Que - VBA for the 2007 Microsoft Office System

Introduction

Visual Basic for Applications is a mouthful to say (which is why I’ll use the standard short form—VBA—from now on), but it also seems like it would be a real handful to learn. After all, this is a programming language we’re talking about, right?

True, but VBA was designed to be easy to learn and straightforward to apply. I’ve learned a couple of dozen programming languages over the past 30 years or so, and I can tell you that VBA is, hands down, the easiest language I’ve ever worked with.

Okay, but isn’t this stuff just for power users and the staff of the Information Technology department?

Yes, VBA is a useful tool for hardcore users and those who need to design major projects. But VBA can be immensely useful for every user. As a writer, I use Word constantly, and over the years I’ve developed dozens of small macros, functions, and forms that streamline or automate repetitive chores. Most of these routines consist of only a few lines of code, and each one saves me only about 30 seconds to a minute, depending on the task. But I use these routines 50 or 100 times a day, so I end up saving myself anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes a day! That’s pretty remarkable, but the proof is in the pudding: I can now write far more pages in a day than I used to. (Don’t tell my editor!)