A VBA procedure can throw two kinds of errors:

• Syntax errors: You must correct syntax errors before you can execute a procedure.
• Run-time errors: Run-time errors occur while a procedure is running.

Note: For error-handling procedures to work, the Break on All Errors setting must be turned off. In VBE, choose tools > Options and click the General tab in the Options dialogue box. If Break on All Errors is selected, VBA ignores your error-handling code. You will usually want to use the Break on Unhandled Errors option.

Normally, a run-time error causes VBA to stop and the user sees a dialogue box that displays the error number and a description of the error.

For example, execution of the following sub procedure displays an error message, because no cell in the current range selection contains a formula.

Sub SelectFormula()
  ActiveCell.CurrentRegion.Select
  Selection.SpecialCells(xlFormulas).Select
End Sub

The error message:

Whenever an error occurs, one of the options we have is to ignore the error and let VBA continue. We can do so by using the following statement:

On Error Resume Next

We can rewrite our Sub procedure above using the On Error Resume Next statement to prevent the error message from appearing:

 Sub SelectFormula()
    On Error Resume Next
    ActiveCell.CurrentRegion.Select
    Selection.SpecialCells(xlFormulas).Select
    On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

The On Error GoTo 0 statement restores normal error handling for the remaining statements in the procedure.