Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Clean Up Your Macro List.
Whenever you use the macro recorder to record a macro, Excel assigns it a name of MacroN, where N is the next available macro number. Thus, your first macro recorded would be Macro1, the second would be Macro2, and so on. (Although Excel lets you pick a different name when you record the macro, it is my experience that most people do not take advantage of this for quick-and-dirty macros.)
Because of this naming practice, it is real easy to "muck up" your workbooks with macros you no longer need. Heck, you probably can't even remember what they do! The solution to this situation is to periodically clean out your macro list. I make it a habit to always delete anything that is in this default naming sequence. Doing this periodically means that your files take less space and your Excel workbooks take less time to load.
To delete a macro, just display the Macro dialog box (press Alt+F8), select the macro you want to delete, and then click the Delete button.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8037) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Clean Up Your Macro List.
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2017-05-09 08:17:47
Kiwerry
If I'm not sure whether I want to delete a macro or not, I simply get into the Visual basic editor and give the macro an argument, so that for example
Macro1()
becomes
Macro1(a)
which has the effect that the macro no longer appears in the list, but it is easy to reactivate it or take a look at the code as necessary.
2014-07-07 01:01:34
Keith
I never4 use the macro1 naming method, but always use a meaningful name, unless its a one-off and i simply call it "AA". Doing the same next time wipes the old one which is always at the top of a long list.
2013-04-30 16:06:43
"They also won't display in the list if they require arguments or are functions."
This is true, but you can manually enter the macro name with the arguments and assign them to controls. I do this with macros that have optional arguments where I can use the macro for several different types of calls and controls.
2013-04-29 08:25:19
Bryan
A better solution is to give your macros meaningful names in the first place...
Also, if you are properly modularizing your code (in other words, making repeated code portions their own subroutines/functions) you may have many of these "helper" modules in the module list. If they are only used as part of a larger module, make them private (Private Sub Whatever()) and they won't display in the list. They also won't display in the list if they require arguments or are functions.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
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