Key Points

• Watch what a macro is doing by reducing the Visual Basic editor window while stepping through the macro.

• Record macros in small pieces. You can always move statements from one macro to another, or run the separate macros as subroutines.

• After recording a macro, watch for ways to generalize it for future use. The CurrentRegion method is a great way to refer to a range that may be a different size each time you run the macro.

• Use GetOpenFilename to prompt for a file name or the InputBox function to get information while running the macro.

• Use variables to store a string or other value so that you can use it later in the macro.

• Switch the recorder to relative mode to record relative movements rather than absolute addresses. This is particularly useful when appending to the bottom of a list.