Creating a Simple Macro with Microsoft Word

Gone are the days of tedious repetitive tasks. You are now able to automate your tasks by creating what is known as a macro. Microsoft Word macros are built into the program and allow you to record tasks you need for automation. Let's start with a simple example. Suppose every morning you need to write the following sentence to the screen, "My name is geekChick and I love technology!" Can you imagine every morning typing the same sentence? Although it is not that long, I'm sure you could use those 30 seconds to grab your morning coffee! For this example I am using Microsoft Word 2007. The Microsoft Word 2003 software is similar but may differ just a little. To record and run your macro, proceed with the following steps:

1. Open up Microsoft Word

2. Click the Office Button in the top left hand corner

3. Chose Word Options at the bottom of the screen

4. Make sure Popular is selected then click the Show Developer Tab in Ribbon checkbox

5. Click OK

6. If you take notice to your toolbar, you'll see a new tab for Developer. This tab allows you to create and run Macros

7. Go ahead and click on the Developer tab

8. Choose the Record Macro option to record a new macro

9. Name the macro Test and make sure All Documents is selected in the Store macro in drop down box. Click OK. You should now see an arrow with a macro face on the bottom. This means you are ready to record your new macro

10. Type the following in the Microsoft Word document, "My name is geekChick and I love Technology!" When you are done click the Stop Recording option in the Developer menu

11. Open up a new Microsoft Word document. The Developer tab should already be present.

12. Click the Developer tab and chose Macros

13. Select the Macro named Test and click Run

14. Presto! You'll see the sentence that was recorded earlier. So now instead of typing this sentence every morning you are able to just run your macro.

Congratulations on creating your first macro! You can now begin automating simple task you have and save time. Although this was a very basic example in future tutorials we'll do more that are more complicated. Thank you for reading my tutorial! There will also be a complimentary video tutorial as well. Stay tuned for my next article on creating advanced macros in Microsoft Word.