Taking a look at the programming code used in a macro (either ones you have recorded or macros created by others) is a great way to help you understand how the macro is put together and how it works. You can do this examination, and make changes to your macros, by editing them. To edit a macro you first need to display the Macro dialog box. The easiest way to do this is to simply press Alt+F8. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. The Macro dialog box.
In the list of available macros you should choose the macro you want to edit. When you have selected one, you can click on the Edit button and the VBA Editor is displayed with the selected macro loaded and ready to edit.
Once your macro is displayed, you can make changes to it as desired. You use many of the same editing functions you use when making changes to a regular worksheet. Unless you fully understand the consequences of your changes, it is typically best to stick to recording simple macros. If you feel adventurous, however, there is nothing wrong with making changes to your macros to see what they will do. If you do so, it is a good idea to keep these tips in mind:
If you keep these tips in mind, there is very little chance that you will hurt anything. In fact, your chances of learning more about Excel and macro programming are much greater than the risk of damaging any data. Give it a try!
When you have finished making changes to your macro, you should close the VBA Editor. Closing the VBA Editor is done in the same manner as when you close any other Windows program—simply click on the Close icon in the upper-right corner of the window.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9753) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Editing Macros.
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2015-04-23 23:32:28
Dennis Costello
Something else to keep in mind is that the Macro Recorder creates VBA code that is correct but utilizes bad - or at least "unfortunate" programming practices.
In particular, the sequence:
<range>.Select
Selection.<action>
which the Recorder generates pretty much by default, is potentially a lot more expensive in execution (not to mention being harder to read, edit, and maintain) than the simpler:
<range>.<action>
You will similarly see
<range>.Activate
ActiveSheet.<action>
(or ActiveWorkbook.<action>) in code produced by the Recorder.
Despite this, I agree with Allen that the Recorder is a great way to begin learning VBA coding, or how to capture in VBA some Excel task that you haven't done in VBA before. But you should follow it up with the Excel Object Model Reference and/or Visual Basic for Applications Language Reference.
2015-03-31 08:22:25
Or even faster: Alt + F11 to go straight to the editor. Then dig around your Modules to find the macro you want.
With the bonus that yu can see the Worksheet and Workbook macros, which don't appear on the Dialog Box. Nor Functions.
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