Master Macros in Microsoft Office

Ask @WinObs: Microsoft Store App Management on Windows 10

Q. I read this week that Apple has decided to bring together their mobile and desktop platforms into a single app store. Will Microsoft being doing this too?

A. Actually, Microsoft laid the groundwork for this idea in 2015 with what was then called the Windows Store. The concept is the same: Give developers the tools to write one set of code and maximize the platforms they can target with that code, including the HoloLens, mobile devices, laptops, desktops, and the massive Surface Hub.

Although this approach has not always enjoyed tremendous success, it is starting to gain a foothold and the results of that are showing up in the Microsoft Store with popular apps making their way onto the ecosystem of Windows 10 devices.

Today I wanted to share some tips with you for managing apps on your Windows 10 device because there are ways to deal with any challenges that might crop up with some of these apps as you use different hardware.

Everything app related on Windows 10 begins in the Microsoft Store.

The See more menu, the three dots on the right hand side next to your profile image, will open the main menu.

Select Download and updates to see a list of apps you have installed or updated recently on your current device.

All of these entries link back to the full Microsoft Store listing for that app. If you want to see more information about a particular app just click on the entry to open that listing.

From this screen you can also check for updated apps by clicking the blue Get updates button located on the top right hand side of the window.

From the window shown above go back over to the See more menu, those three dots on the top right side, and select My Library from the drop down menu.

This is your main app library page on Windows 10 and is separated into different categories including Apps, Games, Movies & TV, and Books.

There are three things to be aware of on this page in the right hand column:

1. Any item with a downward arrow is available to install on your current device. Just click that to begin the download and install process.
2. If an item does not have anything showing in this column then that indicates it is already installed on your current device.
3. If you see a circle with an exclamation point then that indicates the app is not compatible with your current device and therefore can not be installed. The most likely candidates for this type of marking might be if you have games that were installed on an Xbox and are only compatible with that device.

Click Show all over on the far right side of any category to view all of the apps for that category.

This window lists all items in that category which are currently installed on this machine, or were previously installed on this or another Windows 10 device. In this list all of the apps listed are compatible with your current device because incompatible apps are not shown in this view.

In addition to the Download app arrow I pointed out earlier, there is a three dot menu labelled More actions on the far right side of each entry on this list. If you click there you will get an option to Hide that app. This comes in very handy if you have tested a lot of apps or no longer use certain apps and want to clean up your library listing by removing unused or old apps.

If you are like me and enjoy the ability to track what apps have updates coming in then there is a setting that allows you to turn off automatic app updates which is the default setting in the Microsoft Store.

Open the Microsoft Store and once again go over to the three dot See more menu on the right side of the window to open the drop down menu. From this list select Settings.

Simply toggle the Update apps automatically setting to turn off automatic updates. Now app updates will only be installed when you click on the Get updates button on the Download and updates page of the Microsoft Store.

Next up is for app management in Windows 10 is dealing with problematic apps. It is not abnormal for data to get corrupted when using apps and that can happen for a variety of reasons. Luckily Microsoft includes the ability to reset apps and clear their data cache to help deal with these type of issues.

To begin this part of app management you need to open Windows Settings:

Select the Apps settings category to continue. You will see the Apps & features settings page. Scroll down this list of installed apps until you find the app you want to reset and then click on that entry to expand it.

From this area, you can move the app to another drive, uninstall it, or click on Advanced options. Since we have come here to reset the app and clear its data cache, click on Advanced options to continue.

Here you will see information about the app you want to fix including how much space it takes up on your device and any add-ons that might also be installed for that app.

In the middle of this page you will see the Reset button. Click on that and you will see a warning about permanently deleting the app’s data on your device including your preferences and sign-in details. There will be another Reset button as well.

Click that second Reset button and the app’s data will be removed and when it is done you will see a checkmark next to the initial reset button. You can now go back and open that app up and you will be able to add your credentials and update your preferences to get started using the app once again.

Master Macros in Microsoft Office

You can automate a host of time-consuming tasks via macros.

Do you find yourself running the same laborious and repetitive commands and tasks in Microsoft Word or Excel? There must be a better way, you say to yourself. And there is: With macros. Through a macro, you can record or create a series of commands and tasks in a Microsoft Office application. Then, whenever you want to run those commands, you just trigger the macro. You can create macros to automate just about anything in a program like Word or Excel — apply special formatting, change the layout, insert objects.

Macros can sound intimidating if you’ve never ventured into their territory. They’re stored as mini programs using the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language. But you don’t need to be a programmer to use macros. You can record the macro by performing the various commands step by step. You can then edit the macro to make any changes. Let’s check out how to use macros to save time in Microsoft Office.

Macros are available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The process for creating a macro is the same across all three applications. So once you master macros in one program, you can use the same process in the others. As usual, I’m using Office 2016 here, but the steps for creating, editing, and using macros are the same for the past few versions of Office.

Let’s launch Word to kick things off.

Open any document with text. We’ll try a relatively simple macro to start, one that I often use. I often give certain documents a specific font, point size, line spacing, and justification, and I can accomplish all those tasks in a single macro. Click on the View menu and then click on the Macros button. Select the option to Record Macro.

At the Record Macro window, type a name for your macro. The name can be up to 80 characters and can include letters and numbers but no symbols or spaces. The macro must also begin with a letter. Try to keep the macro name short so it’s easier to use. In this case, I might create a name like FullJustLayout. (You can assign a macro to a button or a keyboard shortcut, but we’ll do that separately.)

Type a description for your macro so you know exactly what it does. You can opt to store your macro in the default template for all documents or just your current document. Unless there’s a reason you want to restrict the macro to your current document, keep this setting at All Documents. Click OK, and now the fun begins.

Select your entire document by pressing Ctrl+A. Now perform each of the following tasks one after another:

• Click on the Home menu.
• Change the font to Calibri and the point size to 12.
• Click on the small arrow in the Paragraph section to access the Paragraph Settings window.
• Change the space for After to 12 points and the line spacing to Multiple at 1.15.
• Finally, change the alignment to Justified.
• Click OK to close the Paragraph Settings window.
• Click anywhere in the document to turn off the selection and then make sure your cursor is at the top of the screen.
• Click on the View menu, select the Macros button, and click on the option to Stop Recording.

Now open a different document in Word, one without any of the formatting we used for the macro. Click on the View menu, select the Macros button, and click on View Macros. You should see your macro listed and selected. Click on the Run command, and the macro applies all the stored formatting and layout changes to your document.

Depending on how the document was originally formatted, you may see too much spacing between each paragraph. That would occur with this macro if your document had no spacing between the paragraphs and you had pressed the Enter key to start each new paragraph. No problem — we’ll get rid of those extra paragraph returns. We’ll use a Find and Replace routine to accomplish that but we’ll record it as a macro to automate the steps. And this time we’ll try a quicker way to record and stop the macro:

• Instead of going through the Macros button, click on the small macro recording button on the bottom status bar, the button to the right of the word count or page numbers.
• At the Record Macro window, type a name and description for the macro and then click OK.
• Move your cursor to the top of the document. Switch to the Home Ribbon if it’s not displayed.
• Click on the Replace button. At the Find and Replace window, click on the More button. Make sure your cursor is in the Find what field.
• Click on the Special button and select Paragraph Mark from the menu.
• Repeat that step so that you have two paragraph marks in the field.
• Click on the Replace with field and insert one paragraph mark here.
• Then click on the Replace All button. The Find and Replace tool should replace all instances of two paragraph marks with one. Find and Replace tells you how many replacements were made.
• Click OK to close that message.
• Close the Find and Replace window. Move to the top of your document.
• To stop the macro recording, click on the black button on the bottom status bar.

Going through the Macros menu to trigger a macro is a clumsy process, so put a macro on any Ribbons and/or on the Quick Access toolbar. You can also assign a keyboard shortcut to a macro. Performing those actions in the Record Macro window is the easiest option. But you can also do all that after the fact by customizing the Ribbon and customizing the Quick Access Toolbar.

Follow these steps:

• Right-click on the Home Ribbon and click on the command to Customize the Ribbon.
• At the window to “Customize the Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts,” make sure the Home Ribbon is selected in the right pane.
• Click on the New Group button. Make sure the new group is selected.
• Click on the Rename button and change the name to Macros.
• Click on the dropdown menu under “Choose commands from” in the left pane and change the view to Macros. You should see the two macros you created.
• Click on the first one in the list and then click on the Add button.
• Do the same for the second one. You can rename the Ribbon buttons for the macros and change their icons.
• Click on one of the macros and click on the Rename button. Type a new name for the macro button and select a different icon. Click OK.
• Do the same for the other macro. Buttons for your macros appear on the Home Ribbon.

Follow these directions to create a keyboard shortcut for each macro.

• Click on the Customize button next to Keyboard shortcuts at the bottom of the left pane. Under Categories in the Customize Keyboard window, scroll down the list and select Macros. Your two macros appear in the Macros window. Select one.
• Click in the Press new shortcut key field and press the keys on your keyboard that you want to use as the shortcut, for example, Ctrl+Shift+R. Make sure you don’t assign a shortcut that’s already used by a Windows or Office command.
• Click the Assign button. Do the same for the other macro. Close the Customize Keyboard window. Pressing one of the new keyboard shortcuts triggers the respective macro.
• At the window to “Customize the Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts,” change the selection to Quick Access toolbar.

You can now repeat the steps you used to add the macros to the Ribbon, this time adding them to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Finally, what if you want to edit the code for a macro to modify any elements? Even if you don’t know VBA, you can make certain changes and rename the macro.

• Click on the View menu, select the Macros button, and click on the option to View Macros. Here you can delete a macro. But we want to edit its code and change its name.
• Select the macro and click on Edit. The code for each macro appears. For the FullJustLayout macro we created, you can see lines of code for the font, point size, and other attributes.
• To change those, just replace the existing font name or point size with a different name or size. To change the name of the macro, look for the line of code at the beginning that says: Sub [the name of macro] ().
• Delete the existing name of the macro but don’t remove the Sub and () items.
• Type the new name for your macro. Press Ctrl+S when done to save the macro with your changes and the new name.
• Close the VBA window.

Editing or renaming a macro doesn’t affect any existing buttons or keyboard shortcuts. So you can run your edited macro from the Macros window, from the Ribbon, from the Quick Access Toolbar, or from your keyboard shortcuts.