Forget the macro recorder - It’s not that easy

So why are not everyone writing macros?

If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know from experience: because writing macros is not easy.

Most tasks are repetitive BUT with slight differences that demand it to change/adapt according to case. So they need some sort of intelligence, which is not easy to program for anyone but software developers. Which is not the case for Excel business users.

What about the built-in macro recorder? Most people first encounter with macros involve the macro recorder and it creates the illusion that you don’t need to write a macro. Just perform the task you want to automate and record it. Then run it again and again.

Well, if your repetitive task is EXACTLY THE SAME every time, it may work. But almost always, there will be some differences:

• Different number of rows or columns
• Conditional tasks – merge A and B to get a product code only if B is numeric
• Changes in data for every iteration
• …

The macro recorder will record EXACTLY what you did when recording. So, if you delete the “-“ on the product code in cell C10 because it is a number, it will do it again to cell C10 next month – even if it is not a number and the number is on row 12 because the product list is different every month.

There is actually a very good use for the macro recorder – and it will be explained in a later post. But it is not writing macros.

Excel Macros: automating the boring stuff

Work Smarter – outsource the boring tasks to Excel

Excel macros are “Excel Apps”. Some smaller, some larger, but all of them are “Apps” that extend Excel native capabilities. And, like any other App for a Smartphone, Tablet or PC, they are software.

And what can they do for you? Well, automate the million time-consuming tasks that anyone using Excel do. Most specially, the really annoying, no value added, long and repetitive tasks, like manipulating data on 6000 rows every month. So, how far can it go? Well, I’ve seen cases like this: 3 days to 11 seconds. 

Most cases are not this extreme, but even if the macro takes some time to run, like 2 hours and locking Excel while running (no Microsoft Office application will run acceptably on the PC while the macro is running), it is running by itself. So you are free to do something else (maybe on another PC). Or leave it running unattended during lunch time or overnight and deal with the results when you’re back.

That’s it – you can start outsourcing some of your boring work to Excel and leave it alone to come up with the results.