Writing Word Macros, Second Edition

Macros

In earlier days, a macro consisted of a series of keystrokes that was recorded and assigned to a hotkey. When a user invoked the hotkey, the recording would play and the recorded keystrokes would be executed.

These days, macros (at least for Microsoft Office) are much more sophisticated. In fact, a Word macro is just a special type of subroutine—one that does not have any parameters. (I discuss subroutines and parameters in Chapter 6, Functions and Subroutines.)

Recording Macros

Word has the capability of recording very simple macros. When we ask Word to record a macro, it takes note of our keystrokes and converts them into a VBA subroutine (with no parameters).

For example, suppose you record a macro that does a find and replace, replacing the word “macro” with the word “subroutine.” When you look in the Projects window under the project in which the macro was recorded (usually the attached template), you will find a new standard module called NewMacros containing the following subroutine:

	Sub AMacro()
	'
	AMacro Macro
	Macro recorded 04/27/98 by sr
	'
	   Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
	   Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
	   With Selection.Find
	      .Text = "macro"
	      .Replacement.Text = "subroutine"
	      .Forward = True
	      .Wrap = wdFindContinue
	      .Format = False
	      .MatchCase = False
	      .MatchWholeWord = False
	      .MatchWildcards = False
	      .MatchSoundsLike = False
	      .MatchAllWordForms = False
	   End With
	   Selection.Find.Execute
	   Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
	End Sub

This is the same code that someone ...