How to remember or save previous value of a changed cell in Excel?

Normally, when updating a cell with new content, the previous value is overwritten unless you undo the operation in Excel. However, if you want to keep the previous value for comparing with the updated one, saving the previous cell value into another cell or into the cell comment will be a good choice. The method in this article will help you to achieve it.

Save previous cell value with VBA code in Excel

Save previous cell value with VBA code in Excel

Supposing you have a table as below screenshot shown. If any cell in column C changes, you might want to save its previous value in the corresponding cell of column G or as a comment automatically. Please do as follows to achieve it.

1. In the worksheet containing the values you want to save when updating, right-click the sheet tab and select "View Code" from the right-clicking menu. See screenshot:

2. In the opening "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications" window, copy the below VBA code into the Code window.

The following VBA code helps you saving previous cell value of specified column into another column.

VBA code: Save previous cell value into another column cell

Dim xRg As Range
Dim xChangeRg As Range
Dim xDependRg As Range
Dim xDic As New Dictionary
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim I As Long
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xDCell As Range
    Dim xHeader As String
    Dim xCommText As String
    On Error Resume Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    Application.EnableEvents = False
    xHeader = "Previous value :"
    x = xDic.Keys
    For I = 0 To UBound(xDic.Keys)
        Set xCell = Range(xDic.Keys(I))
        Set xDCell = Cells(xCell.Row, 7)
        xDCell.Value = ""
        xDCell.Value = xDic.Items(I)
    Next
    Application.EnableEvents = True
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim I, J As Long
    Dim xRgArea As Range
    On Error GoTo Label1
    If Target.Count > 1 Then Exit Sub
    Application.EnableEvents = False
    Set xDependRg = Target.Dependents
    If xDependRg Is Nothing Then GoTo Label1
    If Not xDependRg Is Nothing Then
        Set xDependRg = Intersect(xDependRg, Range("C:C"))
    End If
Label1:
    Set xRg = Intersect(Target, Range("C:C"))
    If (Not xRg Is Nothing) And (Not xDependRg Is Nothing) Then
        Set xChangeRg = Union(xRg, xDependRg)
    ElseIf (xRg Is Nothing) And (Not xDependRg Is Nothing) Then
        Set xChangeRg = xDependRg
    ElseIf (Not xRg Is Nothing) And (xDependRg Is Nothing) Then
        Set xChangeRg = xRg
    Else
        Application.EnableEvents = True
        Exit Sub
    End If
    xDic.RemoveAll
    For I = 1 To xChangeRg.Areas.Count
        Set xRgArea = xChangeRg.Areas(I)
        For J = 1 To xRgArea.Count
            xDic.Add xRgArea(J).Address, xRgArea(J).Formula
        Next
    Next
    Set xChangeRg = Nothing
    Set xRg = Nothing
    Set xDependRg = Nothing
    Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

For saving the previous cell value in a comment, please apply the below VBA code

VBA code: Save previous cell value in the comment

Dim xRg As Range
Dim xChangeRg As Range
Dim xDependRg As Range
Dim xDic As New Dictionary
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim I As Long
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xHeader As String
    Dim xCommText As String
    On Error Resume Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    Application.EnableEvents = False
    xHeader = "Previous value :"
    For I = 0 To UBound(xDic.Keys)
        Set xCell = Range(xDic.Keys(I))
        If Not xCell.Comment Is Nothing Then xCell.Comment.Delete
        With xCell
            .AddComment
            .Comment.Visible = False
            .Comment.Text xHeader & vbCrLf & xDic.Items(I)
        End With
    Next
    Application.EnableEvents = True
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim I, J As Long
    Dim xRgArea As Range
    On Error GoTo Label1
    If Target.Count > 1 Then Exit Sub
    Application.EnableEvents = False
    Set xDependRg = Target.Dependents
    If xDependRg Is Nothing Then GoTo Label1
    If Not xDependRg Is Nothing Then
        Set xDependRg = Intersect(xDependRg, Range("C:C"))
    End If
Label1:
    Set xRg = Intersect(Target, Range("C:C"))
    If (Not xRg Is Nothing) And (Not xDependRg Is Nothing) Then
        Set xChangeRg = Union(xRg, xDependRg)
    ElseIf (xRg Is Nothing) And (Not xDependRg Is Nothing) Then
        Set xChangeRg = xDependRg
    ElseIf (Not xRg Is Nothing) And (xDependRg Is Nothing) Then
        Set xChangeRg = xRg
    Else
        Application.EnableEvents = True
        Exit Sub
    End If
    xDic.RemoveAll
    For I = 1 To xChangeRg.Areas.Count
        Set xRgArea = xChangeRg.Areas(I)
        For J = 1 To xRgArea.Count
            xDic.Add xRgArea(J).Address, xRgArea(J).Text
        Next
    Next
    Set xChangeRg = Nothing
    Set xRg = Nothing
    Set xDependRg = Nothing
    Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

Note: In the code, number 7 indicates the column G you will save the previous cell into, and C:C is the column in which you will make the change. Please change them based on your needs.

3. Click "Tools" > "References" to open the" Refereces – VBAProject" dialog box, check the "Microsoft Scripting Runtime" box, and finally click the "OK" button. See screenshot:

4. Press the "Alt" + "Q" keys to close the "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications" window.

From now on, when a cell value in column C is updated, the previous value will be saved in the corresponding cell in column G or as a comment, as shown in the screenshots below.

Save previous cell values in other cells:

Save previous cell values in comments: