VBA error 1004 - select method of range class failed

I am asking the user for the file directory of the excel file, then I setup some variables (originally set at public as project variables, since these were being used and changed in other places). I have also added the lines to set these variables to nothing (just in case, I do not think that it should matter). I then set these variables to the excel file, workbook, and sheets that I want to access:

Dim filepath as String
filePath = CStr(fileDialog)              'ask file dir, set to string
Dim sourceXL As Variant                  'these three were orig project variables
Dim sourceBook As Variant
Dim sourceSheet As Variant
Dim sourceSheetSum As Variant

Set sourceXL = Nothing                    'set to nothing in case...?
Set sourceBook = Nothing
Set sourceSheet = Nothing
Set sourceSheetSum = Nothing

Set sourceXL = Excel.Application          'set to the paths needed
Set sourceBook = sourceXL.Workbooks.Open(filePath)
Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Sheets("Measurements")
Set sourceSheetSum = sourceBook.Sheets("Analysis Summary")

Dim measName As Variant                    'create variable to access later
Dim partName As Variant

sourceSheetSum.Range("C3").Select           'THIS IS THE PROBLEM LINE

measName = sourceSheetSum.Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Value
sourceSheetSum.Range("D3").Select
partName = sourceSheetSum.Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Value

So I created two different sheet variables 'sourceSheets' and 'sourceSheetsSum', the code works if i use 'sourceSheets', but error 1004 occurs if i use 'sourceSheetsSum'. I have also tried the code with the variable 'sourceSheet' removed completely, in case that was overriding 'sourceSheetSum' for some reason.

I am fairly confident that the excel workbook and sheets exist and are being called correctly, since I ran a quick bit of code to loop through all the sheets in the workbook and output the names:

For j = 1 To sourceBook.Sheets.Count
Debug.Print (Sheets(j).name)
Next j

With the debug output of

Measurements
Analysis Summary
Analysis Settings

I decided to add a bit to the listing of the sheet names:

For j = 1 To sourceBook.Sheets.Count
    listSheet(j) = Sheets(j).name
Next j    
Debug.Print (listSheet(2))    
Set sourceSheetSum = sourceBook.Sheets(listSheet(2))

The debug prints Analysis Summary, so I know that the sheet exists in the workbook, and there should not be any issues with a 'typo' in the names.
The code still has the same error at the same line though.

I also tried changing:

Dim sourceXL As Variant                  
Dim sourceBook As Variant
Dim sourceSheet As Variant
Dim sourceSheetSum As Variant

Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Sheets("Measurements")

To:

Dim sourceXL As Excel.Application
Dim sourceBook As Excel.Workbook
Dim sourceSheet As Worksheet
Dim sourceSheetSum As Worksheet

Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Worksheets("Measurements")

But this does not change the error, I remember I had it similar to that, and then changed it since I read that variant is like a catch all, not actually that solid on what variant is.

Solution

You have to select the sheet before you can select the range.

I've simplified the example to isolate the problem. Try this:

Option Explicit


Sub RangeError()

    Dim sourceBook As Workbook
    Dim sourceSheet As Worksheet
    Dim sourceSheetSum As Worksheet

    Set sourceBook = ActiveWorkbook
    Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Sheets("Sheet1")
    Set sourceSheetSum = sourceBook.Sheets("Sheet2")

    sourceSheetSum.Select

    sourceSheetSum.Range("C3").Select           'THIS IS THE PROBLEM LINE

End Sub

Replace Sheet1 and Sheet2 with your sheet names.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Using Variants is dangerous and can lead to difficult-to-kill bugs. Use them only if you have a very specific reason for doing so.