This blog post begins a series of articles about Microsoft Office macros. Today’s article discusses what a macro is and how to run a macro.
What is a macro?
The following definition and description of macros comes from our “Excel VBA Macro Programming” book.
A macro is a series of commands that can be executed as one command. Macros can be great time-savers because they can be used to quickly execute multiple commands that would otherwise be tedious and time consuming. Macros also help you maintain consistency when executing a complex process. Contrast that with us humans who are subject to misinterpreting directions and/or skipping critical steps. One of the most powerful time-saving features of the Microsoft Office is macros.
How do I run a macro?
To run a macro in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint 2007/2010 do the following:
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From the ribbon choose View (tab) > Macros (group) > Macros (icon). Or you can press Alt-F8 on the keyboard.
A list of macros is displayed in the Macros dialog box.
- From the list, double click on the name of the macro you want to run.
Or you can single click on the macro name and then click the Run button.
More information
In future blog posts we will share “The five steps for creating a macro”, “How to create a macro with the macro recorder”, “Understanding the Visual Basic Programming Language”, “How to create a macro that prompts the user for a file name” and many more macro-related tips and tricks. We also will share many of our favorite macros for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
By the way, did you know you can hire a Snippet Mentor to help you create a macro to automate your work? For example, a client was taking two tedious days per month to create charts from Survey Monkey data. We created a macro for them and now the job is done in 6 minutes! If you would like turn tedious days into quick 6 minute solutions please contact us.
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