recommended training for learning how to write macros

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jkmar5 - 04 Oct 2007 20:08 GMT

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a class or workshop that I could
take to learn the basics of programming for Microsoft Word.

I come to the message board regularly for macros to automate repetitive
tasks at work. Right now, I copy and paste the macros that generous and
knowledgeable people supply in response to my posts. I am really interested
in this and I would really enjoy learning more. Plus it would be great if I
could write my own programs to use in my job, instead of relying on the
message board.

I purchased a book called Writing Work Macros, published by O’Reilly, and
have tried to work my way through it. I just can’t seem to grasp how to write
my own programs, which is what I want to be able to do. I have no programming
background. I can usually catch on quickly, but the book is not helping me at
all.

I’ve looked around online for classes, but I’m not even sure what to look
for. Do I want Visual Basic, or Visual Basic.net or VBA?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

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Jay Freedman - 04 Oct 2007 21:01 GMT

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

If you're writing macros for Word, then you want to learn VBA. That's
currently the only programming language that runs inside Word. You can use
VB or VB.Net to "drive" Word from the outside, but essentially what you're
doing then is sending commands to Word that look sort of like VBA. So you
really need to know VBA to start, and then you can branch out if you have a
reason to.

Try starting with these articles:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/VBABasicsIn15Mins.htm
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/UsingRecorder.htm
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/ModifyRecordedMacro.htm

Then come back here and ask more specific questions. It helps to have some
task you want to automate, and ask how to get started on that, rather than
the nebulous "I want to learn programming".

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Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
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