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Uniontown, Ohio, April 23, 2004

Excel book interprets "foreign language" of Visual Basic for Applications, opens doors to data automation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ohio—Millions of spreadsheet users will stop cursing their computers now that a new book shows how to "speak" the language behind Microsoft Excel.

VBA and Macros for Microsoft Excel, written by Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad interprets the "foreign language" of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and teaches shortcuts that can turn a 40-hour per month report process into a four-minute process.

"When the Excel user tries to troubleshoot the Visual Basic code, it is incredibly foreign to anyone who was trained on the old BASIC procedural language. This book translates VBA into understandable, programmable code. It's the kind of information that can skyrocket white-collar productivity " Jelen said.

Spreadsheets programs are notoriously inflexible for moving data unless the user can program custom commands. Some 400 million Microsoft Excel users already have VBA, but few understand the macro language. The macro recorder tool within Excel was supposed to convert the user's shortcut commands automatically, and remember them with each usage, but "It may work today but not tomorrow," said Jelen, an Excel consultant at MrExcel.com.

Ever since Excel replaced Lotus 1-2-3 a decade ago, IT specialists, accountants and office managers have fumbled efforts to tap the work-power behind VBA and make the most commonly used office software in the world perform. Jelen and Syrstad's book unveils trade secrets for automating data tasks. Released May 10, it is published by QUE (an imprint of technology book publisher Pearson Publishing), written for intermediate to advanced Excel users. Cost is $39.99 at Amazon.com.

The book essentially converts English syntax to VBA. One illustration uses a soccer coach communicating to players to "Kick the Ball", which in object-oriented VBA translates as "Ball.Kick" By the end of the book, users can read complicated formulas like "Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("B4").Copy Destination:=Range("Z26") and know that it's telling Excel to copy Range B4 to cell Z26 on a spreadsheet.

Bill Jelen is the host of the popular website, MrExcel.com http://www.mrexcel.com, author of Mr. Excel ON EXCEL (2003,ISBN:0972425837), Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel (ISBN 0972425802), co-author of Holy Macro! It’s 1,600 Excel VBA Examples. Tracy Syrstad is a technical writer, co-editor of Jelen's Holy Macro! It’s 1,600 Excel VBA Examples CD and editor of Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel, and Dreamboat ON WORD.

For review copies contact Bill Jelen at: 330-715-2875 or by email: consult@mrexcel.com .