For those of you that are regular Excel users, VBA is the next step to automating and enhancing what you do. As you use Excel more and more you will notice that although it has an extensive range of tools, it still does not have everything you might need to achieve your aims. Things such as:
- Automating repetitive tasks
- Creating custom functions
- Repeating a set of instructions multiple times
- Streamlining the cleansing of data sets
You have probably all heard of Macros and a lot of people are not sure what they do but think they will solve all their problems. Personally, I feel that using the Macro recorder is a good start but will not take you very far considering all the existing features now included in Excel.
To really make a difference you need to be able to use VBA, which stands for Visual Basic for Applications. This is the programming language behind Excel and the other Microsoft packages and is the real power that can take your Excel spreadsheets to the next level. VBA is made up of a core set of commands and extended per application to be able to work directly with objects in that application.
Now a word of warning here, VBA is a programming language and not something you can learn overnight. However, if you have a logical mind and want to automate and improve how your spreadsheets work then by taking a structured approach to learning the language you can then further develop your skills back in the workplace.
Our VBA in Excel course will show you the core principles to writing Visual Basic code, and will enable you to:
- Write Visual Basic procedures
- Use the Excel Data Model to manipulate data on worksheets
- Store data using variables and constants
- Create Event Procedures to automatically run code when events occur, e.g. opening a workbook, selecting a specific worksheet
- Use loops to circle through code
- Use different types of conditional statement
- Code user forms for use within workbooks
Our next VBA in Excel course is running at our Gatwick training centre on 26–27 June. Come and join us and get to grips with VBA to give you the power to take your Excel spreadsheets further.