5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

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 5 must-know Excel macros

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for common tasks
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If you’re not using macros, you’re ignoring one of
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Excel’s most powerful features. Macros save you time
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and spare you headaches by automating common, Lookup Value
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recording your keystrokes.
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Here we’ll show you how to create macros for ve
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Excel 2016 Class 21:
To record a macro, click Record Macro under the
Power Query Import
Developer tab. In the Record Macro dialog box, enter Multiple Excel
the following information and click OK when you’re Workbooks with 
done. Multiple Sheets

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

Macro Name —the rst character must be a letter, 6. How to Highline

followed by your choice of letters, numbers, or an Excel 2016 Class 22:
underscore. No other characters are accepted. How To Build Data
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Current Workbook:
Shortcut Key —CTRL+J and CTRL+M are available. If Power Query (Get &
you choose any other character, your macro will Transform)

overwrite that key’s original function. 8. How to Step by Step

Instructions for Easy
Save location —Macros saved in “This Workbook” or
EXCEL Dashboards
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use in all spreadsheets, save macros to the Personal 9. How to Excel Magic
Macro Workbook (PMW). Trick 1331: Import
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Power Query Get &
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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

Name, save, and de ne your macro.

Because macros perform repetitive tasks, the object

is to use them on a lot of different spreadsheets. This
means you cannot hard-code the cell addresses (C1,
D5, etc.), unless all of the spreadsheets are identical,
which means the same number of records in the
same columns and rows. To make the macro work on
all spreadsheets with similar data, you must use the
directional keys to navigate—then, the number of
records won’t matter—and always begin at the A1
position.

Organize, format, and sort

imported data
Data from other programs is often available in TSV or
CSV les (Tab- or Comma-Separated Values). Imagine
receiving two dozen of these les every month, which
have to be organized, unwanted data removed, and
then sorted by company name. It takes hours to do a
report like that. This macro does it in seconds.

Open the CSV worksheet. Follow the directions above

to name, de ne and save your macro, then record the
keystrokes below.

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

1. Press CTRL+Home to reposition your cursor in cell

A1. Hold down the CTRL key and click the letters over
the columns you want to eliminate (B through N plus
R). Select Home>Delete>Sheet Columns.

What a mess. First delete unwanted columns.

2. Hold down the CTRL key and click columns A and

D. Select Home>Format>Column Width>42>OK. Hold
down the CTRL key and click columns B and C. Select
tabHome>Format>Column Width>25>OK.

3. Press CTRL+Home, then CTRL+A (to select all data

in the spreadsheet).

Select Home>Sort & Filter>Custom Sort. In the Sort

dialog box under Column, chooseName. Under Sort
On, choose Values, and under Order, choose A-Z.

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

Sort by company name.

4. Select Developer>Stop Recording, and it’s nished.

Save the worksheet as an Excel le. Open the CSV le
again, select Developer>Macros, select the
BranchCSV macro from the list, and click Run. The
entire worksheet is organized in one second.

Open the CSV le again and run the macro.

Split names from one column

into two
How many times have you received a long list of 
names in one column you needed split into two

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

columns, so the rst and last name are separated?

This macro does it in seconds plus sorts the list,
adjusts the column widths, and gives a total list count.
Open the Names worksheet, name and de ne your
macro, then record these keystrokes.

1. Press CTRL+Home, CTRL+A. Select Data>Text to

Columns. In the rst Wizard dialog box, click
Delimited>Next. In the second box, choose the
character that delimits (separates) your text. Our list is
separated by spaces, so check Space>Next. In the last
box, click Text>Finish.

Choose Text to Column to separate rst and last

names.

2. Press CTRL+Home, then CTRL+A. Select

Home>Sort & Filter>Custom Sort. In the Sort dialog,
select column B in the Sort By eld. Click Add Level,

then select column A in the Then By eld. For Sort On

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

and Order, leave the defaults Values and A-Z, then

click OK.

Sort two levels, last name, then rst name.

3. Press CTRL+Home. Press Shift-Right-Arrow to

highlight A1 thru B1. ClickFormat>Column
Width>15>OK.

4. Press CTRL+Home. Select Home>Insert Sheet

Rows, twice. In A1, type Total Names . Use the right
arrow key to navigate to B1, then enter this
formula: =COUNTA(  and press CTRL+Down-
Arrow, End, Shift-Down-Arrow, Enter, CTRL+Home.
The total appears in B1.

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

Enter the formula to count the names in the list, then

run the macro.

5. Stop Recording, save the worksheet as Names2.

Open the Names le again and run the macro.

Split column and adjust for

middle names
In Excel 2013, it’s easy to divide one column of names
into two columns, but what if half the list contains
middle names/initials and half does not? This macro
extracts the middle names/initials entries, rejoins
them with the rst names, then produces one list with
rst/middle name in rst column and last name in


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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

second column. Open a three-names le, name and

de ne your macro, then record these keystrokes.

1. Press CTRL+Home, CTRL+A. Select Data>Text to

Columns. In the Wizard boxes, click Delimited>Next,
Space>Next, and Text >Finish. One column becomes
three.

2. Press CTRL+Home, CTRL+A. Select Home>Sort &

Filter>Custom Sort>column C. Press Shift-Right-
Arrow. Click Format>Column Width>15>OK.

3. Press CTRL+Home, Right Arrow twice. Press End

once, Down-Arrow twice, Right Arrow once—this
moves the cursor to the rst empty cell in column C,
then to the adjacent cell in column D. Type: STOP ,
press Up Arrow, End, Up Arrow. Type this formula:
=A1&” “&B1 , then press Enter, Up Arrow.

Use directional keys to navigate so the macro works 

on all similar worksheets.
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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

4. Press CTRL+C, Down-Arrow. Hold down Shift, then

press End, Down Arrow, Up Arrow, Enter (copies
formula). Press Up Arrow once, hold down Shift, press
End, Down Arrow, Up Arrow (this highlights the range
without STOP).

5. Press CTRL+C, CTRL+Home, select Paste>Paste

Special>Values>OK. PressEscape, CTRL+Home, Right
Arrow twice. Hold down Shift, press End, Down Arrow,
CTRL+C, Left Arrow, Enter to copy last names. Press
Right Arrow, Shift-Right-Arrow.

Copy and paste the formula, then remove extra

columns.

6. Select Delete>Delete Sheet Columns. Press

CTRL+Home. Stop Recording, save the worksheet as
3Names2; open 3Names again and run the macro.

Repetitive Text


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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

If you’re typing the same information 10 times a day,

you’re begging for a macro. Even if that information is
brief, a macro does it in seconds and ensures
accuracy. This macro adds your company info to the
top of a worksheet and inserts the current date. Open
a new worksheet, name and de ne your macro, then
record these keystrokes.

1. Press CTRL+Home. Hold down Shift, then Right

Arrow twice. Select Home. From the Alignment group,
select Merge Across. Enter this formula in cell A1:
=TODAY() Enter, Up Arrow. Select
Home>Format>Format Cells>Date. Choose a date
format from the list, click OK. Press Down Arrow
twice.

2. Type the repetitive information and press Enter at

the end of each line. Press Down Arrow. Select
Developer>Stop Recording. Delete it all, unmerge cells
A1 through A3, then run the macro. Save the
worksheet.

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

Create a header macro with the current date to

eliminate repetitive typing.

Remove Blank Rows

A worksheet lled with blank rows is impossible to
manage, sort, or calculate. The rst step is to instruct
the macro to highlight the spreadsheet data only, then
select and remove the blank rows. Once that’s
accomplished, you can easily manage the data.

Open a le with blank rows, name and de ne your

macro, then record these keystrokes.

1. Press CTRL+Home. Note: CTRL+A will not select all

the data when blank rows are in the spreadsheet, but
this macro will.

2. Select Home>Insert>Sheet Column. Press End,

Down Arrow, Right Arrow, End, Up Arrow. Press
CTRL+Shift-Home, Shift-Right-Arrow, CTRL+Shift-

Right-Arrow. And the data range is properly selected.

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Remove blank rows.

3. Select Home>Find & Select>GoTo Special (or press

CTRL+G, ALT+S). ClickBlanks>OK and all the blanks
highlight in gray. Select Delete>Delete Cells>Shift Cells
Up>OK and the blanks vanish. Press CTRL+home,
then select Delete>Delete Sheet Column to remove
the extra column we inserted to highlight the
spreadsheet without hardcoding cell addresses.

4. Stop Recording. Undo all steps, then run the macro.

Save the worksheet.

Courtesy: PC World

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

About The Author

Raghu R

Excel is my Passion and VBA Love of Life. I like to solve and automate any
possible opportunity in Excel including in combination with O ce Applications
(Access, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, etc) and other Non-O ce Applications
(SAP, IE, Batch, Con guration Management Tools, etc). Note: All the solutions
given here are published after thoroughly tested to my knowledge, however it is
advised to keep a copy before you try it.

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5/29/2019 5 must-know Excel macros for common tasks – Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

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