Steps for Recording a Macro in Excel

Recording a Macro in Excel

A macro is a piece of computer code, that is written for Excel, using the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming language. However, it is recommended that you read the sections below to familiarise yourself with the Excel Macro Security settings and the Visual Basic Editor, before you start to write VBA code.

            Excel's macro recording functionality is a useful way of efficiently performing simple repetitive tasks. This feature of Excel can also assist you when you are writing more complex macros.

If you have a simple set of actions that you need to repeat several times over, you can make Excel record these actions and produce a macro, containing the code to repeat them.

          Once you have recorded the macro, you can repeat the set of actions as many times as you like, by simply running the recorded macro. This is much more efficient than repeating the same set of actions manually each time.

          In order to record a macro, you need to initially start off the recording process. This option resides in the Macros menu, which is located in the View tab of the Excel ribbon, (or in the Tools drop-down menu in Excel 2003). These options are shown in the images below:

Record Macro in Current Versions of Excel (2007 and Later):

Record Macro in Excel 2003:

You will then be presented with the 'Record Macro' dialog box shown on the right. This box allow you to enter a name and description for your macro if you wish. It is a good idea to give the macro a meaningful name, so that when you come back to the macro at a later date, this will help you to remember what it does. However, if you do not supply a name, Excel will automatically assign a macro name (e.g. Macro1, Macro2, etc).

The 'Record Macro' dialog box also gives you the option of assigning a keyboard shortcut to your macro. This will make the macro much easier to run. However, you should be careful not to assign one of Excel's predefined key combinations (e.g. CTRL-C) to the macro. If you do select an existing Excel key combination, this will be overwritten by your macro, and you, or other users, may end up accidentally executing your macro code.

Once you are satisfied with your macro name and (if required) keyboard shortcut, select OK to start the macro recording.

Once the macro starts to record, every action that you perform (entering data, selecting cells, formatting cells, scrolling down the worksheet, etc.) will be recorded in the new macro, as VBA code.

Also, while the macro is recording, a stop button will be displayed at the bottom left of your workbook (or in Excel 2003, the stop button will be presented to you on a floating toolbar), as show below:

Macro Stop Button in Excel 2007 & Later Versions of Excel:

Record Macro Toolbar in Excel 2003:

When you have completed the actions that you want to record, you can stop the macro recording by clicking on the stop button. Your macro code will now be stored in a module within the Visual Basic Editor.

The 'Use Relative References' Option

If you select the Use Relative References option during the recording of a macro, then all cell references within the macro will be relative. However, if the Use Relative References option has not been selected, any cell references appearing in the code will be absolute (see the Excel Cell References if you want to learn more about these two types of cell references).

The Use Relative References option is found in the Macros menu (and is located on the Macro Toolbar in Excel 2003). This is illustrated in the images below:

Relative References Option in Current Versions of Excel:

Use Relative References Button in Excel 2003:

                

Viewing the VBA Code

The VBA code produced by the macro is placed into a module, which can be viewed via the Visual Basic Editor. This can be opened by pressing ALT-F11 (i.e. press the ALT key, and while this is pressed down, press F11).

The code is located in one of the modules in the project window, which is positioned to the left of the visual basic editor. In the simple project window shown on the right, you could view this code by double clicking on 'Module 1'.

Running Excel Recorded Macros

When recording macros, Excel always produces a Sub procedure (rather than a Function procedure). If you have assigned a a keyboard shortcut to the macro, then this shortcut will be the simplest way of running the macro. Otherwise, the macro can be run by performing the following steps :

·         Press ALT-F8 (i.e. press the ALT key and while this is pressed down, press F8);

·         From the list of macros that appear, select the macro you wish to run;

·         Click Run.

Limitations

Although the Excel macro recording feature is a very simple way of creating VBA code, it can only be used for very basic macros. This is because it cannot make use of many VBA features, such as :

·         Defined Constants, Variables and Arrays;

·         If Statements;

·         Loops;

·         Calls to Built-In Functions or Other Procedures.

Also, the recording tool can only produce Sub procedures (not Function procedures), as it cannot return a value. These Sub procedures cannot be passed any arguments, although they are able to identify the current active cells, ranges or worksheets, and values stored in the cells of the workbook. It should also be noted that the code generated is not always the most efficient code possible for the required actions.

While Excel's automatically generated VBA code is fine for simple macros, if you want to produce more complex macros, you will need to Excel Visual Basic for yourself. However the Excel Macro Recording feature is an excellent tool to provide you with code that you can adapt or insert into more complex macros.

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