Excel VBA 24-Hour Trainer, 2nd Edition

Lesson 3Introducing the Visual Basic Editor

Lesson 2 explains how to create a macro, and you saw a couple of easy ways to run the macro you created. Now it's time to view your macro and have a look at the environment called the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), within which all macros and VBA procedures are stored. Seeing where macros live and breathe improves your understanding of the VBA programming process, especially when you start to edit existing macros or create new macros without the Macro Recorder.

What is the VBE?

It's fair to say that for many users of Excel, the worksheets, pivot tables, charts, and hundreds of formula functions are all the tools they need to satisfactorily handle their spreadsheet activities. For them, the familiar workbook environment is the only side of Excel they see, and understandably the only side of Excel they are probably aware of.

But Excel has a separate, less visible environment working behind the scenes—the Visual Basic Editor—which is interconnected with the workbook environment even if no programming code exists in the workbook. Both environments are constantly but quietly working together, sharing information back and forth about the entire workbook. The Visual Basic Editor is a user-friendly development environment where programmed instructions are maintained in order to make your spreadsheet applications work.

How to Get Into the VBE

With Excel open, a fast and easy way to get into the Visual Basic Editor is to press Alt+F11 on your ...