MOS Talk: Work effectively around redundancy with Macros
Submitted by Brett Fisher on Sun, 08/05/2018 - 7:19am
There are few work practices as inefficient and costly to a business as redundancy. Reinventing the wheel on every project only makes work harder, not easier.
Much to the worker's chagrin, duplication is some times part of an organization's standard operating procedures and policies.
Microsoft Office features a tool to help users reduce the inefficiencies of redundant work activity.
Located typically at the end of the View ribbon, Macros can make repetitive computer work feel like a walk in the park.
If you have to type a laborious legal disclaimer on every piece of office correspondence, use Macros to create the item once and then reuse it as many times as you need.
Macros can also work well when producing letterhead, tables, and pretty much anything else you know you will reuse countless times in your work.
Simply click on the Macros drop-down arrow and select "Record Macro." A dialogue box will pop up and ask you to name the Macro.
You can then select whether to apply the Macro just to the document you are working on or to all Office documents. If choosing the latter, the Macro will be saved in a general Macro library that can be accessed when working in other Office documents.
When ready, click "OK" and the Macro will begin recording every keystroke or mouse click made. Be sure you know what you want to do ahead of time before clicking "record," or else the Macro could end up becoming a pretty long shortcut.
There is also a pause button to press in the event you get interrupted during the Macro recording. What office worker isn't asked to multi-task, after all?
If you don't select the pause recording, then anything else you are doing on the computer unrelated to the Macro project is going to get recorded into the Macro. So, the "pause" function is your friend.
Once you are done creating your Macro, select "stop recording." This saves the Macro into a library for future use. Then when you want to use it again, you need only to click on the Macro drop-down and select "View Macros." From there, select the Macro you want to insert into your document and, presto, it appears.
There's nothing else to it, unless a Macro recording needs to be edited. In which case, you can select the Macro to be changed from the "View Macro" list and click on the "edit" feature.
I worked eight years in state government, and the agency I worked for used canned text routinely in its public correspondence. I used Macros frequently to create new canned text that could be used over and over again with no extra typing.
If you suffer from severe bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome like I do, then you know how important it is to have as many finger-saving shortcuts as you can get.
Macros is one those.
But the tool won't just save your fingers, it will save you time and, in the long run, money.
Work smarter, not harder. Use Macros.
Brett Fisher is a writer and certified Microsoft Office Specialist instructor residing in Carson City.
