I found a way to solve this issue that might help others experiencing the same challenge. When Zapier updates cells in Excel, it fails to trigger the usual VBA events such as Worksheet_Change or Worksheet_Calculate. This made my automation ineffective and was quite frustrating.
To tackle this, I took the following steps:
- I set up a Worksheet_Calculate event that invokes my Worksheet_Change code.
- Crucially, I added a formula in a different cell that references the cell updated by Zapier.
For instance, if Zapier changes the value in cell B5, I placed this formula in cell B6:
=B5&"force calculation"
This ensures that Excel recalculates when B5 is modified, thereby triggering the Calculate event. Without this method, modifications made by Zapier wouldn’t activate any VBA events.
I hope this information aids anyone dealing with similar automation challenges!
nice workaround! i had the same headache with zapier not triggering events. i also tried using application.ontime to check for changes periodically instead of worksheet events, but honestly your formula trick is way cleaner.
Smart fix for a real problem. I’ve hit the same wall with Power Query refreshes that wouldn’t trigger my VBA code. The issue is tools like Zapier write straight to the Excel file - they bypass the normal Excel layer that fires events. I use a similar hybrid approach but add Application.EnableEvents checks too. External tools sometimes disable events without you knowing, so I stick Application.EnableEvents = True at the start of my Calculate event handler. Your formula dependency trick works great because it makes Excel see there’s actually a calculation chain - which is what you need for Calculate events to fire reliably.
Had the same issue with automated API imports. The problem is external apps modify Excel files directly at the file system level, not through Excel’s object model - that’s why standard events don’t fire. Your dependency formula approach works, but here’s another option that’s worked well for me: use Application.OnTime to check a sentinel cell that updates with your main data. Set it to run every few seconds and compare the current value against what you stored before. When they’re different, you know external data changed and can run your event code manually. This doesn’t depend on calculation chains and works even with automatic calculation turned off. Only downside is you get a slight delay instead of instant event firing, but for most automation the few second lag isn’t a big deal.