You can also use the keyboard shortcut key Alt + F11 to open the VBE in windows and Opt + F11 or Fn + Opt + F11 for MAC.Įven if you don’t have the developer tab on the ribbon, this shortcut key will still work and open the editor. Now on the developer tab, in the code group, there is a button called “Visual Basic” and when you click on this button it opens the VB editor. To open the visual basic editor, you need to have the developer tab on the ribbon and to activate the developer tab ( steps to add). Open the Visual Basic Editor From the developer tab VBA is one of the ADVANCED EXCEL SKILLS and to master the VBA you need to learn all the aspects of Visual Basic Editor. In fact, all Microsoft applications that host VBA use the Visual Basic Editor for script writing (writing code). Visual Basic Editor is the only way to write a VBA code in Excel. You can’t run VBE separately there must be an Excel workbook open for using VBE. Even though it is a separate application (VB Editor) you can only use it with Excel.

In simple words, it’s a code editor for Excel in which you can write all the macros and store them. Visual Basic Editor is an application (a separate one) in which you can write and save all the VBA codes. I will be using different words (VBA editor, VB editor, or VBE) in this guide for referring to the Visual Basic Editor, so don’t be confused with it. That’s why it’s part of our VBA tutorial and in this guide, we have covered every single aspect of Visual Basic Editor to make you understand its functionality. It’s the place where you write and manage all the macro codes and if you ask me about VBE, I’d say if you are serious about learning VBA you need to understand all the components of VBE. The world of VBA starts with the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).

Visual basic for excel