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How to quickly move items between two list boxes in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

Have you ever tried to move the items from one list box to another one list boxes as you need as below screenshot shown? Here I will talk about this operation in Excel.

a screenshot showing the listboxes before moving items a screenshot of an arrow a screenshot showing the listboxes after moving items

Move items between list boxes

Move items between list boxes

There is no built-in function can help you finish the job, but I have a VBA code can do a favor.

1. Firstly, you need to create a list of data which will be shown as the items in list boxes in a new sheet which called Admin_Lists.

a screenshot of the source data

2. Then select these data and go to the Name box to give them a name ItemList. See screenshot:

a screenshot of naming the source data in the Name box

3. Then in a sheet which will contains the two list boxes, click Developer > Insert > List Box(Active X Control), and draw two list boxes. See screenshot:

a screenshot of selecting the List Box control under the Developer tab a screenshot of the right arrow a screenshot showing two created list boxes

If the Developer tab is hidden your ribbon, How to show/display developer tab in Excel 2007/2010/2013 Ribbon? this article will tell you how to show it.

4. Then click Developer > Insert > Command Button(Active X Control), and draw four buttons between two list boxes. See screenshot:

a screenshot of selecting command button control a screenshot of a right arrow 1 a screenshot showing the created command buttons

Now to rename the four command buttons with new names.

5. Select first command button, click Properties, and in the Properties pane, give a name BTN_moveAllRight to it, and type >> into the textbox beside Caption. See screenshot:

a screenshot showing how to changing the properties of the command button

6. Repeat step 5 to rename last three command button with below names, and also type the different arrow into the captions. See screenshot:

BTN_MoveSelectedRight

BTN_moveAllLeft

BTN_MoveSelectedLeft

a screenshot of the second command button after changing the properties a screenshot of the third command button after changing the properties a screenshot of the fourth command button after changing the properties

7. Right click at the sheet name which contains the list boxes and command buttons, and select View Code from the context menu. See screenshot:

a screenshot of opening the VBA code editor

8. Copy and paste below macro code to the Module script then save the code and close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window. See screenshot

VBA: Move items between two list boxes

Private Sub Worksheet_Activate()
'UpdatebyExtendoffice20171117
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xRg As Range
    Set xRg = Sheets("Admin_Lists").Range("ItemList")
    Me.ListBox1.Clear
    Me.ListBox2.Clear
    With Me.ListBox1
        .LinkedCell = ""
        .ListFillRange = ""
        For Each xCell In xRg
            If xCell <> "" Then
                .AddItem xCell.Value
            End If
        Next xCell
    End With
    Me.ListBox1.MultiSelect = fmMultiSelectMulti
    Me.ListBox2.MultiSelect = fmMultiSelectMulti
End Sub

Private Sub BTN_MoveSelectedLeft_Click()
    Call moveSigle(Me.ListBox2, Me.ListBox1)
End Sub

Private Sub BTN_MoveSelectedRight_Click()
    Call moveSigle(Me.ListBox1, Me.ListBox2)
End Sub

Private Sub BTN_moveAllLeft_Click()
    Call moveAll(Me.ListBox2, Me.ListBox1)
End Sub

Private Sub BTN_moveAllRight_Click()
    Call moveAll(Me.ListBox1, Me.ListBox2)
End Sub

Sub moveAll(xListBox1 As Object, xListBox2 As Object)
    Dim I As Long
    For I = 0 To xListBox1.ListCount - 1
        xListBox2.AddItem xListBox1.List(I)
    Next I
    xListBox1.Clear
End Sub

Sub moveSigle(xListBox1 As Object, xListBox2 As Object)
    Dim I As Long
    For I = 0 To xListBox1.ListCount - 1
        If I = xListBox1.ListCount Then Exit Sub
        If xListBox1.Selected(I) = True Then
            xListBox2.AddItem xListBox1.List(I)
            xListBox1.RemoveItem I
            I = I - 1
        End If
    Next
End Sub

a screenshot showing how to use the VBA code

9. Then go to another sheet then go back to the sheet contains the list boxes, now you can see the list data has been list in first one list box. And click at the command buttons to move the items between two list boxes.

a screenshot showing the source data in one list box after running the VBA code

Move selection

a screenshot of moving items from one list box to another one by one a screenshot of the arrow a screenshot showing two items have been moved to the right list box

Move all

a screenshot of marking which command button can be used to move all items from one list to another at the same time a screenshot of arrow 2 a screenshot showing all items are moved from one list box to another at the same time

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