What is VBA?

Visual Basic for Applications is better known as VBA. It comes as a part of the Microsoft Office family of applications like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Outlook, etc., as a backend window where we can code using the all-time popular Visual Basic language.

This code window tool helps automate regular tasks that may or may not even involve the Microsoft application to which it is linked and opened. It also offers user interface controls like forms, buttons, reports, etc., which help build mini projects that minimize manual effort and time.

Is it Necessary to Learn VBA?

Yes, it is worth investing a little time to learn this amazing language because it can give tremendous benefits to your daily life. Yes, you read that right.

If you already know visual basic version 5/6, it is easy to begin learning VBA. If not, do not worry; our website has hundreds of pages of articles you can follow to get your hands on the basics of VBA.

Step-By-Step Guide to Learning VBA

First, start by automating small tasks that you do every day.

For example, you may send out a report to a team member/validate some flat file like a notepad/XML file based on some specification. Or you can feed some data into product records every morning at a stipulated time.  All these can be done using VBA macros.

1. Navigate to the code window

2. The Trick to Getting Started

1. Now that you have opened the code window, you may want to try a magic trick. I mean by magic trick: “The computer can do your work for you if you instruct it the way it can understand.”

3. Learn the VBA Development Environment Window

The VBA development environment window has distinct parts that help you write perfect code.

4. Learn Basic Data Types

Now it is time to understand what datatypes are and how to use them in the code. Watch the videos below one by one to understand the basic datatypes and use them in your code.

Integers

Strings

Boolean

5. Commenting Code

Writing comments is essential to a professionally developed code. This helps the code owner and others recollect the logic/understand it easily and then maintain/enhance the code to meet new requirements.

6. Debugging

Sometimes, you are forced to watch the flow of values in variables. When we view the flow of control during runtime, debugging becomes easier. In my case, the watch window has even helped me build the code.

7. Conditional Statements

Next is the conditional statement if and other its other forms. This is s decision-making statement is responsible for the change in the direction in which the control flows during runtime.

8. What’s Next?

Other than this, you should start learning about loops, jumping statements, message boxes, handling code with Excel sheets, error handling, and many more topics from the various articles on our website to slowly become an expert in VBA.

Conclusion

VBA is a simple and traditional coding language that can help you do wonders demanding you to invest little time in developing your code. So, boost your expertise in VBA and benefit from it. Learn to build good logic as you develop your code. Automation and scheduling of tasks can help you save time even daily.