaces Then
x = x + 1
ReDim Preserve sCurrRep(1 To 3, 1 To x)
sCurrRep(1, x) = vFR(i, 1)
sCurrRep(2, x) = vFR(i, 2)
sCurrRep(3, x) = CountNoOfReplaces
End If
CountNoOfReplaces = 0
End With
End If
Next i
Next r
End If
oWord.Quit
'Some more gode goes here... which is not needed since error occurs in the above loop
End Sub
If you want to know why I have chosen word for replacement then please go through the below link.
http://www.excelforum.com/excel-programming-vba-macros/1128898-vba-characters-function-fails-when-the-cell-content-exceeds-261-characters.html
Also used the code from the below link to get the number of replacements count.
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/macrosvba/GetNoOfReplacements.htm

Answer 1

Characters(start, length).Delete() method really seems not to work with longer strings in Excel :(. So a custom Delete() method could be written which will work with decoupled formating informations and texts. So the text of the cell can be modified without loosing the formating information. HTH.
Add new class named MyCharacter. It will contain information about text and
formating of one character:
Public Text As String
Public Index As Integer
Public Name As Variant
Public FontStyle As Variant
Public Size As Variant
Public Strikethrough As Variant
Public Superscript As Variant
Public Subscript As Variant
Public OutlineFont As Variant
Public Shadow As Variant
Public Underline As Variant
Public Color As Variant
Public TintAndShade As Variant
Public ThemeFont As Variant
Add next new class named MyCharcters and wrap the code of the new
Delete method in it. With Filter method a new collection of MyCharacter is created. This collection contains only the characters which should remain. Finally in method Rewrite the text is re-written from this collection back to target range along with formating info:
Private m_targetRange As Range
Private m_start As Integer
Private m_length As Integer
Private m_endPosition As Integer
Public Sub Delete(targetRange As Range, start As Integer, length As Integer)
Set m_targetRange = targetRange
m_start = start
m_length = length
m_endPosition = m_start + m_length - 1
Dim filterdChars As Collection
Set filterdChars = Filter
Rewrite filterdChars
End Sub
Private Function Filter() As Collection
Dim i As Integer
Dim newIndex As Integer
Dim newChar As MyCharacter
Set Filter = New Collection
newIndex = 1
For i = 1 To m_targetRange.Characters.Count
If i < m_start Or i > m_endPosition Then
Set newChar = New MyCharacter
With newChar
.Text = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Text
.Index = newIndex
.Name = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Name
.FontStyle = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.FontStyle
.Size = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Size
.Strikethrough = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Strikethrough
.Superscript = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Superscript
.Subscript = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Subscript
.OutlineFont = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.OutlineFont
.Shadow = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Shadow
.Underline = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Underline
.Color = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.Color
.TintAndShade = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.TintAndShade
.ThemeFont = m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font.ThemeFont
End With
Filter.Add newChar, CStr(newIndex)
newIndex = newIndex + 1
End If
Next i
End Function
Private Sub Rewrite(chars As Collection)
m_targetRange.Value = ""
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To chars.Count
If IsEmpty(m_targetRange.Value) Then
m_targetRange.Value = chars(i).Text
Else
m_targetRange.Value = m_targetRange.Value & chars(i).Text
End If
Next i
For i = 1 To chars.Count
With m_targetRange.Characters(i, 1).Font
.Name = chars(i).Name
.FontStyle = chars(i).FontStyle
.Size = chars(i).Size
.Strikethrough = chars(i).Strikethrough
.Superscript = chars(i).Superscript
.Subscript = chars(i).Subscript
.OutlineFont = chars(i).OutlineFont
.Shadow = chars(i).Shadow
.Underline = chars(i).Underline
.Color = chars(i).Color
.TintAndShade = chars(i).TintAndShade
.ThemeFont = chars(i).ThemeFont
End With
Next i
End Sub
How to use it:
Sub test()
Dim target As Range
Dim myChars As MyCharacters
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Set target = Worksheets("Demo").Range("A1")
Set myChars = New MyCharacters
myChars.Delete targetRange:=target, start:=300, length:=27
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Before:
After:

Answer 2

To make it more stable, you should:
Disable all events while operating
Never call .Activate or .Select
Paste directly in the targeted cell with WorkSheet.Paste
Cancel the Copy operation with Application.CutCopyMode = False
Reuse the same document and not create one for each iteration
Do as less operations as possible in an iteration
Use early binding [New Word.Application] instead of late binding [CreateObject("Word.Application")]
Your example refactored :
Sub FindAndReplace()
Dim dictionary(), target As Range, ws As Worksheet, cell As Range, i As Long
Dim strFind As String, strReplace As String, diffCount As Long, replaceCount As Long
Dim appWord As Word.Application, content As Word.Range, find As Word.find
dictionary = [Sheet1!A1].CurrentRegion.Value
Set target = Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeConstants)
' launch and setup word
Set appWord = New Word.Application
Set content = appWord.Documents.Add().content
Set find = content.find
find.ClearFormatting
find.Font.Bold = False
find.replacement.ClearFormatting
' disable events
Application.Calculation = xlManual
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.EnableEvents = False
' iterate each cell
Set ws = target.Worksheet
For Each cell In target.Cells
' copy the cell to Word and disable the cut
cell.Copy
content.Delete
content.Paste
Application.CutCopyMode = False
' iterate each text to replace
For i = 2 To UBound(dictionary)
If Trim(dictionary(i, 1)) <> Empty Then
replaceCount = 0
strFind = dictionary(i, 1)
strReplace = dictionary(i, 2)
' replace in the document
diffCount = content.Characters.count
find.Execute FindText:=strFind, ReplaceWith:=strReplace, format:=True, Replace:=2
' count number of replacements
diffCount = diffCount - content.Characters.count
If diffCount Then
replaceCount = diffCount \ (Len(strFind) - Len(strReplace))
End If
Debug.Print replaceCount
End If
Next
' copy the text back to Excel
content.Copy
ws.Paste cell
Next
' terminate Word
appWord.Quit False
' restore events
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

Answer 3

How about change it from: activesheet.paste
to:
activesheet.activate
activecell.pastespecial xlpasteAll

Answer 4

This post seems to explain the problem and provide two solutions:
http://www.excelforum.com/excel-programming-vba-macros/376722-runtime-error-1004-paste-method-of-worksheet-class-failed.html
Two items come to light in this post:
Try using Paste Special
Specify the range you wish to paste to.

Answer 5

Another solution would be to extract the targeted cells as XML, replace the text with a regular expression and then write the XML back to the sheet.
While it's much faster than working with Word, it might require some knowledge with regular expressions if the formats were to be handled. Moreover it only works with Excel 2007 and superior.
I've assemble an example that replaces all the occurences with the same style:
Sub FindAndReplace()
Dim area As Range, dictionary(), xml$, i&
Dim matchCount&, replaceCount&, strFind$, strReplace$
' create the regex object
Dim re As Object, match As Object
Set re = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
re.Global = True
re.MultiLine = True
' copy the dictionary to an array with column1=search and column2=replacement
dictionary = [Sheet1!A1].CurrentRegion.Value
'iterate each area
For Each area In ActiveSheet.Cells.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeConstants)
' read the cells as XML
xml = area.Value(xlRangeValueXMLSpreadsheet)
' iterate each text to replace
For i = 2 To UBound(dictionary)
If Trim(dictionary(i, 1)) <> Empty Then
strFind = dictionary(i, 1)
strReplace = dictionary(i, 2)
' set the pattern
re.pattern = "(>[^<]*)" & strFind
' count the number of occurences
matchCount = re.Execute(xml).count
If matchCount Then
' replace each occurence
xml = re.Replace(xml, "$1" & strReplace)
replaceCount = replaceCount + matchCount
End If
End If
Next
' write the XML back to the sheet
area.Value(xlRangeValueXMLSpreadsheet) = xml
Next
' print the number of replacement
Debug.Print replaceCount
End Sub

Answer 6

DDuffy's answer is useful.
I found the code can run normally at slowly cpu PC .
add the bellow code before paste, the problem is sloved：
Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("0:00:1"))'wait 1s or more
ActiveSheet.Paste