I’ve been publishing my ExcelTips newsletter for quite a long time now, approaching 17 years. Every week, without fail, I’ve published tips on how to use almost every aspect of Excel.
During that time, I’ve also conducted various seminars on teaching people how to use Excel. I’ve also developed a good number of e-books and real books about how to use Excel.
One thing that I haven’t done, however, is to create any video-based training materials about Excel. I’ve had people ask about them, but I’ve always shied away from them because of, I guess, being a harsh critic of myself.
Well, I’m thinking of changing that situation and coming up with a new online course about how to create macros. The course would be geared toward beginners—those who haven’t ever created their own macros before. (I may do a more advanced macro course later, but it is generally best to start at the beginning.)
Like I said, I’m still toying with the idea; trying to get my head around what the course would (or should) contain. This is always the toughest part for me—figuring out what to include and what to leave out.
Do you think offering such a course would be a good idea? Do you have thoughts as to what such a course should cover? If so, I’d love to have a bit of feedback. Please, let me know below what you think.
Video will compliment the e-books and books, as they guide the viewers step-by-step thus enhances learning. A great way to start is to add video to your ExcelTips. Keep up with the fantastic idea and put it into action!
I’d be interested and willing to pay for this kind of service as it grows increasingly advanced.
That is a great idea, but there are so many options available out there, you would need to do something special keep it new, and different in a better way. Your newsletter is great, and I therefore think you will be able to deliver on this new venture with ease. A video “shows you” how to do something, and macros can be tricky, so it will be a great start for you online course.
I look up videos all the time especially when I am having trouble with a specific issue. Since I have started using Macros, I don’t know how I made it without them.
The best videos (in my opinion) are no more than 4 minutes long.
Excellent idea, any NEW info is appreciated, you must leave something behind for the masses to use.
I would love to learn about macros. Like someone else said, start at the beginning; why, when, how. I am not a programmer but have accessed many spreadsheets with macros. I have seen how they can work but I don’t always understand why they were used.
Cost would be a factor for me also as I work for a government agency and am limited to what courses I can take.
Ditto on the following comment:
I would love to learn about macros. Like someone else said, start at the beginning; why, when, how. I am not a programmer but have accessed many spreadsheets with macros. I have seen how they can work but I don’t always understand why they were used.
Cost would be a factor for me also as I work for a government agency and am limited to what courses I can take.
Good Idea!!
There is a lot of great feedback from the group already, hard to add to this. I strongly suggest benchmarking other training videos before creating any of your own, then developing a short list of goals re: general length, assumptions about audience skill level, Excel version(s) you will cover, etc. Then make a couple of trial videos for feedback from your existing audience (i.e. this website). You do risk “reinventing the wheel” but such videos would at minimum complement your tips and e-books. There’s a lot on YouTube, etc. already but the quality is all over the map. If you could offer quality videos at a reasonable price (like your e-books), I’d bet you will find willing customers. You might even consider “bundling” videos with e-books at some level (though I understand your immediate topic of interest is macros…a worthy topic!). Thanks and very best wishes….
I think it’s a great idea but it’s important to find a way to stand out from the competition. I think that the key to getting new people interested is to take away as much of the intimidation as possible. The code is not scary or overwhelming once you break it down into its sections.
Knowing the basics of C++ I started learning to create VBA macros from watching videos on youtube as well as revers engineering recorded macros. From there I have searched and copied code that I find from doing searches. I don’t write macros often but I use them every day at work.
I truly feel like I would benefit from a crash course about the basics. From there if I wanted to know more perhaps I could skip to a full video of that topic.
I believe it would be beneficial, however it would depend on a couple of things.
I am an average user and use vba/ macros quite frequently, however I normally google and adapt other users code to what it is that I require. I don’t get any funding or have spare monies to join expensive courses, and there are a multitude of other videos on Youtube for free.
I would be very interested to learn the basics for myself but I think it needs to be thought about and priced accordingly.
Yes! I would love to learn about macros through video lessons. I’m new to your weekly & daily tips postings and am learning a lot from them. I shy away from actually using macros because it seems complicated and I am reluctant to take the time to work with them on a daily tip basis (especially while I’m at work). An actual video course at the novice level is just what I need…teach the basic, fundamental skills first, then advance to more complicated macros. Without an understanding of the codes (what they are, how to understand and use them) it’s a bit confusing. Best of luck with this new venture!
I don’t agreethe idea of a 30 second videos; they will be too short for any in depth information. I have been using the free courses on youtube from ExcelIsFun. The videos are free and contain workbooks that can be downloaded and referred to at a later date. I have paid for video courses in Excel in the past (dashboards class) but would not have use for beginning macro class. I might be interested in a intermediate/advanced macro class.
Thanks for all the information you continue to share.
I would definitely be interested in being able to use Macros. My learning curve doesn’t always work at the same pace of live classes and I tend to get behind when I want to spend time on a area that I didn’t have the comporehensive knowledge I wanted. One suggestion would be to create an index of subject material so portions of training that you are comfortable with could be avoided when going back to area needing a refresher or another pass thru of the subject.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but saving a macro, to use on a separate worksheet is crucial for any beginner. Another good thing to put in would be explaining the fundamentals of how macros work i.e. if you click on cell A1 with the macro does it record the cell or just the location on the screen you click? Can keystrokes and shortcut keys be used? What about menu items? How complex can macros be? Can macros be used across multiple worksheets? What are some common everyday tasks macros are most useful for? I think even a beginner needs to know at least macro theory and possible applications, not just the absolute basics, but give them something to run with. Because, after all, the whole point of a macro is to preform an otherwise complex series of steps with a single click.
Videos on Macros would be a great option for those of us who would like to be able to understand them better. I struggle with trying to edit a couple of the simple ones I have done without having to redo the whole thing. I just want to, for instance, add a print command or add a today’s date command to the macro and nothing I have found online shows me how to do that.
Thanks!
I prefer books, eBooks, and web sites to Videos. Videos always cover material I don’t need. With books or eBooks I can go at my own speed, focus on exactly what I need. I can go backwards and jump around without any fiddling with a video player. I can perform each step on my own computer as I go through the material. I am not a beginner with macros so I can’t speak for that audience very well. Videos may be best for quickly presenting the grand scope of what is possible, and presenting very difficult concepts.
Good Luck
I would seriously consider purchasing this. I have never used macros out of lack of knowledge.
I too would be interested in learning more about MACROS. I don’t know how to create them, so starting with the basics would be perfect.
I would like to know how to move results from one worksheet, to a different worksheet.
When I filter, I then copy the filtered data and paste it to a different sheet. When I paste it to a different sheet it will be pasted to the next available row. Data could be pasted on row 18, then the next time I filter it may be pasted on row 38 etc.
Keep me posted when you post your first MACROD recording.
I think that is a great idea! I have always said I want to learn how to do macros. There are other options for training on Excel, but they a usually expensive. I think if you can develop a library of videos at a reasonable price, you would do extremely well.
That would be GREAT! It would be a very useful class.
I agree with numerous others that macros are a very hot topic and really can help you handle complex repetive actions. I wouldn’t get into the basics of using Excel as that can be found elsewhere. But videos showing the usefulness of keyboard shortcuts and other time savers are always good. For the really complex topics, spread them over multiple parts, keeping each video from 3-5 minutes. As always your TIPS have saved me many hours of frustration. Keep up the great work!
a good idea but dont make it too basic—need more involved functions (look-up, macros, dashboards, detailed graphics, how Excel interfaces with Tableau, etc
Although you should continue to write for the independent-system user, I encourage you to keep in mind that many people work in Enterprise environments with varying levels of permissions regarding macros.
I mention this because I have run into situations where I’ve developed a very cool macro only to find that I’m limited on the ability to distribute it easily to the user-community in a way that they can use.
This would help you remember when to add those little points about checking with your environment’s administrator to make sure you can store macro-enabled workbooks in your firm’s Document Management system vs. putting macros in a custom startup workbook (assuming you can even do that!), considerations regarding conflicting ‘on open’ macros, working with possible add-in generated macros, etc.
Thanks for your consideration.
I would love to see Video’s on Macros, I have used Excel for years but never got to learn Macros and didn’t know where to start.
This would be great as far as I’m concerned. I want to use macros, but would like to start at the very beginning with no assumed knowledge in the subject. Then I can refer to your written materials to solidify what I learned from your video training. This suits the way my brain processes and retains new information, and I think this would be true for many. Go for it!