How to Get Text Values from Multiple User Selected Cells in Excel

[MarkGinAZ]

Hello,
I've looked online and found ways to get data from a range of cells, but what I need is to be able to get values from user selected cells. The selected cells may not be in the same column or row as each other. The user could select cells A5, B2, C7, and D3.
How would I be able to let them select different cells like that?

I'm using VB.Net in Visual Studio 2022, Windows 11.

Thanks

[jdc2000]

Untested AI search results:

Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim excelApp As Excel.Application = Nothing
        Dim workbook As Excel.Workbook = Nothing
        Dim selectedRange As Excel.Range = Nothing

        Try
            ' Get the running instance of Excel
            excelApp = CType(System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application"), Excel.Application)

            ' Get the active workbook
            workbook = excelApp.ActiveWorkbook

            ' Get the selected range
            selectedRange = excelApp.Selection

            If selectedRange IsNot Nothing Then
                For Each cell As Excel.Range In selectedRange
                    ' Get the value of the cell
                    Dim cellValue As Object = cell.Value

                    ' Display the value (e.g., in a ListBox or Console)
                    ListBox1.Items.Add(cellValue.ToString())
                Next
            Else
                MessageBox.Show("No cells are selected in Excel.", "Information", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information)
            End If

        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show("Error: " & ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
        Finally
            ' Release COM objects to prevent memory leaks
            If selectedRange IsNot Nothing Then System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(selectedRange)
            If workbook IsNot Nothing Then System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(workbook)
            ' Note: Do not release excelApp if you want to keep Excel running.
            ' If you want to close Excel, uncomment the following:
            ' If excelApp IsNot Nothing Then excelApp.Quit()
            ' If excelApp IsNot Nothing Then System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(excelApp)
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class

Explanation:
Imports: The Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel statement is crucial for accessing the Excel Object Model.
Get Excel Application: System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application") retrieves a reference to an already running instance of Excel. If Excel is not running, this will raise an error.
Get Active Workbook: excelApp.ActiveWorkbook gets the currently active workbook in Excel.
Get Selected Range: excelApp.Selection returns a Range object representing the currently selected cells in Excel.
Iterate and Extract Values: The For Each cell As Excel.Range In selectedRange loop iterates through each cell within the selected range. cell.Value then retrieves the value of the individual cell.
Error Handling and Cleanup: The Try...Catch...Finally block handles potential errors and ensures proper release of COM objects using System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject to prevent memory leaks.
Before running:
Ensure you have a reference to the "Microsoft Excel Object Library" in your VB.NET project. You can add this by going to Project -> Add Reference -> COM -> Microsoft Excel Object Library.
Have an Excel workbook open with some cells selected before running your VB.NET application.

[MarkGinAZ]

Hello, and thank you for responding. I tried the code you provided, but it keeps stopping at the "If selectedRange IsNot Nothing Then..."
I have 4 cells selected, but it doesn't seem to get any info from the cells.

"System.NullReferenceException: 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object.'

cellValue was Nothing."

Also, it had a problem with
excelApp = CType(Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application"), Excel.Application)
The error shows "GetActiveObject is not a member of Marshal"