Auto Run            
Making your macros run automatically when opening your workbook. You can either use the Auto Open method or the Workbook Open method. These macros will display the message "Hello" when you open the workbook.

Sub Auto_Open()
Msgbox "Hello"
End Sub

This code would be located in the module. However if you use the second method, the code must be in the workbook (double click "This Workbook" in the explorer window). Click on the drop down list (that says General) and select Workbook. Click on the drop down list (that says declarations) and select Open.

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Msgbox "Hello"
End Sub

Active Cell    [5/1/2002]          
An active cell is the current cell that is selected. This term is used in many macros. This can be used as a marker. A good example is when you need to move from your current cell. Refer to Moving your cursor macro.

Adding Items to a combobox    [15/3/2002]          
To add a combobox refer to User Form. To populate a combobox or a listbox is the same. You could add from the code or even from a range of cells in your spreadsheet. To add from the code, just add this line to your code.

ComboBox1.AddItem "Product A"
ComboBox1.AddItem "Product B"

Counting Rows & Columns & Sheets                       
When you have selected a range, it is sometimes useful to know how many rows or columns you have selected as this information can be used in your macros (for eg when you have reached the end, you will know it is time to stop the macros. This macro will do the trick.

Sub Count()
myCount = Selection.Rows.Count    'Change Rows to Columns to count columns
MsgBox myCount
End Sub

The next macro counts the number of sheets instead. Refer to Protecting all sheets macro which uses this method.

Sub Count2()
myCount = Application.Sheets.Count
MsgBox myCount
End Sub

Sub TwoLines() 
MsgBox "Line 1" &  vbCrLf & "Line 2" 
End Sub

Close All Files [23/3/2009]          
Sometimes you may want to close all files without saving. Doing it manually is a hassle with the question "Do you wanna save?"

Sub CloseAll()
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
myTotal = Workbooks.Count
For i = 1 To myTotal
    ActiveWorkbook.Close
Next i
End Sub

Copying A Range [5/1/2002]       
Copy data from a specific range can be done with this macro. Here data is copied from the current sheet to the activecell. (Refer to Active Cell)

Sub CopyRange()
Range("A1:A3").Copy Destination:=ActiveCell
End Sub

To copy from a range in another sheet (eg Sheet3) to the active cell you need to change the code to;

Sheets("sheet3").Range("A1:A3").Copy Destination:=ActiveCell

Counter [17/2/2002]       
To use a counter in your macro, just assign any cell to retain the value. In this example the cell A1 is chosen. Each time the macro is run, it adds the value 1 to the cell A1.

            Sub Count()
            mycount = Range("a1") + 1
            Range("a1") = mycount
            End Sub

Current Date        
It's a good idea to insert the current date when you save the file so that you can tell if it's the latest version. Of course this is shown under file properties but how many people know where to find it? You could also put the current date in the footer of your print out. It is ideal if the date does not change unless the file is saved. You can use this code. (On the drop down list that says declaration, select before save and you will see the 1st line of code shown below - more details refer to Auto Run macro)

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeSave(ByVal SaveAsUI As Boolean,  Cancel As Boolean)
Range("A1") = Now        'Select any cell you want 
End Sub

Current Cell Content        
Sometimes we need to know what the cell contains ie dates, text or formulas before taking a course of action. In this example a message box is displayed. Replace this with a macro should you require another course of action.

Sub ContentChk()
If Application.IsText(ActiveCell) = True Then
MsgBox "Text"             'replace this line with your macro
Else
If ActiveCell = "" Then
MsgBox "Blank cell"    'replace this line with your macro
Else
End If
If ActiveCell.HasFormula Then
MsgBox "formula"         'replace this line with your macro
Else
End If
If IsDate(ActiveCell.Value) = True Then
MsgBox "date"               'replace this line with your macro
Else
End If
End If
End Sub

Current Cell Address        
To get the current cell address (or current range) to perhaps incorporate into your formula, you could use the following code.

Sub MyAddress()
MsgBox ActiveCell.Address    'absolute cell reference with the pesky $ signs
MsgBox ActiveCell.Address(RowAbsolute:=False, columnAbsolute:=False)    'without the $ signs, you may choose to omit either one Row / Column absolute
End Sub

Current Cell Position [10/3/2002]       
Sometimes we need to know the current cell position. This would do the trick.

Sub MyPosition()
myRow = ActiveCell.Row
myCol = ActiveCell.Column
Msgbox myRow & "," & myCol
End Sub

Deleting Empty Rows         
To delete empty rows in a selected range we can use the following macro. The macro here uses the For Next Loop. First the macro counts the rows in a selected range to determine the when the macro should stop. The For Next statement acts as a counter.

Sub DelEmptyRow()
Rng = Selection.Rows.Count
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).Select
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
For i = 1 To Rng
If ActiveCell.Value = "" Then    'You can replace "" with 0 to delete rows with 'the value zero
Selection.EntireRow.Delete
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
End If
Next i
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

The statement "Application.ScreenUpdating = False" prevents the screen from updating to ensure the macro runs faster and the screen will not flicker. Don't forget to set it back to "True".

Deleting Range Names    [15/03/2002]      
To delete all the range names in your workbook, this macro will do the trick.

Sub DeleteNames()
Dim NameX As Name
For Each NameX In Names
ActiveWorkbook.Names(NameX.Name).Delete
Next NameX
End Sub    

Duplicates (Highlight duplicates in Bold Red) [27/10/01]      
There are times you need to highlight duplicate data in your worksheet. This macro does the trick. 

Sub DupsRed() 
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Rng = Selection.Rows.Count
For i = Rng To 1 Step -1
myCheck = ActiveCell
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
For j = 1 To i
If ActiveCell = myCheck Then
Selection.Font.Bold = True
Selection.Font.ColorIndex = 3
End If
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Next j
ActiveCell.Offset(-i, 0).Select
Next i
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Emailing Workbook [2/12/2001]       
To email your current workbook the following code.

Sub Email()
ActiveWorkbook.SendMail recipients:="julsn@yahoo.com"
End Sub

EDIT macros [30/6/2003]          
Refer to Text Manipulation.

Errors in macros [1/2/2002]          
Ever had a macro running perfectly one day and the next day errors keep on popping up even though you never made changes to that macro? This is no fault of yours. Due to the excel VBA design, macro files get badly fragmented due to heavy editing of macros, insertion of modules & userforms. What you need to do is copy your macros else where, delete the macros, save the file without macros. Open the file again and import the macros and save it once more with the macros. You macros will run properly until it gets fragmented again at a later stage.  

Error Trapping           
Trapping errors are important as users can do marvelous things to mess up you macros. Here you can use either of these 2 statements.
         - On Error Resume Next   OR 
         - On Error Goto ErrorTrap1
            ... more lines of code
            ErrorTrap1:
            ... more code (what to do if there is an error)
The first statement will allow the macro to continue the next line of code upon hitting an error but the second statement will run an alternative code should there be an error.

Excel Functions [8/2/2002]          
Using Excel functions in VBA is almost the same as using them in a spreadsheet. For example to round an amount to 2 decimal places in a spreadsheet would be;
            =round(1.2345,2)
In VBA you would need to use the term Application followed by the function ie;
            ActiveCell = Application.round(ActiveCell, 2)
For more examples see Rounding Numbers

Expiry Dates for Workbook / Macro           
See Security in Excel.

For, Next Loop [5/1/2002]       
See Deleting Empty Rows or Protect All Sheets. A point to note is, try not to use the For, Next loop because this method is very slow unless of course you don't know how to write your macro another way.

Flickering Screen       
Sometimes when you run a macro, the screen flickers a lot due to the screen updating itself. This slows the macro done especially when the macro has a lot of work to do. You need to include the statement as shown below.
Also see Deleting Empty Rows

Application.ScreenUpdating = False

You need to set the screen updating back to true at the end of the macro.

Functions [31/1/2002]          
Creating function is useful as complicated formulas can be made easier in code than in a spread sheet. Formulas can be protected so that users cannot see or modify them. The example I use will calculate tax using the Select Case Statement. Here's the scenario.
First $2500 is tax free.
Next $2500 is taxable at 5%.
Anything above $5000 is taxable at 10%.
In cell A1 type Income and in cell B1 type in your income in numbers say $20000.
In cell A2 type Tax payable and in cell B2 type =tax(B1).
Put the following code in a module. The tax payable here would be $1625.

            Public Function tax(income As Single)
            Select Case income
            Case Is <= 2500
            tax = 0
            Case Is <= 5000
            tax = (income - 2500) * 0.05
            Case Else
            tax = (income - 5000) * 0.1 + 125
            End Select
            End Function

Goto (a range)           
To specify a macro to go to a specific range you can use the Goto method. Here I have already named a range in my worksheet called "Sales". You may also use an alternative method ie the Range select method. Naming a range in excel is recommended rather than specifying an absolute cell reference.

Sub GoHere()
Application.Goto Reference:="Sales"    OR    Range("Sales").Select
End Sub

Going to the 1st Sheet             
You can select the first sheet of the workbook without knowing the name of the sheet by referring to it by the index.

Sub FirstSheet()
Sheets(1).Select
End Sub

GoTo Sheet  [18/03/2005]           
Sometimes we have many sheets or sheets with long names & we cannot view them all. You can select which sheet to go to by using this macro.

Hiding Sheets       
To hide your worksheet from users you can use the following code.

Sub HideSheet()
Sheet1.Visible = xlSheetVeryHidden
End Sub

If you hide your sheets this way, users will not be able to unhide them using the menus. Only using VB codes will be able to display the sheets again.

Hiding Excel  [3/9/2002]           
You can hide the Excel application with this macro. This disables the user from using the excel menus. Don't forget to set it back to visible.

Sub HideExcel()
Application.Visible = False
End Sub

Input Box           
When you need to get input from users, you can use input boxes. This macro will ask for the user's name and will display a message "Hello" plus the user's name.

Sub GetInput()
Dim MyInput        'This line of code is optional
MyInput = InputBox("Enter your name")
MsgBox ("Hello ") & MyInput
End Sub

Inserting Rows        
To insert rows required by a user is easy. Here the input box is used so that a user can define the number of rows required.

Sub InsertRow()
Dim Rng
Rng = InputBox("Enter number of rows required.")
Range(ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0), ActiveCell.Offset(Rng - 1, 0)).Select
Selection.EntireRow.Insert
End Sub

Here the macro uses the range technique where a range is first selected and then subsequently rows are inserted.

IF, Then Statement        
See Protect All Sheets

Joining Text Together        
There are times where we import text file into Excel an we get text that are separated. I received an email asking how put these text together. Select across your cells first and run this macro.