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. ...

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