Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Clean Up Your Macro List.

Clean Up Your Macro List

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 18, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Whenever you use the macro recorder to record a macro, Word assigns it a name of MacroN, where N is the next available macro number. Thus, your first macro recorded would be Macro1, the second would be Macro2, and so on. (Although Word lets you pick a different name when you record the macro, it is my experience that most people do not take advantage of this for quick-and-dirty macros.)

Because of this naming practice, it is real easy to "muck up" your template with macros you no longer need. Heck, you probably can't even remember what they do! The solution to this situation is to periodically clean out your macro list. I make it a habit to always delete anything that is in this default naming sequence. Doing this periodically means that your files take less space and Word takes less time to load.

To clean out the macros list, just display the Macros dialog box (press Alt+F8 or choose Tools | Macro | Macros). Individually select each macro you want to delete, and then click the Delete button. When you are done, close the dialog box.

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 (1158) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Clean Up Your Macro List.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Making VLOOKUP Case Sensitive

The VLOOKUP function, like other lookup functions in Excel, is not case sensitive. In other words, it doesn't matter ...

Discover More

Default Units that Change

Word allows you to specify the unit of measurement you would like used in dialog boxes throughout the program. It can get ...

Discover More

Displaying Blanks when Summing to Zero

If you use fields to sum the information in your table columns, you might want to display a blank when the sum is zero. ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Renaming a Macro

Want to give your macros a different name than they currently use? There are a couple of ways you can do the renaming, as ...

Discover More

Restoring a Keyboard Shortcut

Word uses keyboard shortcuts for all sorts of tasks. Sometimes you may create a shortcut that messes up one of the other ...

Discover More

Removing a Macro from a Shortcut Key

Associate a macro with a shortcut key, and at some time you may want to break that association. (Perhaps so the shortcut ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is one less than 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.