When and why should you use macros?

By now, even if you haven’t started putting them to good use in your Excel spreadsheets, you’ve undoubtedly heard of macros, those wonderful containers for recording almost any sequence of Excel commands and then playing them back in a flash at the touch of a key.

By using Excel’s macro feature to record tasks that you perform routinely, not only can you speed up the procedure considerably (because Excel can play back your keystrokes and mouse actions a heck of lot faster than you can perform them manually), but you’re also assured that each step in the task is carried out the same way every time you perform the task.

Excel’s macro feature records all the commands and keystrokes that you make in a language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is a special version of the BASIC programming language developed by the good folks at Microsoft for use with all the Office application programs.

I can teach you if you want recording basic macros. Then, I’ll show you how you can even play programmer by using Excel’s Visual Basic Editor to display and make changes to the macro’s basic VBA code.

A macro is a programmable set of instructions which are basically developed in order to save time and ease user with repetitive tasks thereby increasing efficiency at work at large and minimizing chance of human error. The key in all macros is to save time and increase work efficiency and productivity by making most use of the machine itself to do the job based on set of systematic instructions. If the user knows programming and has a degree of self-awareness about their work, they may plan and design a certain set of instructions where they know the inputs, what process they want and the outcome. Macros are widely used in combination of spreadsheet solutions, templates, reconciliations, programmable backup routines, executing programs native/remote or combination of both and large database solutions. Generally a macro is thought of just a code behind excel sheet VIA the record button, but actually it is more than just the record and play button and a widespread technique.

We can use macro when we have to perform same function again and again in order to save time , to  make our task easy

What is a macro?A Macro is a one click shortcut for the long and boring repeated task which are done on a daily basis.

Consider a scenario:

You need to type some documents which contains formating which takes20 steps. and these20 steps are applied in the same fashion every day on the same text but in multiple documents e.g. Company header.

Why?

In order to get the company header on every new document you will copy paste header from other document into the new document.

Instead of doing this it will be good if there is a shortcut e.g. if you press shift+h it automatically gets the Company header in the new doc.

When?

For repeatated long or short tasks like.

u need to apply a particular styling for some text.

1. Bold

2. Italic

3. Change font size to12

4. Change color to RED

5. Justify Text

6. Left Indent

7. Increase line spacing to 2.2

8.change font to calibri

u need to apply all this8 steps to a text. It can be recorded as a macro and assinged to a shortcut e.g Shift+M. and used whenever you want by just selecting the plain text and pressing Shift+M which will apply all the8 styles for the text.

How?1. Click Tools > Macro > Record New Macro

2 Give it a name and assign a shorcut

in office2010 it can be found under

View->macros->record macro

when you needed to reformat multiple tables in a long Word document or reorganize data in an Excel worksheet. Or maybe you wanted to make the same changes to several similar Visio pages or PowerPoint slides. If these or similar tasks are familiar, then you need to know about macros

if you need more information about macro you can follow this link.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/macros-demystified-what-they-are-and-why-to-use-them-HA.aspx

Macros save time and expand the capabilities of the programs you use every day. They can be used to automate repetitive document production tasks, streamline cumbersome tasks, or create solutions such as automating the creation of documents that you and your colleagues use regularly. Those experienced with VBA can use macros to create custom add-ins that include templates, dialog boxes, and even store information for repeated use.

To save time doing the same format over and over for different parts. It's similar to accompanying a CSS sheet with HTML using classes.