This question.

I see a lot of posts asking where they can learn VBA. I always answer the question with a question.

There’s VBA. And there’s applied VBA.

VBA on its own is next to useless IMHO.

It’s very powerful when used in a clever solution that you have in mind. The trick is having a clever solution. And then knowing (learning) how to achieve that with VBA. Learning VBA does not necessarily tell you how to create that solution. It’s how you combine the idea of the solution with what you can do with VBA.

Most advanced courses on Excel (and you can check this) have a section on VBA/macros. It’s mostly a demonstration of the macro recorder, perhaps what relative and absolute references does, and perhaps a simple example of editing a recorded macro.

Now, here’s the thing.

The really useful things that you will do with VBA (macros) cannot be created by recording a macro.

The reason is simple. The macro recorder records what you do with the choices on the Ribbon. The really useful things you can do with Excel cannot be done from the choices on the Ribbon. Simple.

Here’s an example. This solution (for preventing errors in spreadsheets) uses a few lines of VBA. It cannot be done by recording a macro.

Hiran de Silva

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