How to Record a Macro in Microsoft Excel 2003 and 2010

The macro recorder is a very powerful tool.

Even professional programmers find the macro recorder incredibly useful. No one can remember all the code for every function. Almost all users of VBA begin by playing around with the macro recorder. Try recording a few macros for the tasks you perform most often.

Nearly every VBA programmer begins by playing around with Excel's built in macro recorder.

The recorder is useful for making simple macros but is not nearly as flexible as writing your own code (as you will see later).

When the macro recorder is on it automatically creates code that mirrors a users actions.

You have three options for saving your macro:

• This workbook ties your macro to the specific workbook you are using (the workbook the macro is saved in must be open to use your macro).
• New workbook creates a new workbook to save your macro in.
• Personal Workbook will make your macro available anytime excel is open. (This is useful if you want to make macro that executes on a keystroke)

Congratulations! If you have been following along you have created and ran your first VBA macro. In the next module you will learn how to view the code you have created.

When you are ready click here to proceed to the next module.