Bolding a specific part of cell

Question

I have a cell that is referenced as =\"Dealer: \" & CustomerName. CustomerName is a dictionary referenced name. How could I go along of bolding only \"Dealer:\"

Answer 1

As they already told you can't format a partial cell value if this latter derives from a formula/function in that same cell

However there may be some workarounds that may suit your needs

Unluckily I can't actually grasp your real environment so here are some blind shots:

---

1st "environment"

You have a VBA code running that at some point writes in a cell like:

Cells(5, 1).Formula = "=""Dealer: "" & CustomerName"

and you want to have the "Dealer:" part bold

• the most straightforward way would then be

  With Cells(5, 1)
      .Formula = "=""Dealer: "" & CustomerName"
      .Value = .Value
      .Characters(1, 7).Font.Bold = True
  End With
  

• but you could also use the Worksheet_Change() event handler as follows:

  your VBA code is only

  Cells(5, 1).Formula = "=""Dealer: "" & CustomerName"
  

  while placing the following code in the relevant worksheet code pane:

  Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
      With Target
          If Left(.Text, 7) = "Dealer:" Then
              Application.EnableEvents = False '<-- prevent this macro to be fired again and again by the statement following in two rows
              On Error GoTo ExitSub
              .Value = .Value
              .Characters(1, 7).Font.Bold = True
          End If
      End With
  
  ExitSub:
      Application.EnableEvents = True '<-- get standard event handling back
  End Sub
  

  where On Error GoTo ExitSub and ExitSub: Application.EnableEvents = True shouldn't be necessary, but I left them as a good practice when Application.EnableEvents = False id used

---

2nd "environment"

You have cell(s) in your excel worksheet containing a formula, like:

="Dealer:" & CustomerName

where CustomerName is a named range

and your VBA code is going to modify the content of that named range

in this case the Worksheet_Change() sub would be triggered by the named range value change and not by the cell containing the formula

so I'd go checking if the changed cell is a valid one (i.e. corresponding to a well known named range) and then go with a sub that scans a predefined range and finds and format all cells with formulas that use that `named range, like follows (comments should help you):

Option Explicit

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    With Target
        If Not Intersect(ActiveWorkbook.Names("CustomerName").RefersToRange, Target) Is Nothing Then
            Application.EnableEvents = False '<-- prevent this macro to be fired again and again by the statement following in two rows
            On Error GoTo ExitSub
            FormatCells Columns(1), "CustomerName" '<-- call a specific sub that will properly format all cells of passed range that contains reference to passed "named range" name
        End If
    End With

ExitSub:
    Application.EnableEvents = True '<-- get standard event handling back
End Sub

Sub FormatCells(rng As Range, strngInFormula As String)
    Dim f As Range
    Dim firstAddress As String

    With rng.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas) '<--| reference passed range cells containg formulas only
        Set f = .Find(what:=strngInFormula, LookIn:=xlFormulas, lookat:=xlPart) '<--| search for the first cell in the referenced range containing the passed formula part
        If Not f Is Nothing Then '<--| if found
            firstAddress = f.Address '<--| store first found cell address
            Do '<--| start looping through all possible matching criteria cells
                f.Value = f.Value '<--| change current cell content into text resulting from its formula
                f.Characters(1, 7).Font.Bold = True '<--| make its first 7 characters bold
                Set f = .FindNext(f) '<--| search for next matching cell
            Loop While f.Address <> firstAddress '<--| exit loop before 'Find()' method wraps back to the first cell found
        End If
    End With
End Sub