As always, I hope you are well. As per my earlier blog post I am going to be offering two segments here:
Excel Novice 5 min tip
Todays’s 5 minute tip is , this week, to learn 2 keyboard shortcuts for things you do most often. Repeat the same thing next week. In the space of 3 months you will have 24 shortcuts. You can download a keyboard shortcut here. I suggest you start with Ctrl and X to cut and Ctrl and V to paste.
Excel Adept – Creating a macro
If you work with Excel a lot the chances are you will be repeating the same set of actions every week or month. One of the ways to automate that is to record the steps in a macro and then play that back. So that is what we are going to cover here. MrExcel has an excellent handout on macro creation .
Couple of things to note before we begin.
Most IT departments block macro enabled workbooks and view them with the same enthusiasm that Indiana Jones had for snakes..
- If you plan to use the macro with other workbooks, save it into the Personal Macro workbook.
- The workbook you create the macro in needs to be a macro-enabled workbook (check the File – Save As option)
- Turn on Relative Recording before you start.
- Macro names – no blanks, first character must be a letter.
- Activate the Developer tab (File – Options – Customize Ribbon – tick Developer box on right hand side)
You can view a video below on each…
Part one – getting prepared
Part two – recording the macro
Part three – make it easy to use – add an icon to the quick access toolbar.
It’s well worth while experimenting with macros particularly for things that you do over and over or – for example – if you always have to add the same printing set up.