VBA Essential Skills

Build Foundational VBA Programming Skills for More Flexible Office Work

This practical course introduces Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), the programming language built into Microsoft Office. You will learn how VBA code is structured and how to work with statements, variables, conditions, functions, repeated instructions, debugging and error handling.

Whether you regularly use Microsoft Office and are new to programming or want to understand the code behind macros, this course gives you a practical starting point. You will learn to read basic VBA code, use the VBA Editor and apply sound programming techniques.

VBA Essential Skills is ideal for people who:

• Use at least one core Microsoft Office application regularly
• Want to develop basic programming skills
• Need to understand the VBA code behind macros
• Want to become familiar with the VBA Editor
• Need a common starting point before applying VBA in an Office application

To attend VBA Essential Skills, you should:

• Have a confident working knowledge of at least one Microsoft Office application, including creating, editing and managing documents, workbooks or other application content.

After completing VBA Essential Skills, you will be able to:

• Explain the basic structure of VBA code
• Use variables, constants and data types
• Apply conditional statements and repeating instructions
• Use debugging and error-handling techniques
• Organise functions and modular code with appropriate data scope

Introduction to VBA

• Understand the role of VBA in Microsoft Office
• Recognise the purpose of the VBA Editor
• Find help while working with VBA

Code Structure

• Recognise the structure of VBA code
• Understand how VBA statements form instructions that run in a procedure
• Read basic code in a logical sequence

Variables, Constants and Data Types

• Use variables to store values
• Use constants for fixed values
• Choose appropriate data types

Conditional and Repeating Instructions

• Use conditional statements
• Repeat instructions in code
• Control the flow of a basic procedure

Debugging and Error Handling

• Use debugging tools to investigate code
• Recognise common code issues
• Apply basic error handling

Functions and Modular Code

• Understand the purpose of functions
• Organise code into modules
• Control where variables can be used and how long their values are retained