Visual Basic for Applications

VBA, Visual Basic for Applications, is Microsoft's programming language for Microsoft 365 applications, like PowerPoint. You could also use recent versions of Office. VBA allows you to create macros to build user-defined functions and to automate processes. A macro is code that translates a certain sequence of input into a preset sequence of output. Once you become familiar with basic VBA code in one application such as PowerPoint, you can quickly transfer that skill to other Microsoft applications.

The Ribbon is a set of toolbars at the top of the window in Microsoft 365 applications designed to help you quickly find the commands that you need to complete a task. The three basic components of the Ribbon are tabs, sections, and tools. A tab represents the core tasks you want to do in PowerPoint. Each tab has sections in them which aggregate related commands together. The tools are buttons, boxes to enter information, or a menu.

When you click the Developer tab, and in the Code section, you click Macros, you have access to VBA subroutines or macros that you can access from a PowerPoint slide, a worksheet, a document, or a database, for example. When you click the Visual Basic button in the Code section you will open the Visual Basic Editor, VBE, where you create, modify, and maintain Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) procedures and modules in Microsoft 365 applications. The Visual Basic Editor is included with most Office programs.

The Ribbon is a set of toolbars at the top of the window in Microsoft 365 applications designed to help you quickly find the commands that you need to complete a task. The three basic components of the Ribbon are tabs, sections, and tools. A tab represents the core tasks you want to do in PowerPoint. Each tab has sections in them which aggregate related commands together. The tools are buttons, boxes to enter information, or a menu.

When you click the Developer tab, and in the Code section, you click Macros, you have access to VBA subroutines or macros that you can access from a PowerPoint slide, a worksheet, a document, or a database, for example. When you click the Visual Basic button in the Code section you will open the Visual Basic Editor, VBE, where you create, modify, and maintain Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) procedures and modules in Microsoft 365 applications. The Visual Basic Editor is included with most Office programs.

Some examples of the projects and apps you will create while you learn to write VBA code include: a variety of game boards; a variety of puzzles; bingo; catch the puppies game; checkers; coloring and painting objects; creating color, texture, picture and skin tone palettes; dart game; eBooks; electronic quizzes password protected; game wheels; making a calculator; match game; navigation bar for pages and slides; RGB colors; slot machines; tic tac toe game; and toss the ball game, and much more.