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June 22, 2007
Creating a Macro on Your Micro
Dear Larry,
While we were meeting at your office to discuss my needs
for a new computer, I saw you print only one page of a multi-page Word document
by clicking an icon on your toolbar. Can you tell me how you did that?
V. M.
Dear V. M.,
You can perform lots of automated tasks in Word by simply
creating “macros”— little programs containing a set of recorded steps that can
then be assigned to a toolbar icon. Here’s how:
Start by clicking Tools, Macro, Record New Macro. Give the
macro a name like “PrintCurrentPage” (don’t use spaces). Leave the other boxes
the way they are and click OK.
Word is now in “macro record” mode. A tiny window has appeared
with a square Stop button and a Pause button to its right. As you perform steps
in Word such as clicking commands or typing on the keyboard, Word will be
recording these steps in the order in which they occur. Since we want this macro
to print just the current page, click File, then click Print. Select the Current
Page option, then click OK. (Don’t be surprised when something comes out of your
printer now!) Since we’ve completed the recording of our macro, click the Stop
button in that little window that appeared earlier.
Incidentally, if you make a mistake when recording your macro,
I recommend you stop and start the process over again—Word will record all of
your steps when you record a macro, even your mistakes! Also, if you create any
macros that you’re not going to end up using, you can delete them by clicking
Tools, Macro, Macros.
Now it’s time to assign the macro to a button on the toolbar.
In the menu bar, click Tools, Customize, Commands. In the Categories list on the
left, select Macros. You should see your newly recorded macro listed on the
right. You’ll want to click and drag this macro from the list box on the right
and drop it on a toolbar of your choice in a position to your liking. As this is
going to be a button to print just the current page, it makes sense to drag and
drop it immediately to the left of the Print button on the primary toolbar. Once
you’ve dropped the macro in place, you’ll see it appear in a box that says
something like “Normal.NewMacros.PrintCurrentPage.” (If you’ve dropped it in the
wrong place, simply click and drag it from its current location to a new
location.)
No doubt you want a little icon to appear in place of all this
text so right-click the new toolbar button and click Text Only in Menus. If you
don’t like the toolbar button chosen for you, right-click it again, then click
Change Button Image and select a different one. If you’re really ambitious, you
can right-click it and click Edit Button Image to create your own icon. When
everything’s just right, click the Close button in the Customize window.
You’ve done it! Now go hog wild and create lots of other cool
macros...like one that automatically types “This is Larry Schneider, logging
off.”
