# Recording macros on a Mac? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-macros-on-a-mac/507928 "2009-08-27T17:41:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-macros-on-a-mac/507928/1 "2009-08-27T17:41:40Z")
I’m a non-Mac user, but support the office technology-wise (basically [this](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tech_support_cheat_sheet.png) :)). The Mac just upgraded to Word 2008, which seems to have been a much more pleasant experience than moving to 2007 on the PC (I’m jealous at the lack of ribbon). Except for one thing: no more macro support—it’s all Applescript. Two questions. First, there were a few heavily used (recorded) macros in the old version. Are they lost forever? Any way of converting/resurrecting them? Any way of assigning them to the keyboard? Second, none of us have the time or patience to learn much about Applescript at the moment. I’ve taken a look at it and realize that it’s simple, but it’s nowhere near as simple as hitting ‘record’ doing your thing, then ‘stop’ and you’re all done. You know, _recording_ a macro rather than writing one. But before I start muttering under my breath about Macs and Microsoft (he was such a quiet man!), I’d better be sure it’s not an OS feature sitting right there. Is it? Thanks, Rhythm ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-macros-on-a-mac/507928/2 "2009-08-27T20:17:28Z")
Try going to Applications -\> Applescript -\> Script Editor. Then hit record, do your thing, then stop. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-macros-on-a-mac/507928/3 "2009-08-27T21:18:31Z")
Thanks. Looks like the right path, but I’m stumbling around blind on it. Glad there’re no cactus. I opened the script recording window, hit record, went to Word, Edit\>Paste Special\>Unformatted Text (had something on the clipboard), then went back to script editor and hit Stop. Nothing appeared. I tested it by recording a couple steps on a finder window (i.e., when I was done the Tell Application … lines appeared), but not sure what to do to get it to play with Word. If I may ask, once a macro is recorded, how do I assign the keyboard command? Can I make it Word-only? As a super bonus, do you know if there’s a way to get Applescript to repeat last command (as in Control-Y in Word)? Quark doesn’t have that ability natively, and it’s oft-used in other programmes. Thanks for the direction! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-macros-on-a-mac/507928/4 "2009-08-27T21:39:23Z")
Ah ha. per [Automating Word with AppleScript](http://www.macworld.com/article/133027/2008/04/geekfactor2505.html) on [Macworld.com](http://Macworld.com): > [@](#): > > Office 2008 doesn’t support the recording of AppleScripts as it once did for VBA. That means you must code AppleScripts by hand. That’s rude. Sounds like learning AppleScript (or getting better at searching) is the only way to get Word to jump through hoops as it once did. At least the article I found has the past unformatted we were looking for. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-macros-on-a-mac/507928/5 "2009-08-27T21:49:20Z")
That does suck indeed.