Few days ago we learnt how to develop new macros in Microsoft Word . Today’s quick tip will focus on improving access to the Macro so that not only expert users will be able to run it. We’ll show you how to run your macros with a simple button click from the Ribbon. This simple tutorial was written for Microsoft Word users, but applies to Microsoft Excel as well. Microsoft Outlook and PowerPoint don’t have an integrated Macro recorder, so we’ll need to use VBA to write Macros. As such, running Macros in PP and Outlook is slightly different, and we’ll be detailing that in a different post soon.
OK, without further ado, let’s get going.
Recording your Word Macro
First we’ll record the macro from the View tab:
- Open Microsoft Word.
- Click View and then select the Macros drop-down box.
- Hit Record Macro.
- Set the name for the macro and its description .
Assigning the macro to a menu button
- Now it’s time to tell Microsoft Word how you’ll invoke your Macro in MS Word. In today’s guide we’ll opt to assign it to a specific button.
- Therefore, your next step is to click on the Button icon so that your macro can be run from the Quick Access Toolbar (located in the upper left hand side of your screen next to the Word icon, Save button and Undo/Redo buttons).
- Now, select your macro and associate it to the Quick Access Toolbar by hitting the Add>> button.
- You can hit the Modify icon to select an icon and define your button label.
- After we set, click OK to add the button to the Quick Access Toolbar.
- Now you can go ahead and record your macro.
- Once done, hit Stop recording.
Associate existing macro to buttons
So far our tutorial assumed that you’ll associate your Macro to a button as part of the Macro recording / definition. But what is your document already contains Macro that were previously defined by yourself or other person?
The process of linking an existing Macro is somewhat similar:
- Open your Word document
- Hit File.
- Now, hit Options.
- At the left hand side of the Word Options dialog, hit Quick Access Toolbar.
- Then in the Choose Commands from combo box, select Macros.
- Now browse through the Macros defined in either your computer central Macro repository (Normal.dotm file) and your document.
- Once you find your Macro highlight it and hit Add>>.
- Next go ahead and modify the button Icon and labels as shown above.
- That’s it.
Hope it helps 🙂 In case you have more specific Macro related questions, feel free to reach out via the Contact page.