Excel® Macros For Dummies®
Excel® Macros For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017931733
ISBN: 978-1-119-36924-0
ISBN: 978-1-119-36926-4 (ePDF)
ISBN: 978-1-119-36927-1 (ePub)
Introduction
In its broadest sense, a macro is a sequence of instructions that automates some aspect of Excel so that you can work more efficiently and with fewer errors. You might create a macro, for example, to format and print a month-end sales report. After you develop the macro, you can execute it to perform many time-consuming procedures automatically.
Macros are written in VBA, which stands for Visual Basic for Applications. VBA is a programming language developed by Microsoft and a tool used to develop programs that control Excel.
Excel programming terminology can be a bit confusing. For example, VBA is a programming language but also serves as a macro language. What do you call something written in VBA and executed in Excel? Is it a macro or is it a program? Excel’s Help system often refers to VBA procedures as macros, so this is the terminology used in this book.
You’ll also see the term automate throughout this book. This word means that a series of steps are completed automatically. For example, if you write a macro that adds color to some cells, prints the worksheet, and then removes the color, you have automated those three steps.
You’re probably aware that people use Excel for thousands of different tasks. Here are just a few examples:
❯❯ Keeping lists of things, such as customer names and transactions
❯❯ Budgeting and forecasting
❯❯ Analyzing scientific data
❯❯ Creating invoices and other forms
❯❯ Developing charts from data
The list could go on and on. The point is simply that Excel is used for a wide variety of tasks, and everyone reading this book has different needs and expectations regarding Excel. One thing most readers have in common, however, is the need to automate some aspect of Excel, which is what macros (and this book) are all about.
About This Book
This book approaches the topic of Excel macros with the recognition that programming VBA takes time and practice – time that you may not have right now. In fact, many analysts don’t have the luxury of taking a few weeks to become expert at VBA. So instead of the same general overview of VBA topics, this book provides some of the most commonly used real-world Excel macros.
Each section in the book outlines a common problem and provides an Excel macro to solve the problem – along with a detailed explanation of how the macro works and where to use it.
Each section presents the following:
❯❯ The problem
❯❯ The macro solution
❯❯ How the macro works
After reading each section, you'll be able to
❯❯ Immediately implement the required Excel macro
❯❯ Understand how the macro works
❯❯ Reuse the macro in other workbooks or with other macros
The macros in this book are designed to get you up and running with VBA in the quickest way possible. Each macro tackles a common task that benefits from automation. The idea here is to learn through application. This book is designed so that you can implement the macro while getting a clear understanding of what the macro does and how it works.
Foolish Assumptions
I make three assumptions about you as the reader:
❯❯ You've installed Microsoft Excel 2007 or a higher version.
❯❯ You have some familiarity with the basic concepts of data analysis, such as working with tables, aggregating data, creating formulas, referencing cells, filtering, and sorting.
❯❯ You have an Internet connection so you can download the sample files, found at www.dummies.com/go/excelmacros.
Icons Used in This Book
