2 min read

Excel basics

Most of the things posted on this page will make reference to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

How do you get to the Visual Basic Editor?

Excel versions prior to 2007:

  1. Under the Tools menu, go to Macros, and the option should be there.

Excel 2007:

Available through the Developer tab on the ribbon. If you don’t see a developer tab:

  1. Add the Developer tab to the ribbon. Click the Office button , and then click the Excel Options button.
  2. In the Popular category, select the Show Developer tab in the Ribbon check box from the options that appear and then click OK.

Excel Options

Excel 2010:

Available through the Developer tab on the ribbon. If you don’t see a developer tab:

  1. On the File tab, choose Options to open the Excel Options dialog box.
  2. Click Customize Ribbon on the left side of the dialog box.
  3. Under Choose commands from on the left side of the dialog box, select Popular Commands.
  4. Under Customize the ribbon on the right side of the dialog box, select Main tabs, and then select theDeveloper check box.
  5. Click OK.

How do I insert a macro I downloaded from this site?

  1. Download the file or copy the code
  2. Go to Visual Basic Editor following instructions above
  3. Go to the workbook where you would like to insert the macro. If you would like to use it all the time, you’ll need a macro file (I’ll explain this later).
  4. From the File menu, select Import file, and select the file you just downloaded.
  5. done! Now you need a way to run the macro… see for example this post.