Given that computers are supposed to save time and make life easier, it can seem as if we spend a lot of our computer time doing the same tasks over and over again, whether it's signing off a letter, changing the formatting of a Word document or sorting cells in a spreadsheet.
The solution is to get your computer to perform a set of tasks automatically when you enter a prompt, which you can do by creating a macro. Macros help make your computer work the way you want it to and can be great time savers. The best news of all is that they are easy to set up using tools built into Office programs such as Word and Excel, as well as other software.
Complete this phrase
Anyone who uses Word on a regular basis will be familiar with the prompts that the software occasionally offers as you type; these will appear as a word or phrase displayed above the cursor. This is the calling card of the AutoText feature, one of the simplest and most handy macros already present in Office, which recognises a long word or phrase as you start to type it and offers to complete the rest of it for you.
All you have to do to complete the phrase is press the Return key when the prompt appears. Many common phrases are already included in the AutoText list, such as 'Dear Sir or Madam' and 'Best wishes'. It's also easy to add your own phrases if you find yourself writing the same text often.
To do this, click on the Insert menu and select AutoCorrect from the options listed, then select AutoText in the submenu. Type the phrase you want to add into the text box at the top of the window and click on the Add button. The next time you start to write the phrase, Word will offer to complete it for you.
Use AutoCorrect Option
Word also checks your spelling and grammar as you type. When the program finds a word that it thinks is incorrectly spelt, it will underline the text with a red wiggly line. The green wiggly lines under your text flag up grammatical errors.
If Microsoft Word is not highlighting spelling errors in this way, you can activate this feature in the Options menu. Click on the Tools menu and select Options. Click on the Spelling and Grammar tab and check the box marked 'Check spelling as you type' and make sure there are no ticks in the box marked 'Hide spelling errors in this document'.
If you find that Word is flagging up the same mistyped words frequently, you can set the program to correct these words automatically using the AutoCorrect tool. Right-click on that word when Word underlines it in green, and select AutoCorrect from the menu that appears and select the correct spelling. Word will then always correct that word for you.
You can also add words to the AutoCorrect list by selecting AutoCorrect from the Tools menu and, under the AutoCorrect tab, entering the incorrect spelling of the word you wish Word to correct in the box labelled Replace and the correct spelling in the box marked With. Click on Add then OK to add your entry.
AutoCorrect also works in Excel. You can make additions to the list of misspelt words AutoCorrect will put right by selecting AutoCorrect from the Tools menu and following the same steps.
Create a formatting Macro
You can also create your own macros from scratch to change the formatting of text in Word, for example. Both Word and Excel feature a tool that allows you to 'record' a macro, in other words you can show Word or Excel exactly what you want it to do by actually doing it. The software will remember this and perform these tasks automatically when prompted next time.
To record a macro in Word, open a document containing text that you want to apply changes to. Click on the Tools menu and select Macros, then select the Record New Macro option. A dialogue box will appear on screen. Enter a name for the macro in the text box marked Macro name. Choose something that describes the task you're asking Word to perform so you'll know exactly what the macro does.
You should also ensure that the drop-down menu labelled Store macro in is set to All Documents (Normal.dot). This will ensure that you can use the macro in all Word documents. If you don't select this option, you may see an on-screen security message when you try to open a new Word document, and the program may disable the macro.
Just below the Macro name box you'll see two buttons, one marked Keyboard and another marked Toolbars. These let you assign a keyboard shortcut to activate the macro or add it to a toolbar.
If you want to assign a keyboard shortcut to a macro click on the Keyboard button and in the dialogue box that appears, enter the keystroke combination you want to use - Ctrl+8, for example - in the text box marked Press new shortcut key.
You can do this just by pressing these buttons in the sequence you want to use them in. If there is already an action assigned to that keystroke combination, the text under the box will alert you. Now click on Assign.
Alternatively, you can create a toolbar button by clicking on the Toolbar instead of the Keyboard button. In the dialogue box that appears, click on the entry listed in the Commands menu, (this will have a name like Normal.NewMacros.Macro10, but don't worry about this for now) hold down the mouse button and drag and drop the icon onto a toolbar to create a button for the macro. Right-click on it and in the text box marked Name in the menu that appears, type in a new name.
Record breakers
Once you've created a keyboard shortcut or a toolbar button, the cursor will change to an arrow with a small cassette next to it. This shows that Word is now recording what you do. A small floating toolbar will also appear on screen with a stop and a pause button on it.
You won't be able to select any text with the mouse in this mode because the text you're using to record your macro may not be the same as the text you'll want to use the macro on in future.
You can still select text if you really need to by holding down Shift and pressing the arrow keys, but only do this if you will be selecting exactly the same amount of text every time you run the macro. If you want to select all the text in a document, press and hold the Ctrl button and press A.
Now perform the formatting tasks you want Word to execute every time you run the macro - you might want to change the font or indent paragraphs - and when you've finished, click on the Stop button in the floating toolbar.
It might not look like anything has happened, but Word has recorded the changes you've made to the format of the document. To check your macro has been created, either try the keyboard shortcut or toolbar button you assigned, or go to the Tools menu, select Macro and then the Macros option. A window will appear with a list of macros, and the one you've just created should be listed here. Things are a little different when you create macros in Excel. You can still access the Record new macro tool by selecting Macro from the Tools menu, but the dialogue box that appears only gives you the option of assigning a keyboard shortcut to the macro.
Select a key to use in combination with the Ctrl key and enter this in the box to the right of Ctrl+ in the dialogue box. Make sure you select the Personal Macro Workbook option from the drop-down menu labelled Store macro in this dialogue box.
The process of recording is exactly the same as in Word. If you want to use a toolbar button to run the macro in Excel, though, you'll need to do this after you've created the macro. Right-click on the toolbar you want to add the button to and select Customize.
Now click on the Commands tab and scroll down to Macros in the Categories menu. Drag and drop the Custom Button icon onto the toolbar and click on the Modify selection button in the Customize dialogue box. Select Assign macro from the menu then click on the macro you wish to assign to the toolbar button and press OK.
Image fixes on the double
We've concentrated on macros in Word and Office but you can use macros in other software such as Paint Shop Pro. Image-editing software macros can be useful if you want to apply the same effect on a batch of photos or apply the One Step Photo Fix to all your pictures for quick image editing, for example.
To do this, open a photo in Paint Shop Pro and click on the File menu. Click on Script, then Start recording. Click on the Enhance Photo button and select One Step Photo Fix. Click on File, Script, then Save Recording. Give it the name Batch Photo Fix and click on Save then close the photo.
To use the macro, click on File, then Batch and then Process. To select all the files in a folder, go to that folder in the top part of the window and press Ctrl+A. Click on Browse in the Script section and select the Batch Photo Fix macro. This will apply the One Step Photo Fix to all of the images selected.
In Save options, change Type to JPEG, then click on Browse to select a folder to save the images to or create a new one using the middle icon. Click on Start to adjust all of the pictures. A window will appear showing the progress of the job. When it has finished all of your photos will be in the new folder ready for printing.
Get Cracking
Macros are a great way of automating repetitive tasks and saving you time when using a whole range of programs. If you receive a macro from someone else via email you should be wary of running it on your computer for security reasons, as these files can be used to spread viruses.
Stick to creating and running your own macros, though, and there's no reason to miss out on the advantages on offer. You can create a macro to automate just about any task in Word or Office. The only limit is your imagination.