Macros: Shortcuts To Productivity With Microsoft Word

Do you know what a macro is? Do you know how to create them? Do you wish that your life could be a little more productive and be able to use a few shortcuts to get through your tasks?

Macros have been around for quite some time now and range between easy to very difficult. In a nut shell, macros are recorded items or programming code that enables you to either click on the particular macro that was recorded to do a number of steps for you, instead of you having to do it. I will explain this later.

The more difficult macros are the ones that are programming code related and require knowledge of Visual Basic (you can find some books here), which unfortunately, I have no training in. I am going to show you how to record a simple macro function and to implement it.

One of my readers asks:

With Word 2007, is it possible to create a “cliff notes” version of a document using the Styles function or Macros?

My answer to this is:

Unfortunately, I use Microsoft Word 2003 (XP), so I am not sure if this will help you, but I assume that the functions in Microsoft Word 2007 should be the same or at least similar, especially for this function.

Here are the 7 steps to creating a “cliff notes” version of your document:

1. Cut the piece of text that you would like to remove from your document. Make sure that you cut this, not delete it. You will need in a short while.
   
   
2. Click on Tools, Macro, Record New Macro…
   
   
   
   
3. Type in the name of the macro and a description for it, so that others know what this is used for. You can also add this macro to your toolbar or assign a keyboard shortcut by clicking on the buttons below and following the instructions.
   
   
   
   
4. You now can paste the particular parts of text back into your document. If you need to cut pieces here and there, use the clipboard function or open another Microsoft Word document to place text into.
   
   
5. Click on the Stop button shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. At this point, your macro has been saved. Make sure that you are in the document that you’ve changed. Click on either the toolbar icon that you created, the keyboard shortcut or click Tools, Macro, and Macros…, then click run.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. All the deleted text should now show up automatically.
   

You can create as many macros as you wish, but remember that macros can attract viruses, so be careful when you open documents that contain macros. You can also read some more articles on System Security here.

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Until next time,

Take care - of your clutter!


Post from: Administrative Assistant Tips