How to Animate Text in Excel (2 Methods)

Method 1 – Scrolling Text Animation

• Open the Visual Basic Window by pressing Alt+F11.
• Insert a new module by going to Insert and clicking on Module.

• Copy the following code and paste it into the new module:

' Scrolling Text
Sub Start_Text_Scroll()
My_Value = ActiveSheet.Range("C4").Value
Final_Value = WorksheetFunction.Rept(My_Value, 1)
Do
For initial = 1 To Len(Final_Value)
    Length = Len(Final_Value) - 1
    DoEvents
    For AA = 1 To 10000000
    AA = AA + 1
    Next
    Range("B6") = Mid(Final_Value, initial, Length) & Left(Final_Value, initial - 1)
Next
Loop
End Sub
Sub Stop_Scrolling()
End
End Sub

• Add buttons for starting and stopping scrolling:
  • Insert shapes (e.g., rectangles) from the Insert tab.

• • Enter Start Scrolling inside one shape.

• • Assign the Start_Text_Scroll macro to this shape.

• • Click OK.

• • Repeat for the Stop Scrolling button.

• Use the buttons to start and stop scrolling the Text message.

Method 2 – Blinking Animated Text

• Draw Text Boxes
  • Go to the Insert tab and select Text and click on Text Box.

• • Draw a text box of your preferred size.

• • Enter the text you want to make blink.

• Add Empty Text Boxes
  • Create additional text boxes of similar shapes and sizes.

• Rename Text Boxes
  • Rename the text boxes as follows: TextBox 1, TextBox 2, and so on.

• Overlay Text Boxes
  • Arrange all text boxes so they overlap and appear as a single box.

• VBA Code
  • Open the VBA editor by pressing Alt+F11.
  • Insert a new module (Insert > Module).

• Enter the following code:

Sub Blink()
On Error GoTo skip
Do While Range("B4").Value = "Blink"
For txtbx = 1 To 5
ActiveSheet.Shapes("TextBox " & txtbx).ZOrder msoBringToFront
DoEvents
Next txtbx
Loop
skip:
ActiveSheet.Shapes("TextBox 1").ZOrder msoBringToFront
Exit Sub
End Sub

• Worksheet Code
  • In the worksheet code, enter:

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Tgt As Range)
If Tgt = Range("B4") Then
Call Blink
End If
End Sub

Things to Remember

• In the 2nd method, remember to correctly rename and align the text boxes for smooth animation

Download Practice Workbook

You can download the practice workbook from here:

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