A member of your team copies the same data between spreadsheets, tidies up the same formatting and reruns the same report from scratch, every week. It’s tedious, and it’s eating into time you don’t have to spare.
If your team spends hours repeating the same spreadsheet tasks, Excel macros are worth a look. Once someone knows how to build and use them, certain jobs that take minutes or even hours can be completed in seconds.
This article covers what macros do, which tasks are worth automating first and how to check whether your team has the skills to get there.
The hidden cost of repetitive spreadsheet work
Admin has become one of the biggest drains on the working week. UK workers now lose 15 hours a week to admin tasks – almost two full working days – according to research from Ricoh. Spread that across a team and it adds up fast.
For teams that rely on spreadsheets, this can mean hours spent reformatting reports, copying figures between tabs and checking totals by hand.
That’s where macros come in.
What a macro does in Excel
A macro is a set of instructions that automates tasks in Excel. You can create one by recording your actions or writing code, then run it whenever you need to repeat the task. Record yourself formatting a report once, and the macro repeats it next time.
Behind every macro sits Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), the programming language Excel uses to store and run these instructions. You don’t need to write VBA from scratch to get started.
Excel’s built-in macro recorder captures your clicks and keystrokes automatically. Learning how to use macros in Excel usually starts here, before anyone touches a line of code.
Once your team’s comfortable with recorded macros, editing the underlying VBA gives you far more control. You can build logic that adjusts to different data each time it runs.
Picture a monthly finance report that pulls figures from three sheets, applies the same formatting and flags anything over budget. Doing that by hand takes half an hour. A well-designed macro could complete the same steps in seconds, reducing manual input and the risk of errors.
Which tasks are worth automating first
Not every spreadsheet task deserves a macro. When you automate Excel tasks with macros, start with the ones that are done often, done the same way and prone to human error.
Look for:
- Monthly or weekly reports. If the layout and formulas stay the same and only the figures change, a macro can rebuild the whole thing in seconds.
- Data cleaning. Removing duplicates, fixing inconsistent date formats and stripping out blank rows are all classic macro jobs.
- Consolidating multiple sheets. Pulling data from several tabs or workbooks into one summary is slow by hand but quick to automate.
- Formatting for circulation. Applying the same fonts, colours and column widths before a report goes out is an easy first macro to build.
Start with one task that everyone recognises as labour-intensive. A quick win builds confidence before you tackle anything more complex.
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Which versions of Excel support macros?
Before you start training staff, check which version of Excel they’re using. VBA macros work in the desktop versions of Excel for Windows and Mac, although some features behave differently between the two. Excel for the web can open workbooks containing macros, but it can’t create, run or edit VBA macros.
It’s also worth checking whether your organisation’s IT policies restrict macros. Some businesses block them by default to protect against potentially malicious code.
For HR and L&D managers, that means two checks: do employees have the right software? And are they permitted to use macros day to day? Getting all this right early on saves frustration later, and means staff can put their new skills into practice.
Does your team have the skills to get there?
If you’re weighing up online Excel macros training options, the real starting point is your team’s current skills, not the software itself. So before rolling out automation across a whole department, check where everyone’s at. Have they only dipped their toes into Excel, or are they using it regularly? Confidence with formulas doesn’t always mean confidence with macros.
A short, informal skills check helps here. Can your team record and run a basic macro? Do they understand where macros are stored? And can they make simple changes when a process needs updating?
If the answers are no, this is a starting point. Structured training, such as an online Excel macros course, can help staff build those skills without relying entirely on trial and error.
Getting started without disrupting daily work
You don’t need to overhaul your team’s working practices to get started. A few practical steps can help you introduce Excel macros gradually and safely.
- Pick one owner per process. Choose someone who understands the task from start to finish and can work with a colleague who has the technical skills to automate it.
- Document what each macro does. A short note explaining what the macro does and when it was last updated saves confusion when someone else needs to use it later.
- Review macro security settings. Macros can contain malicious code, so staff should only run macros from trusted sources and follow your organisation’s IT security policies. Never enable macros in an unexpected or unverified file.
- Test before wider use. Run a new macro on a copy of the data first, so any errors show up before they reach a live report.
Once a macro has been tested and is working reliably, consider whether other teams could benefit. Just make sure it’s suitable for their processes and meets your organisation’s security requirements before sharing it.
What’s the one spreadsheet task your team repeats every week, and how many hours would you get back if it ran itself?
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