I am taking an Excel course, and one of the sections has us learning how to use Macros and VBA, but I'm having a hard time seeing these tools being used in real life.
Macros will automate any number of actions you perform daily in Excel. What would require numerous keyboard inputs, copy/paste and other actions can be placed into a macro to automate the process and complete all those actions you would manually accomplish over several minutes .. in a split second.
So ... saving time and allowing you to put your energy into something else is key with macros.
Macros will allow the users of your projects to easily utilize those projects when they have no knowledge of Excel. Macros will also prevent
the users from making errors when using your projects. Lets say you (or whoever you create an Excel project for) need a large group of people
to provide substantial information about their activities at work. How many units they built today ... were there errors that occurred and what
were the result/remedies of those errors ... how much material did they use in building those units ... etc. etc. Using macros you can create
a user form that holds various entry fields for the employee to fill in with all that information ... then the information is automatically entered
into a database that can later be reviewed / analyzed / highlighted the problems and solutions can be implemented. All this was made
easier for the employee because they only had to enter information into various entry fields instead of spending an hour filling in a paper
report.
There are a ton more reasons to use macros and you will learn their value as you spend more time with Excel / VBA.