Introduction to Excel Macros: Part 1

Author: David H. Ringstrom

If you want to learn how to create and implement macros—one of Excel’s most powerful features—this presentation is designed just for you. Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, introduces you to the concept of Excel macros as well as to the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro. He also explains how to use the Record Macro feature and Excel’s Personal Macro Workbook. After participating in this course, you’ll be prepared to begin utilizing macros immediately.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2021, 2019, 2016 and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don't change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2021, Excel 2019, and so on.

Publication Date: September 2022

Designed For
Practitioners who need to learn the basics of working with Excel spreadsheets.

Topics Covered

• Adding clickable shapes to Excel spreadsheets as a visual means of launching Excel macros
• Uncovering macro-related commands within Excel's user interface
• Comparing Center Across Selection to Merged cells for centering text across two or more columns
• Recording a macro to automate using Center Across Selection
• Navigate Excel menus entirely by keyboard shortcuts
• Creating a Quick Access Toolbar icon to enable running macros with a single mouse click or keystroke
• Weighing the risks versus benefits of using macros in Excel spreadsheets
• Understanding the purpose and nuances of Excel's Personal Macro Workbook
• Recording a contact info macro
• Utilizing the Relative References setting for creating Excel macros to be played back on any cell versus specific cells
• Automating the cleanup of an accounting report in Microsoft Excel with a recorded macro
• Preserving macros by saving workbooks in the XLSM format versus the default XLSX format

Learning Objectives

• Identify how to prevent macros from being discarded from workbooks when saving
• Recognize how the Unhide command is used to locate and manage Excel's Personal Macro Workbook
• Describe how to create general-use macros with the Relative Reference setting for Excel's Macro Recorder
• Identify on which menu tab in Excel the Record Macro command appears on
• Identify which file format will result in macros being discarded from your workbook
• Identify which character can be used in a macro name
• Identify which Excel setting informs the Macro Recorder to not record the specific addresses of cells that you touch but instead the positioning of said cells
• Identify the format workbooks that contain macros must be saved in to preserve the programming code

Level
Basic

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Computer Software & Applications (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
None

Advance Preparation
None