did you know that making macros in Excel is easier than commonly believed? In fact, in less than 10 steps you can record one on your own.
Being part of advanced Excel for business, many people consider macros to be a very difficult tool to learn and run away from it as soon as they hear its name, something like what happens with pivot tables.
If you are part of that group, this article is a small reminder that Microsoft Excel is a program that has a number of resources, tools and functions to make your life easier. Therefore, learning how to make macros in Excel is key to optimize your workflow and save time on the tasks you already know by heart .
Below, we will explain step by step everything involved in an Excel macro: what it is, what it is for, how it works and how to create one without suffering in the attempt.
are you ready to discover how easy it is to make a macro in Excel? let’s go!
what are Excel macros?
According to Valentín Rodriguez, WP teacher, Excel macros are a tool that, through codes, gives instructions to the computer to execute repetitive tasks in a database. It will be very useful to execute actions that do not have functions in the program.
Imagine that your job is to process information sent to you by your bosses. In each document you receive, you must make a series of modifications, and these are always the same. Although we are sure that you already know the process by heart, this does not take away the fact that it can be tedious.
With an Excel macro, you can perform all these actions in a matter of seconds, without having to take part in each step of the process as usual. To do this, this tool records the series of steps so that the program learns what it must do to solve the task in question.
In other words, what does an Excel macro do? This tool creates code that represents the steps executed in a specific task, so that you can execute the same procedure on your own.
So what are Excel macros? Let’s review what Microsoft’s support page says about it: “A macro is an action or a set of actions that can be executed as many times as you want. When you create a macro, mouse clicks and keystrokes are recorded.”
Image: Pexels
what are macros in Excel for?
Now that you know what Excel macros are, you know that this Microsoft tool is useful to optimize your workflow. By putting it into practice, a task that would take you hours will be solved in a matter of seconds.
In fact, Excel macros are perfect to carry out any type of procedure, whether simple or complex. You can even customize cells to execute new functions quickly.
By automating your work processes with Excel macros, you’ll not only greatly reduce your daily tasks, but you’ll also be sure that the final result will be error-free .
Now, what else is an Excel macro good for? Let’s review other benefits that this tool can provide in different professions:
1. In administration
First of all, let’s focus on administrators and managers, who are in charge of planning, organizing, directing and controlling various activities within a company.
By learning to use Excel macros – in addition to other tools – these professionals can reduce their workload by up to 50%, especially when it comes to the following topics:
Pricing policy
Inventory management
Scenario management
Invoices
Warehouse or stock control
In summary, using Excel macros it is possible to automate a wide range of administrative processes, thus obtaining more accurate results and improving decision making.
Image: Pexels
2. In accounting
An accountant is one who is in charge of recording the economic statements of a company and carrying out the applicable legislation. In that sense, Excel macros will facilitate his work in the following points:
Analysis of profits and expenses
Elaborate the balance sheet of the financial books
Creating budgets
Examining accounts and records
Calculate amounts
Therefore, by creating a macro in Excel an accountant will save a lot in terms of time and resources spent month to month .
3. In engineering
In engineering and other number-related careers, Excel macros are useful for performing tasks related to analysis and calculation: creating 2D and 3D graphs, creating formulas, converting units, etc.
For example, with Excel macros you can change a piece of data and the result of the equation will automatically change; whereas, if you perform manual calculations, you would have to perform all the calculations again. As we told you before, this tool is one of the best tools to save time and effort, especially, in complex processes.
Image: Pexels
4. In education
Excel macros are also very useful for teachers, professors and teachers, because their work involves planning, organization and routine processes. For example, if a teacher has 5 sections, he has to perform the same control procedures, evaluations and obtaining results or grades for each of them.
Moreover, if we take into account that superiors often ask for statistics such as the average of the section or of a specific subject, the figure becomes more complicated. To avoid frustrations, using Excel macros is a good way out.
After having recorded a macro in Excel, the teacher only has to worry about teaching and passing the relevant data to the spreadsheet, as the program will do the work for him. Some of the processes that can be developed here are as follows:
Schedules
Academic grade tracking
Class diary
Academic calendar
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how do Excel macros work?
Well, so far it is clear that Excel macros will be your right hand to solve all kinds of tasks in a matter of seconds. However, before explaining how to make an Excel macro, it is important to know how this tool works .
Creating a macro in Excel implies that the program will record both clicks and keystrokes during the execution of a specific task. The sequence recorded is the one that will later be performed automatically.
But what happens if you make a mistake when you are recording the macro? If at some point you click on an option that was not correct, no problem! You can make all the changes you need to perfect the sequence of steps at any time .
To do this, Microsoft advises you to know the Visual Basic programming language, since it records the steps you execute. Now you are probably wondering: do I need to know how to program to make macros in Excel?
Although it is not necessary, having programming knowledge is very advantageous to make macros in Excel. For example, if you make a mistake or forget a step, using the lines of code, you can modify the algorithm so that it follows the procedure you want.
On the other hand, if you don’t know how to program and you make a mistake when recording your Excel macros, you will have to do it all over again.
Clearly, understanding about programming will add to your expertise, but this is not exclusive. So, let’s get to the next section where you will learn how to make macros in Excel in simple steps!
Image: Pexels
how to make a macro in Excel?
that’s it! The moment you’ve been waiting for has arrived. Next, we will show you how to create a macro for Excel; follow the steps below:
1. Let’s start by enabling macros in Excel to be able to make use of this tool. To do this, click on the “File” tab and select “Options”.
Capture from: Microsoft Excel.
2. Then go to “Customize ribbon”, here you will find a list of all the main tabs, among which you can find the Scheduler tab.
Capture from: Microsoft Excel.
3. Check the “Developer” box and confirm by clicking “OK”, the tab is now in the ribbon.
Screenshot from: Microsoft Excel.
4. After this, you must go to the “View” tab on the top right.
5. Within this section, you will find the “Macros” option to the right of everything: click on it. Then select “Record Macro”.
Capture from: Microsoft Excel.
6. Immediately, you will see a box called “Record Macro”, where you should go to the “Macro Name” box and type the name you want to give it.
You can also add a description, a shortcut and the location where you want to save the workbook.
7. When you have it, click on the OK button to start recording the macro.
Once you click “OK”, the program will start recording all the mouse clicks and keystrokes you press during the recording process.
Capture from: Microsoft Excel.
8. Once you have finished recording the sequence, you should go to the “View” section again. You will see a drop-down box and you will have to click on “Stop Recording”. Once you do this step, you will have your Excel macro ready.
Capture from: Microsoft Excel.
Finally, to run the macro, you can press the command you configured or you can go to the “View” section , click on “Macros” and see the workbooks you have, here you will also have the option to run, modify or delete them.
Capture from: Microsoft Excel.
that’s all from today’s article! Now you know what Excel macros are, so you can take advantage of this tool to save time in your daily work and boost your professional life .
Don’t forget that, according to the Hubspot blog, having a database in Excel allows you to access information in seconds, maintain the data and structure it correctly. Therefore, it is clear that mastering this program will make a difference in your business.