Many of today’s engineering problems require the use of computational tools. One commonly used application in academia and especially industry is Microsoft Excel. Excel offers a spreadsheet template with a number of built-in functions and formatting standards. Additionally, Excel offers the ability to record, edit, and write scripts or macros in VBA. Learning to utilize the capabilities of these macros can vastly improve a user’s ability to effectively and efficiently solve problems. The goal of this course is to introduce the basics of macros in Excel.
This course will focus on developing the skills and understanding required to record and edit basic macros in Excel. Participants will practice first with recording and running very simple macros. They will then open the macro in the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) built into Excel to explore VBA syntax. A prewritten workbook and macro will then be distributed with a number of known issues, which will be used as an exercise in debugging. Finally, another workbook will be distributed with a series of graphs. As a group, we will develop a macro for formatting the first graph. Once we have written the macro, we will use it to format the remaining graphs, demonstrating the usefulness of macros for completing mundane and repetitive tasks.
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Record a macro in Excel
- Open and view macros using the IDE in Excel
- Debug common errors in macros
- Drastically improve efficiency for completing repetitive tasks in Excel through the use of macros
- Find and understand help for using macros from online resources
It will be expected that the participants have a general understanding of basic Excel use. Experience with VB and/or VBA is not required, although some experience or familiarity with scripting/coding in any language will be very helpful.
Pleas register for this workshop at: https://www.engin.umich.edu/form/feswexcel1