In order to recognize the company’s board members, Sophia has requested that the caterer (who will use Sophia’s Excel spreadsheet when setting up the event) puts something special at the place setting of each and every board member. Sophia used Excel to organize and track her entire invite list-and, right now, she has about 400 different rows of data that list the attendee’s name, role, table number, and his or her dining choice. Sophia works as an event coordinator at a large tech company, and she’s currently working on putting together an annual luncheon for the company’s vendors, investors, board members, and other stakeholders. If you’re using a Mac, click “Excel” in the upper left corner of your screen (next to the Apple logo) and then “Preferences.” From there, hit “View” and then check the box for the “Developer” tab. Hit “OK” and the “Developer” tab will appear in your ribbon. If you’re using a PC, visit “File” and then select “Options.” Click “Customize Ribbon” within the menu, and then check the box for the “Developer” tab. How you’ll do that will depend on whether you’re using a PC or a Mac. If you aren’t currently seeing it, you’ll need to take a few steps to have that tab as part of your toolbar. However, by default, Excel hides that tab. Those are all found within Excel’s “Developer” tab. To get started, the first step in your macro Excel journey is to ensure that you have access to the various buttons and functions you’ll need to build your macro. But, learning to use them to your advantage is actually surprisingly simple. The concept of a macro might seem complicated.

When you have some experience under your belt, you can use VBA to create more complex macros as shown in this tutorial on advanced filtering.īefore you get intimidated and write macros off as yet another Excel feature that’s far too complex and advanced for you, take a breath. Put simply, VBA is the programming language used to write macros.Ĭheck out this explanatory video for more background on the differences between macros and VBA from the GoSkills Excel Macros & VBA course. You may have heard the terms 'macro' and 'VBA' used interchangeably, but there is a distinction. A macro is a piece of code within Excel that you can use to automate many routine tasks-just like the ones I mentioned above.

Writing macros in excel 2013