How VBA Made Excel Powerful and Why Its Decline Matters

VBA in Excel: A Legacy of Automation & the Shift Under Ballmer

Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) was once the heart of automation inside Excel and other Office apps.

Why VBA Empowered Users:

• Custom macros to automate tasks
• Creation of dashboards, alerts, and user-defined functions
• Integrations across Office Suite – Excel ↔ Outlook

What Changed Under Ballmer:

Microsoft shifted from desktop-first to cloud-first. VBA was gradually replaced (not officially deprecated) by:

• Power Automate
• Office JavaScript APIs
• Power Query & Power BI

Yet, many users still rely on VBA. Its decline is often seen as a disconnect from power-user needs.

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