Excel converting columns to rows - vba

Question

I have a large Excel sheet (approx 150 columns x 7000 rows and growing every day) but need to extract information in a better way.
I don't have access to database software, only Excel.
I've managed to get the result I want using normal Formulas, but the file size is almost 100mB (up from 4mB originally) and not workable - it's just too slow.
I created a pivot table that only partially solves the problem.
I'm new to VBA, so I tried a few examples on here to try to learn but most are too complex for me at the moment.
In theory, "Convert row with columns of data into column with multiple rows in Excel" looks to partially resolve my problem, but I just can't get it to run! While I can see the code in the module, it does not appear in the macro list when I press the run button.
Here is what I'm starting with-
Name1 Name2 Location Subject1 Subject2 Subject3
Fred Jones England Spanish Maths English
Peter Brown Germany English (empty) Maths
Erik Strong Sweden Chemistry English Biology
Required result -
Name1 Name2 Location No. Type
Fred Jones England Subject1 Spanish
Fred Jones England Subject2 Maths
Fred Jones England Subject3 English
Peter Brown Germany Subject1 English
Peter Brown Germany Subject3 Maths
Erik Strong Sweden Subject1 Chemistry
Erik Strong Sweden Subject2 English
Erik Strong Sweden Subject3 Biology
Can anyone help please? Thank you!

Answer 1

I want to share a script I use regularly. Use it when you have multiple transactions, events, etc. on a single row when you want every transaction, event, etc. on a separate row. It takes columns that contain the same data type (ex. Subject1, Subject2, Subject3...) and need to be combined into one column (ex. Subject) across multiple rows.
In other words, your data that looks like this:
Name Location Subject1 Subject2 Subject3
Will look like this:
Name Location Subject1
Name Location Subject2
Name Location Subject3
This script assumes that your fixed column(s) are on the left and the columns to be combined (and split out into multiple rows) follow on the right. I hope this helps!
Option Explicit
Sub MatrixConverter2_2()
' Macro created 11/16/2005 by Peter T Oboyski (updated 8/24/2006)
'
' *** Substantial changes made by Chris Brackett (updated 8/3/2016) ***
'
' You are welcome to redistribute this macro, but if you make substantial
' changes to it, please indicate so in this section along with your name.
' This Macro converts matrix-type spreadsheets (eg. plot x species data) into column data
' The new (converted) spreadsheet name is "DB of 'name of active spreadsheet'"
' The conversion allows for multiple header rows and columns.
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section declares variables for use in the script
Dim book, head, cels, mtrx, dbase, v, UserReady, columnsToCombine, RowName, DefaultRowName, DefaultColName1, DefaultColName2, ColName As String
Dim defaultHeaderRows, defaultHeaderColumns, c, r, selectionCols, ro, col, newro, newcol, rotot, coltot, all, rowz, colz, tot As Long
Dim headers(100) As Variant
Dim dun As Boolean
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section sets the script defaults
defaultHeaderRows = 1
defaultHeaderColumns = 2
DefaultRowName = "Activity"
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section asks about data types, row headers, and column headers
UserReady = MsgBox("Have you selected the entire data set (not the column headers) to be converted?", vbYesNoCancel)
If UserReady = vbNo Or UserReady = vbCancel Then GoTo EndMatrixMacro
all = MsgBox("Exclude zeros and empty cells?", vbYesNoCancel)
If all = vbCancel Then GoTo EndMatrixMacro
' UN-COMMENT THIS SECTION TO ALLOW FOR MULTIPLE HEADER ROWS
rowz = 1
' rowz = InputBox("How many HEADER ROWS?" & vbNewLine & vbNewLine & "(Usually 1)", "Header Rows & Columns", defaultHeaderRows)
' If rowz = vbNullString Then GoTo EndMatrixMacro
colz = InputBox("How many HEADER COLUMNS?" & vbNewLine & vbNewLine & "(These are the columns on the left side of your data set to preserve as is.)", "Header Rows & Columns", defaultHeaderColumns)
If colz = vbNullString Then GoTo EndMatrixMacro
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section allows the user to provide field (column) names for the new spreadsheet
selectionCols = Selection.Columns.Count ' get the number of columns in the selection
For r = 1 To selectionCols
headers(r) = Selection.Cells(1, r).Offset(rowOffset:=-1, columnOffset:=0).Value ' save the column headers to use as defaults for user provided names
Next r
colz = colz * 1
columnsToCombine = "'" & Selection.Cells(1, colz + 1).Offset(rowOffset:=-1, columnOffset:=0).Value & "' to '" & Selection.Cells(1, selectionCols).Offset(rowOffset:=-1, columnOffset:=0).Value & "'"
Dim Arr(20) As Variant
newcol = 1
For r = 1 To rowz
If r = 1 Then RowName = DefaultRowName
Arr(newcol) = InputBox("Field name for the fields/columns to be combined" & vbNewLine & vbNewLine & columnsToCombine, , RowName)
If Arr(newcol) = vbNullString Then GoTo EndMatrixMacro
newcol = newcol + 1
Next
For c = 1 To colz
ColName = headers(c)
Arr(newcol) = InputBox("Field name for column " & c, , ColName)
If Arr(newcol) = vbNullString Then GoTo EndMatrixMacro
newcol = newcol + 1
Next
Arr(newcol) = "Data"
v = newcol
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section creates the new spreadsheet, names it, and color codes the new worksheet tab
mtrx = ActiveSheet.Name
Sheets.Add After:=ActiveSheet
dbase = "DB of " & mtrx
'--------------------------------------------------
' If the proposed worksheet name is longer than 28 characters, truncate it to 29 characters.
If Len(dbase) > 28 Then dbase = Left(dbase, 28)
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section checks if the proposed worksheet name
' already exists and appends adds a sequential number
' to the name
Dim sheetExists As Variant
Dim Sheet As Worksheet
Dim iName As Integer
Dim dbaseOld As String
dbaseOld = dbase ' save the original proposed name of the new worksheet
iName = 0
sheetExists = False
CheckWorksheetNames:
For Each Sheet In Worksheets ' loop through every worksheet in the workbook
If dbase = Sheet.Name Then
sheetExists = True
iName = iName + 1
dbase = Left(dbase, Len(dbase) - 1) & " " & iName
GoTo CheckWorksheetNames
' Exit For
End If
Next Sheet
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section notify the user if the proposed
' worksheet name is already being used and the new
' worksheet was given an alternate name
If sheetExists = True Then
MsgBox "The worksheet '" & dbaseOld & "' already exists. Renaming to '" & dbase & "'."
End If
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section creates and names a new worksheet
On Error Resume Next 'Ignore errors
If Sheets("" & Range(dbase) & "") Is Nothing Then ' If the worksheet name doesn't exist
ActiveSheet.Name = dbase ' Rename newly created worksheet
Else
MsgBox "Cannot name the worksheet '" & dbase & "'. A worksheet with that name already exists."
GoTo EndMatrixMacro
End If
On Error GoTo 0 ' Resume normal error handling
Sheets(dbase).Tab.ColorIndex = 41 ' color the worksheet tab
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section turns off screen and calculation updates so that the script
' can run faster. Updates are turned back on at the end of the script.
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'--------------------------------------------------
'This section determines how many rows and columns the matrix has
dun = False
rotot = rowz + 1
Do
If (Sheets(mtrx).Cells(rotot, 1) > 0) Then
rotot = rotot + 1
Else
dun = True
End If
Loop Until dun
rotot = rotot - 1
dun = False
coltot = colz + 1
Do
If (Sheets(mtrx).Cells(1, coltot) > 0) Then
coltot = coltot + 1
Else
dun = True
End If
Loop Until dun
coltot = coltot - 1
'--------------------------------------------------
'This section writes the new field names to the new spreadsheet
For newcol = 1 To v
Sheets(dbase).Cells(1, newcol) = Arr(newcol)
Next
'--------------------------------------------------
'This section actually does the conversion
tot = 0
newro = 2
For col = (colz + 1) To coltot
For ro = (rowz + 1) To rotot 'the next line determines if data are nonzero
If ((Sheets(mtrx).Cells(ro, col) <> 0) Or (all <> 6)) Then 'DCB modified ">0" to be "<>0" to exclude blank and zero cells
tot = tot + 1
newcol = 1
For r = 1 To rowz 'the next line copies the row headers
Sheets(dbase).Cells(newro, newcol) = Sheets(mtrx).Cells(r, col)
newcol = newcol + 1
Next
For c = 1 To colz 'the next line copies the column headers
Sheets(dbase).Cells(newro, newcol) = Sheets(mtrx).Cells(ro, c)
newcol = newcol + 1
Next 'the next line copies the data
Sheets(dbase).Cells(newro, newcol) = Sheets(mtrx).Cells(ro, col)
newro = newro + 1
End If
Next
Next
'--------------------------------------------------
'This section displays a message box with information about the conversion
book = "Original matrix = " & ActiveWorkbook.Name & ": " & mtrx & Chr(10)
head = "Matrix with " & rowz & " row headers and " & colz & " column headers" & Chr(10)
cels = tot & " cells of " & ((rotot - rowz) * (coltot - colz)) & " with data"
'--------------------------------------------------
' This section turns screen and calculation updates back ON.
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
MsgBox (book & head & cels)
'--------------------------------------------------
' This is an end point for the macro
EndMatrixMacro:
End Sub

Answer 2

You can use the transpose function, both with and without VBA. Here's a code I just threw together:
Sub test()
lastRow = ActiveSheet.Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
lastColumn = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").SpecialCells(xlCellTypeLastCell).Column
Dim rng As Range
With Sheets("Sheet2") ' the destination sheet
Set rng = .Range(.Cells(1, 1), .Cells(lastColumn, lastRow))
End With
rng.Value = _
Application.Transpose(ActiveSheet.Range(Cells(1, 1), Cells(lastRow, lastColumn)))
End Sub