What is macro in excel with example

In this Macros in Excel for beginners tutorial, you will learn Excel macro basics:

• What is an Excel Macro?
• Why are Excel Macros Used in Excel?
• What is VBA in a Layman’s Language?
• Excel Macro Basics
• Step by Step Example of Recording Macros in Excel

Why are Excel Macros Used in Excel?

As humans, we are creatures of habit. There are certain things that we do on a daily basis, every working day. Wouldn’t it be better if there were some magical way of pressing a single button and all of our routine tasks are done? I can hear you say yes. Macro in Excel helps you to achieve that. In a layman’s language, a macro is defined as a recording of your routine steps in Excel that you can replay using a single button.

For example, you are working as a cashier for a water utility company. Some of the customers pay through the bank and at the end of the day, you are required to download the data from the bank and format it in a manner that meets your business requirements.

You can import the data into Excel and format. The following day you will be required to perform the same ritual. It will soon become boring and tedious. Macros solve such problems by automating such routine tasks. You can use a macro to record the steps of

• Importing the data
• Formatting it to meet your business reporting requirements.

What is VBA in a Layman’s Language?

VBA is the acronym for Visual Basic for Applications. It is a programming language that Excel uses to record your steps as you perform routine tasks. You do not need to be a programmer or a very technical person to enjoy the benefits of macros in Excel. Excel has features that automatically generated the source code for you. Read the article on VBA for more details.

Excel Macro Basics

Macros are one of the developer features. By default, the tab for developers is not displayed in Excel. You will need to display it via customize report

Excel Macros can be used to compromise your system by attackers. By default, they are disabled in Excel. If you need to run macros, you will need to enable running macros and only run macros that you know come from a trusted source

If you want to save Excel macros, then you must save your workbook in a macro-enabled format *.xlsm

The macro name should not contain any spaces.

Always fill in the description of the macro when creating one. This will help you and others to understand what the macro is doing.

Step by Step Example of Recording Macros in Excel

Now in this Excel macros tutorial, we will learn how to create a macro in Excel:

We will work with the scenario described in the importance of macros Excel. For this Excel macro tutorial, we will work with the following CSV file to write macros in Excel.

You can download the above file here

Download the above CSV File & Macros

We will create a macro enabled template that will import the above data and format it to meet our business reporting requirements.

Enable Developer Option

To execute VBA program, you have to have access to developer option in Excel. Enable the developer option as shown in the below Excel macro example and pin it into your main ribbon in Excel.

Step 1)Go to main menu “FILE”

Select option “Options.”

Step 2) Now another window will open, in that window do following things

• Click on Customize Ribbon
• Mark the checker box for Developer option
• Click on OK button

Step 3) Developer Tab

You will now be able to see the DEVELOPER tab in the ribbon

Step 4) Download CSV

First, we will see how we can create a command button on the spreadsheet and execute the program.

• Create a folder in drive C named Bank Receipts
• Paste the receipts.csv file that you downloaded

Step 5) Record Macro

1. Click on the DEVELOPER tab
2. Click on Record Macro as shown in the image below

You will get the following dialogue window

1. Enter ImportBankReceipts as the macro name.
2. Step two will be there by default
3. Enter the description as shown in the above diagram
4. Click on “OK” tab

Step 6) Perform Macro Operations/Steps you want to record

• Put the cursor in cell A1
• Click on the DATA tab
• Click on From Text button on the Get External data ribbon bar

You will get the following dialogue window

1. Go to the local drive where you have stored the CSV file
2. Select the CSV file
3. Click on Import button

You will get the following wizard

Click on Next button after following the above steps

Follow the above steps and click on next button

• Click on Finish button
• Your workbook should now look as follows

Step 7) Format the Data

Make the columns bold, add the grand total and use the SUM function to get the total amount.

Step Stop Recording Macro

Now that we have finished our routine work, we can click on stop recording macro button as shown in the image below

Step 9) Replay the Macro

Before we save our work book, we will need to delete the imported data. We will do this to create a template that we will be copying every time we have new receipts and want to run the ImportBankReceipts macro.

• Highlight all the imported data
• Right click on the highlighted data
• Click on Delete
• Click on save as button
• Save the workbook in a macro enabled format as shown below

• Make a copy of the newly saved template
• Open it
• Click on DEVELOPER tab
• Click on Macros button

You will get the following dialogue window

1. Select ImportBankReceipts
2. Highlights the description of your macro
3. Click on Run button

You will get the following data

Congratulations, you just created your first macro in Excel.

Summary

Macros simplify our work lives by automating most of the routine works that we do. Macros Excel are powered by Visual Basic for Applications.

How to Write Macros in Excel: Macro Tutorial – What is & Use

Updated January 20, 2023

What is an Excel Macro?

Excel Macro is a record and playback tool that simply records your Excel steps and the macro will play it back as many times as you want. VBA Macros save time as they automate repetitive tasks. It is a piece of programming code that runs in an Excel environment but you don’t need to be a coder to program macros. Though, you need basic knowledge of VBA to make advanced modifications in the macro.

In this Macros in Excel for beginners tutorial, you will learn Excel macro basics:

Why are Excel Macros Used in Excel?

As humans, we are creatures of habit. There are certain things that we do on a daily basis, every working day. Wouldn’t it be better if there were some magical way of pressing a single button and all of our routine tasks are done? I can hear you say yes. Macro in Excel helps you to achieve that. In a layman’s language, a macro is defined as a recording of your routine steps in Excel that you can replay using a single button.

For example, you are working as a cashier for a water utility company. Some of the customers pay through the bank and at the end of the day, you are required to download the data from the bank and format it in a manner that meets your business requirements.

You can import the data into Excel and format. The following day you will be required to perform the same ritual. It will soon become boring and tedious. Macros solve such problems by automating such routine tasks. You can use a macro to record the steps of

• Importing the data
• Formatting it to meet your business reporting requirements.

What is VBA in a Layman’s Language?

VBA is the acronym for Visual Basic for Applications. It is a programming language that Excel uses to record your steps as you perform routine tasks. You do not need to be a programmer or a very technical person to enjoy the benefits of macros in Excel. Excel has features that automatically generated the source code for you. Read the article on VBA for more details.

Excel Macro Basics

Macros are one of the developer features. By default, the tab for developers is not displayed in Excel. You will need to display it via customize report

Excel Macros can be used to compromise your system by attackers. By default, they are disabled in Excel. If you need to run macros, you will need to enable running macros and only run macros that you know come from a trusted source

If you want to save Excel macros, then you must save your workbook in a macro-enabled format *.xlsm

The macro name should not contain any spaces.

Always fill in the description of the macro when creating one. This will help you and others to understand what the macro is doing.

Step by Step Example of Recording Macros in Excel

Now in this Excel macros tutorial, we will learn how to create a macro in Excel:

We will work with the scenario described in the importance of macros Excel. For this Excel macro tutorial, we will work with the following CSV file to write macros in Excel.

You can download the above file here

We will create a macro enabled template that will import the above data and format it to meet our business reporting requirements.

Enable Developer Option

To execute VBA program, you have to have access to developer option in Excel. Enable the developer option as shown in the below Excel macro example and pin it into your main ribbon in Excel.

Select option “Options.”

Step 2) Now another window will open, in that window do following things

• Click on Customize Ribbon
• Mark the checker box for Developer option
• Click on OK button

Step 3) Developer Tab

You will now be able to see the DEVELOPER tab in the ribbon

Step 4) Download CSV

First, we will see how we can create a command button on the spreadsheet and execute the program.

• Create a folder in drive C named Bank Receipts
• Paste the receipts.csv file that you downloaded

Step 5) Record Macro

1. Click on the DEVELOPER tab
2. Click on Record Macro as shown in the image below

You will get the following dialogue window

1. Enter ImportBankReceipts as the macro name.
2. Step two will be there by default
3. Enter the description as shown in the above diagram
4. Click on “OK” tab

Step 6) Perform Macro Operations/Steps you want to record

• Put the cursor in cell A1
• Click on the DATA tab
• Click on From Text button on the Get External data ribbon bar

You will get the following dialogue window

1. Go to the local drive where you have stored the CSV file
2. Select the CSV file
3. Click on Import button

You will get the following wizard

Click on Next button after following the above steps

Follow the above steps and click on next button

• Click on Finish button
• Your workbook should now look as follows

Step 7) Format the Data

Make the columns bold, add the grand total and use the SUM function to get the total amount.

Step Stop Recording Macro

Now that we have finished our routine work, we can click on stop recording macro button as shown in the image below

Step 9) Replay the Macro

Before we save our work book, we will need to delete the imported data. We will do this to create a template that we will be copying every time we have new receipts and want to run the ImportBankReceipts macro.

• Highlight all the imported data
• Right click on the highlighted data
• Click on Delete
• Click on save as button
• Save the workbook in a macro enabled format as shown below

• Make a copy of the newly saved template
• Open it
• Click on DEVELOPER tab
• Click on Macros button

You will get the following dialogue window

1. Select ImportBankReceipts
2. Highlights the description of your macro
3. Click on Run button

You will get the following data

Congratulations, you just created your first macro in Excel.

Summary

Macros simplify our work lives by automating most of the routine works that we do. Macros Excel are powered by Visual Basic for Applications.

Источник

Excel VBA macro tutorial: how to create, change, copy and delete macros

by Svetlana Cheusheva, updated on March 14, 2023

This tutorial will set you on your way to learning Excel macros. You will find how to record a macro and insert VBA code in Excel, copy macros from one workbook to another, enable and disable them, view the code, make changes, and a lot more.

This article your entry point to the fascinating world of Excel macros. It covers the essential basics that you need to know to get started and provides links to the related in-depth tutorials.

What are macros in Excel?

is a set of commands or instructions stored in a workbook in the form of VBA code. You can think of it as a small program to perform a predefined sequence of actions. Once created, macros can be re-used anytime. Running a macro executes the commands it contains.

Typically, macros are used to automate repetitive tasks and daily routines. Skilled VBA developers can write really sophisticated macros that go well beyond reducing the number of keystrokes.

Quite often, you may hear people referring to a «macro» as «VBA». Technically, there is a distinction: a macro is a piece of code while Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the programming language created by Microsoft to write macros.

Why use Excel macros?

The main purpose of macros is to have more work done in less time. Like you use formulas to crunch numbers and manipulate text strings, you can use macros to perform frequent tasks automatically.

Let’s say, you are to create a weekly report for your supervisor. For this, you import various analytics data from a couple or more external resources. The problem is that those data are messy, superfluous, or not in the format that Excel can understand. That means you need to reformat dates and numbers, trim extra spaces and delete blanks, copy and paste information into appropriate columns, build charts to visualize trends, and do a lot more different things to make your report clear and user-friendly. Now, imaging that all these operations can be performed for you instantly in a mouse click!

Of course, building a complex macro takes time. Sometimes, it can take even more time than performing the same manipulations manually. But creating a macro is a one time set-up. Once written, debugged and tested, VBA code will do the job quickly and flawlessly, minimizing human errors and costly mistakes.

How to create a macro in Excel

There are two ways to create macros in Excel — by using the Macro Recorder and Visual Basic Editor.

Tip. Within Excel, most operations with macros are done via the Developer tab, so be sure to add Developer tab to your Excel ribbon.

Recording a macro

Even if you don’t know anything about programing in general and VBA in particular, you can easily automate some of your work just by letting Excel record your actions as a macro. While you are performing the steps, Excel closely watches and writes down your mouse clicks and keystrokes in the VBA language.

The Macro Recorder captures nearly everything that you do and produces a very detailed (often redundant) code. After you’ve stopped the recording and saved the macro, you can view its code in the Visual Basic Editor and make small changes. When you run the macro, Excel goes back to the recorded VBA code and executes the exact same moves.

To start recording, click the Record Macro button on either the Developer tab or the Status bar.

For the detailed information, please see How to record macro in Excel.

Writing a macro in Visual Basic Editor

The Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Editor is the place where Microsoft Excel keeps the code of all macros, both recorded and written manually.

In the VBA Editor, you can not only program a sequence of actions, but also create custom functions, display your own dialog boxes, evaluate various conditions, and most importantly code the logic! Naturally, creating your own macro requires some knowledge of the structure and syntax of the VBA language, which is beyond the scope of this tutorial for beginners. But there is nothing that would prevent you from reusing someone else’s code (say, the one you’ve found on our blog 🙂 and even a complete novice in Excel VBA should have no difficulties with that!

First, press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor. And then, insert the code in these two quick steps:

1. In the Project Explorer on the left, right-click the target workbook, and then click Insert >Module.
2. In the Code window on the right, paste the VBA code.

When done, press F5 to run the macro.

How to run macros in Excel

There are several ways to start a macro in Excel:

• To run a macro from a worksheet, click the Macros button on the Developer tab or press the Alt + F8 shortcut.
• To run a macro from the VBA Editor, press either:
  • F5 to run the entire code.
  • F8 to go through the code line-by-line. This is very useful for testing and troubleshooting.

Additionally, you can launch a macro by clicking a custom button or pressing the assigned shortcut. For full details, please see How to run macros in Excel.

How to enable macros in Excel

Because of security reasons, all macros in Excel are disabled by default. So, to use the magic of VBA codes to your advantage, you need to know how to enable them.

The easiest way to turn on macros for a specific workbook is to click the Enable Content button in the yellow security warning bar that appears at the top of the sheet when you first open a workbook with macros.

To learn more about macro security, please see How to enable and disable macros in Excel.

How to change macro settings

Microsoft Excel determines whether to allow or disallow VBA codes to be executed in your workbooks based on the macro setting selected in the Trust Center.

Here are the steps to access the Excel macro settings and change them if needed:

1. Go to the File tab and select Options.
2. On the left-side pane, select Trust Center, and then click Trust Center Settings… .
3. In the Trust Center dialog box, click Macro Settings on the left, select the desired option, and click OK.

In the screenshot below, the default macro setting is selected:

How to view, edit and debug VBA codes in Excel

Any changes to the code of a macro, whether it’s generated automatically by the Excel macro recorder or written by you, are made in the Visual Basic Editor.

To open the VB Editor, either press Alt + F11 or click the Visual Basic button on the Developer tab.

To view and edit the code of a specific macro, in the Project Explorer on the left, double-click the module that contains it, or right-click the module and pick View Code. This open the Code window where you can edit the code.

To test and debug a macro, use the F8 key. This will take you through the macro code line-by-line letting you see the effect that each line has on your worksheet. The line currently being executed is highlighted in yellow. To exit debug mode, click the Reset button on the toolbar (blue square).

How to copy a macro to another workbook

You created a macro in one workbook and now want to reuse it in other files too? There are two ways to copy a macro in Excel:

Copy the module containing a macro

In case the target macro resides in a separate module or all the macros in the module are useful for you, then it makes sense to copy the whole module from one workbook to another:

1. Open both workbooks — the one that contains the macro and the one where you wish to copy it.
2. Open the Visual Basic Editor.
3. In the Project Explorer pane, find the module containing the macro and drag it to the destination workbook.

In the screenshot below, we are copying Module1 from Book1 to Book2:

Copy the source code of a macro

If the module contains many different macros while you need just one, then copy only the code of that specific macro. Here’s how:

1. Open both workbooks.
2. Open the Visual Basic Editor.
3. In the Project Explorer pane, double-click the module containing the macro that you’d like to copy to open its Code window.
4. In the Code window, find the target macro, select its code (beginning with Sub and ending with End Sub) and press Ctrl + C to copy it.
5. In the Project Explorer, find the destination workbook, and then either insert a new module into it (right-click the workbook and click Insert >Module) or double-click an existing module to open its Code window.
6. In the Code window of the destination module, press Ctrl + V to paste the code. If the module already contains some code, scroll down to the last code line, and then paste the copied macro.
   

How to delete macros in Excel

If you no longer need a certain VBA code, you can delete it by using the Macro dialog box or the Visual Basic Editor.

Deleting a macro from a workbook

To delete a macro directly from your Excel workbook, carry out these steps:

1. On the Developer tab, in the Code group, click the Macros button or press the Alt + F8 shortcut.
2. In the Macro dialog box, select the macro you want to remove and click Delete.

• To view all the macros in all open files, select All Open Workbooks from the Macros in drop-down list.
• To be able delete a macro in the Personal Macro Workbook, you need to unhide Personal.xlsb first.

Deleting a macro via Visual Basic Editor

A benefit of using the VBA Editor is that it enables you to delete an entire module with all the macros it contains in one go. Also, the VBA Editor allows deleting macros in the Personal Macro Workbook without unhiding it.

To permanently delete a module, perform these steps:

1. In the Project Explorer, right-click on the module and choose Remove from the context menu.
2. When asked whether you want to export the module before removing it, click No.

To remove a specific macro, simply delete its source code directly in the Code window. Or, you can delete a macro by using the Tools menu of the VBA Editor:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Macros. The Macros dialog box will appear.
2. In the MacrosIn drop-down list, select the project containing the unwanted macro.
3. In the Macro Name box, select the macro.
4. Click the Delete button.
   

How to save macros in Excel

To save a macro in Excel, either recorded or written manually, just save the workbook as macro enabled (*.xlms). Here’s how:

1. In the file containing the macro, click the Save button or press Ctrl + S .
2. The Save As dialog box will appear. Choose Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm) from the Save as type drop-down list and click Save:

How to export and import macros in Excel

If you’d like to share your VBA codes with someone or move them to another computer, the fastest way is to export the entire module as a .bas file.

Exporting macros

To export your VBA codes, this is what you need to do:

1. Open the workbook containing the macros.
2. Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
3. In the Project Explorer, right-click the Module containing the macros and select Export File.
4. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the exported file, name the file, and click Save.

Importing macros

To import a .bas file with VBA codes into your Excel, please follow these steps:

1. Open the workbook into which you want to import macros.
2. Open the Visual Basic Editor.
3. In the Project Explorer, right-click the project name and select Import File.
4. Navigate to the .bas file and click Open.

Excel macro examples

One of the best ways to learn Excel VBA is by exploring code samples. Below you will find examples of very simple VBA codes that automate some basic operations. Of course, these examples won’t teach you coding, for this there exist hundreds of professional-grade VBA tutorials. We just aim to illustrate a few common features of VBA that will hopefully make its philosophy a little more familiar to you.

Unhide all sheets in a workbook

In this example, we use the ActiveWorkbook object to return the currently active workbook and the For Each loop to go through all the sheets in the workbook one-by-one. For each found sheet, we set the Visible property to xlSheetVisible.

Hide active worksheet or make it very hidden

To manipulate the currently active sheet, use the ActiveSheet object. This sample macro changes the Visible property of the active sheet to xlSheetHidden to hide it. To make the sheet very hidden, set the Visible property to xlSheetVeryHidden.

Unmerge all merged cells in selected range

If you want to perform certain operations on a range rather than the entire worksheet, use the Selection object. For example, the below code will unmerge all the merged cells in a selected range at one fell swoop.

Show a message box

To show some message to your users, use the MsgBox function. Here’s an example of such a macro in its simplest form:

In real-life macros, a message box is typically used for information or confirmation purposes. For instance, before performing a action (unmerging cells in our case), you display a Yes/No message box. If the user clicks «Yes», the selected cells are unmerged.

To test the code, select one or more range containing merged cells and run the macro. The following message will appear:

Below are the links to more complex macros that automate challenging and time-consuming tasks:

How to protect Excel macros

If you’d like to prevent your macro from being viewed, modified or executed by others, you can protect it with password.

Lock macro for viewing

To protect your VBA codes from unauthorized viewing and editing, do the following:

1. Open the VBA Editor.
2. In the Project Explorer, right-click the project you’d like to lock, and choose VBAProject Properties…
3. In the Project Properties dialog box, on the Protection tab, check the Lock project for viewing box, enter the password twice, and click OK.
4. Save, close and reopen your Excel file.

When you try to view the code in the Visual Basic editor, the following dialog box will appear. Type the password and click OK.

To unlock macros, just open the Project Properties dialog box again and remove a tick from the Lock project for viewing box.

Note. This method protects the code from viewing and editing but does not prevent it from being executed.

Password-protect macro from running

To protect your macro from being executed so that only the users who know the password could run it, add the following code, replacing the word «password» with your real password:

The macro uses the InputBox function to prompt the user to enter password:

If the user’s input matches the hardcoded password, your code is executed. If the password does not match, the «Incorrect Password» message box is displayed. To prevent the user from peeping the password in the Visual Basic Editor, remember to lock the macro for viewing as explained above.

Note. Given the numbers of various password crackers available on the web, it is important to realize that this protection is not absolute. You can regard it rather as a protection against accidental use.

Excel macro tips

Excel VBA pros have devised tons of ingenious tricks to make their macros more effective. Below I will share a couple of my favorite ones.

If your VBA code actively manipulates the cell contents, you can speed up its execution by turning off screen refreshing and formula recalculating. After executing your code, turn this on again.

The following lines are to be added to the beginning of your code (after the lines that start with Dim or after the Sub line):

The following lines are to be added to the end of your code (before End Sub):

How to break VBA code into multiple lines

When writing code in the VBA editor, at times you may create very lengthy statements, so you have to scroll horizontally to view the end of the line. This does not affect the code execution but makes it difficult to examine the code.

To split a long statement into several lines, type a space followed by an underscore (_) at the point at which you want to break the line. In VBA, this is called the line-continuation character.

To continue the code on the next line correctly, please follow these rules:

• Do not split the code in the middle of argument names.
• Do not use an underscore to break comments. For multiple-line comments, type an apostrophe (‘) at the beginning of each line.
• An underscore must be the last character on a line, not followed by anything else.

The following code example shows how to break the statement into two lines:

How to make a macro accessible from any workbook

When you write or record a macro in Excel, usually it can only be accessed from that specific workbook. If you’d like to reuse the same code in other workbooks, save it to the Personal Macro Workbook. This will make the macro available to you whenever you open Excel.

The only obstacle is that the Personal Macro Workbook does not exist in Excel by default. To create it, you will need to record at least one macro. The following tutorial provides all the details: Personal Macro Workbook in Excel

How to undo a macro action

After executing a macro, its action cannot be reverted by pressing Ctrl + Z nor by clicking the Undo button.

Experienced VBA programmers can, of course, validate the input values and/or starting conditions before allowing the macro to make any changes to a worksheet, but in most cases that is quite complicated.

An easier way is to save the active workbook from within the macro’s code. For this, simply add the below line before letting your macro do anything else:

Optionally, you can also show a message box informing the user that the current workbook was saved right before executing the main code of the macro.

This way, if you (or your users) are not happy with the results, you can simply close, and then reopen the workbook.

Stop Excel from showing a security warning when there are no macros in a workbook

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where Excel continuously asks if you want to enable macros while you definitely know that there are no macros in this particular workbook?

The most likely reason is that some VBA code was added and then removed, leaving an empty module, which triggers the security alert. To get rid of it, simply delete the module, save the workbook, close and reopen it. If this does not help, do the following:

• For ThisWorkbook and for each individual sheet, open the Code window, press Ctrl + A to select all the code and delete it (even if the Code window looks empty).
• Delete any UserForms and Class Modules that the workbook contains.

That’s how you create and use VBA macros in Excel. I thank you for reading and hope to see you again on our blog next week!

Источник

What is MACRO in Excel?

A macro in excel is a series of instructions in the form of code that helps automate manual tasks, thereby saving time. Excel executes those instructions in a step-by-step manner on the given data.  For example, it can be used to automate repetitive tasks such as summation, cell formatting, information copying, etc. thereby rapidly replacing repetitious operations with a few clicks.

There are two methods to create the macros – The first is when you can record the macro, where Excel records every step automatically and then repeats it. The second is coding with VBAVBA code refers to a set of instructions written by the user in the Visual Basic Applications programming language on a Visual Basic Editor (VBE) to perform a specific task.read more, which requires good subject knowledge

Before recording a macro, the user has to activate the Developer tab in Excel. The Developer tabEnabling the developer tab in excel can help the user perform various functions for VBA, Macros and Add-ins like importing and exporting XML, designing forms, etc. This tab is disabled by default on excel; thus, the user needs to enable it first from the options menu.read more is a built-in option in Excel to create macros, generate VBA applications, design forms, import or export XML files, etc. Since it is disabled in Excel by default, it has to be enabled before creating and recording the macrosRecording macros is a method whereby excel stores the tasks performed by the user. Every time a macro is run, these exact actions are performed automatically. Macros are created in either the View tab (under the “macros” drop-down) or the Developer tab of Excel.
read more.

Let us learn the method to enable the Developer tab in Excel.

Enable the Developer tab

Examples of Macros in Excel

Let us understand how to add macros in excel with the help of the following example.

Example #1

A list of data with different names is available in the table below. Some names have “.” symbol. We want to replace the “.” symbol with “_” by using macros in Excel.

You can download this Macro Excel Template here – Macro Excel Template

The steps to add an excel macro are listed as follows:

• Click the “record macro” option in the Developer tab.

• The “record macro” window will pop out. Name the macro “ReplaceDot” in the “macro name” box. To assign a keyboard shortcutAn Excel shortcut is a technique of performing a manual task in a quicker way.read more, type “Ctrl+q” in the “shortcut key” box.

Select the option “This Workbook” in the “store macro in” box, which will ensure the macro is stored in the particular workbook.

It is optional to fill the “description” box explaining the task. Finally, click the “ok” button.

• The “ReplaceDot” macro will start recording the user actions in Excel. The user will observe the “stop recording” button appearing in the Developer tab.

• Let us now start replacing the “.(dot)” in the names with “_(underscore)” by using the “find and replace” option. Enter “.” in the “find” and “ _” in the “replace” option, respectively. Then click the “replace all” button.

Note: Use the shortcut key “Ctrl+H” to use “find and replace” option.

• The “replace all” option replaces all the “.” (dots) with the “_” (underscores). The number of replacements and the resulting output is shown in the succeeding image.

• The final output is displayed in the below image.

• In the end, click the “stop recording” button on the Developer tab to stop the macro recording.

Example #2

We want to run the same task for a new list of names (displayed in the below image). We will run the macro “ReplaceDot,” created in the Developer ribbon.

• Select the “enable macro” option from the Developer ribbon to view the list of macros created in the Macro window. The users can choose and run the macros based on their requirement.

The succeeding image shows the result of macros running on the new list of names.

Adding the Macro Button

Let us assign a button to the macro instead of choosing the “enableTo enable macros simply means to run or execute a macro in a particular file in order to save the time spent on repetitive actions. To enable macros, select “enable all macros” from the “trust center” of the File tab (in the “options” button).
read more macroTo enable macros simply means to run or execute a macro in a particular file in order to save the time spent on repetitive actions. To enable macros, select “enable all macros” from the “trust center” of the File tab (in the “options” button).
read more” option.

There are many groups like Add-ins, Controls, and XML under the Developer ribbon.

• The user can choose the type of button to be created. Select the first button from “form controls” in the Controls tab.

• Drag the selected button anywhere in the Excel sheet. The “assign macro” dialogue box opens. The macros to be assigned are listed in the “macro name” box.
• Select the macro “ReplaceDot,” appearing in the list and click “ok”. 

• A button appears in the worksheet. Right click the button and use “edit text” option to change the button text as “Button 3.” It is created on the right-hand side of the sheet, as shown in the below image.

• Select the new name list to implement the same task by running macros, as indicated in the previous section.

• Click the “Button 3” to run the assigned macro “ReplaceDot”.

• To change the button name, use the “edit text” option to replace the text “Button 3” with “ReplaceDot”.

Using the above steps, we can create, record, and assign the macro for various tasks and automate it.

How to View the Code of Macros?

The users can view the code for a recorded macro. Excel generates the code based on the steps carried out while recording the macro.

We can access the code using the shortcut “Alt+F11” or by editing the macro that was created earlier.

Let us view the code for the “ReplaceDot” macro using the following steps:

• Open the worksheet that contains the “ReplaceDot” macro. In the View tab, click the option “macros”. Select the “ReplaceDot” macro from the list and click the “edit” button.

• The “Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications” will be launched.  The user can write or edit the code using this application. The below image shows the code of the “ReplaceDot” macro.

Creating Macro by Writing VBA Code

Before writing the VBA code, let us understand the “head” and “tail” of macros, which are the “sub” and “end sub.”

The user places the lines of VBA codes in the keyword “sub”. It executes the instructions in the code. The “end sub” keyword stops the execution of the “sub.”

Generally, there are two types of macros.

1. “System Defined Function” –  It performs actions like creating a link of all the worksheet names, deleting all worksheets and so on.
2. “User-Defined Function” – To create a User Defined Function User Defined Function in VBA is a group of customized commands created to give out a certain result. It is a flexibility given to a user to design functions similar to those already provided in Excel.read more(UDF) in macro, the user uses the “function and end function” as the “head” and “tail” of the codes.

Note: A function returns a value, whereas the sub does not.

A macro is written on the Visual Basic EditorThe Visual Basic for Applications Editor is a scripting interface. These scripts are primarily responsible for the creation and execution of macros in Microsoft software.read more (VBE) of the “Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications”.

Let us learn the steps to write a simple macro in the VBA.

• Click the “module 1” in the “module” properties displayed on the left-hand side panel of the VBE window, and start writing the macro.

• Begin with “sub” followed by the macro name and end with “end sub”. The code is written between the “sub” and “end sub.”

The below image shows the “sub” and “end sub” for the macro named “simplemacro ( )”.

• Write code to display text in the message box. The “MsgBoxVBA MsgBox function is an output function which displays the generalized message provided by the developer. This statement has no arguments and the personalized messages in this function are written under the double quotes while for the values the variable reference is provided.read more” displays an input text message. All text in VBAText is a worksheet function in excel but it can also be used in VBA while using the range property. It is similar to the worksheet function and it takes the same number of arguments. These arguments are the values which needs to be converted.read more should be enclosed in double quotes.

For example,  the code:  MsgBox “Good Morning” (shown in the below image) displays the message “Good Morning” in the text box.

• The output is displayed in the succeeding image.

Hence, the same macro can be assigned buttons to automate the task.

How to Save the Recorded Macro in Excel?

After recording, the user saves the macro to reuse in any other worksheet in the future.

Let us follow the below-mentioned steps to save the macro:

• In the macro-enabled workbook,  click “save as.”
• Select the “Excel macro-enabled workbook” option in the “save as type” box while saving the file.
• Finally, save the macros with the “.xlsm” file extension.

The guidelines for saving the macro names are stated as follows:

• Make sure that the name of recorded macros should start with letters (alphabets) or underscore.
• Use letters, numeric, and underscore characters.
• Avoid space, symbols, or punctuation marks.
• Maintain a maximum length of about 80 characters.

Note: When the user saves a macro’s name with space, Excel issues a warning (as shown in the succeeding image).

How to Enable “Macro Security Settings”?

In this section, let us learn to enable the “Macros security settings”.

When a user opens a workbook containing macros, a security warning – “Macros have been disabled” is displayed under the ribbon.  Choose the “enable content” option in the box.

To eliminate the security warning, we need to change the “trust center settings” by using the following steps:

• Under the “trust center settings” in the File options, click “macro settings”.
• Choose the button, “Disable all macros with notification.”
• The security is enabled in the “Macro Security” of the Developer ribbon.

Note 1: The user can create absolute macros (functioning from cell A1) that help to reuse the macro in other worksheets.

Note 2: The usage of directional keys (rather than a mouse) for navigation in macros is reliable to add, delete, and change the data in the worksheet.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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