Debugging a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 9, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

In Word, macros are written in a language called Visual Basic for Applications, or VBA. When you write a macro, you need to test it and correct any errors in the macro. This process is called debugging. The process of debugging a macro is the same as debugging in any other programming language. All you need to do is step through the macro, one command at a time, and make sure it works as you think it should. You do this by viewing both the windows for your macro and a test document. As you step through the macro (using the commands available in the Debug menu of the VBA Editor), you can correct any errors you locate.

As you are debugging macros, you need to make sure you think through every possible way the macro could be used and all the possible conditions that could exist at the time the macro is invoked. Try the macro out in all these ways and under all these conditions. In this way, you will make your macro much more useful.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (751) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Excluding Values from Averaging

Calculating an average of a group of numbers is easy. What if you want to exclude a couple of the numbers from the group ...

Discover More

Counting the Instances of a Text String

Sometimes it is helpful to know how often a particular phrase appears within a document. If you need to know such a ...

Discover More

Keeping Part of a Paragraph with the Next Block of Text

If you are a WordPerfect user, you may be very familiar with the block-protect feature and wonder if there is a similar ...

Discover More

Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!

More WordTips (menu)

Continuing Macro Lines

Program a macro, and you can easily find that some lines get very long. If you want to shorten the lines so they are more ...

Discover More

Determining If a Number is Odd or Even

Need to know if a number in a macro is odd or even? It's easy to figure out with the simple calculation shown in this tip.

Discover More

Determining an ANSI Value

You may need to determine the numeric value of a character in a macro. You can do that using the Asc function, described ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is six more than 9?

2021-12-16 20:07:04

Allan

Hi,

I have come across this macro in youtube which you separate the mail merge in individual custom file. However, every time I run the macro it pop-up an
Run-time error '4198': Command failed (debug message) but it would generate the letters and save it individually as it suppose to be.

I can't seem to find the problem with the string. Hope you can help me with this...

singleDoc.SaveAs2 _
FileName:=masterDoc.MailMerge.DataSource.DataFields("DocFolderPath").Value & "\" & _
masterDoc.MailMerge.DataSource.DataFields("DocFileName").Value & ".docx", _
FileFormat:=wdFormatXMLDocument

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.