ROD (VOICEOVER): Want to really speed up your work in Excel? This is Rod from Burn to Learn and today we're going to show you how using macros is the key to using Excel 2016 faster. 

Let's say you're a manager in a clothing store and you need to present a sales report each month. Here's information for sales in January, but without any formatting. And while sales figures change each month, you know you will hate having to reformat the report each month. 

The good news is that by using macros, you will only need to do the formatting manually once. Then, macros will do the formatting for you, automatically, for as long as you want. Here's how. 

First, you need to check to see if you have access to the Developer tab. Go to the File tab and select Options. Then, click on Customize ribbon. Read down the main tabs and put a check in the Developer box. Click OK. Now, Developer appears on your ribbon. 

It's important you understand that macros function like tape recorders. When started, a macro records every move you make on your computer and then repeats the moves every time you call for them. 

To start a macro, here's what you do. First, click on the Developer tab and press Record Macro. And a Record Macro box appears. 

First, you need to give the macro a name. Excel defaults to Macro 1, but you can give any name you want. But you can't have a space between the letters. For simplicity's sake, let's stay with the default name Macro 1. 

Now, select a Shortcut Key . Be careful to avoid selecting a shortcut that is already in use, like Control C, which is useful for copying. Let's use, for our example, control plus shift plus l. 

Now, select where you want this new shortcut to be stored. Your choices are Personal Macro Workbook, New Workbook, or this workbook. Let's select this workbook, which is about your monthly sales report. Now, press OK. 

When you pressed OK, the macro started recording. So now, you should start formatting your sales report. To keep things simple, let's just make four formatting movements in the January sales table. 

Number one, make the titles bold. Number two, fill in the header cells with the color blue and make the letters white. Number three, give enough space to each cell. Number four, select currency for the numbers. Now, return and click the Developer tab and press Stop Recording. 

Now, go to the February sales tab, select any cell you want, and press our shortcut control plus shift plus l and see how you have your format in seconds. 

Now, every time you do your sales report, instead of wasting time and effort reformatting again and again, you just press the shortcut key and Excel 2016 does the formatting for you automatically. And if you ever want to change the formatting, you simply return to the Developer tab and edit the recording. 

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