Can Power Automate replace macros? (2023)

What are the limitations of Power Automate?

Disadvantages of Power Automate

Flow frequency is the time it takes for the flow to trigger. You cannot change permissions on a SharePoint item without using third-party connector. Power Automate allows only 250 actions in a single workflow. Power Automate supports only sequential workflows.

I created a video that demos how to use Power Automate Cloud and Desktop to trigger a VBA macro on a schedule in unattended mode on an Excel file resident on SharePoint Online (SPO). You can use VBA to refresh an external data query.

– Yes, absolutely! VBA is certainly not the most modern programming language, but due to the huge prevalence of Microsoft Office it is still a very relevant language in the year 2022.

Power Query can easily replace VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) as it enables you to: Process your tables simply by clicking on buttons. Plus, no coding skills are needed!

Therefore, Power Automate won't be able to access applications that run with elevated rights and their elements.

We can use math functions in the "update a row" action. Or we can do calculations in the Compose action. For some iterative formulas or loops, we can use the actions in Variable.

You may quickly find that much of the Excel automation you are used to managing with macros can be handled by RPA instead. Robotic process automation solutions are easy to use even if you have no coding experience—just drag and drop building blocks like “open Excel workbook” or “set value of cell” into a workflow.

To automate a repetitive task, you can record a macro with the Macro Recorder in Microsoft Excel. Imagine you have dates in random formats and you want to apply a single format to all of them. A macro can do that for you. You can record a macro applying the format you want, and then replay the macro whenever needed.

What is replacing VBA?

What Will Replace VBA? Short answer: JavaScript. JavaScript is a language Microsoft has been heavily investing in as it moves to unify Office across all devices (PC, Mac, Browser, & Mobile).

Microsoft is finally planning to block Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default in a variety of Office apps. The change will apply to Office files that are downloaded from the internet and include macros, so Office users will no longer be able to enable certain content with a simple click of a button.

Yes, VBA is most definitely a programming language. You can write programs in VBA in Excel to reformat your workbook, scrape data from the web, perform intense scientific or engineering calculations, make games, control other Office applications, etc. If you can dream it, a program in Excel VBA can be written to do it.

Code Compatibility

Unlike the VBA language used in Excel, data analysis using Python is cleaner and provides better version control. Better still is Python's consistency and accuracy in the execution of code.

Creating interactive visuals Cleaning messy data Making PivotTable more user friendly Allowing users to share data Confirm'

Power Automate Course Overview

MindMajix's Power Automate training program offers 16 hours of online training and 4 hours of hands-on in building and managing flows in Power Automate.

Pros: This software is very easy to use and does not require any coding background. The code used is low level and very easy to understand. The software is easy to deploy in the company from the first day and benefits are seen almost immediately. Power automate cuts out a lot of manual effort.

You can use formulas not only to perform calculations and change appearance but also to take action. For example, you can set the OnSelect property of a button to a formula that includes the Navigate function. When a user selects that button, the screen that you specify in the formula appears.

You can create variables for data types such as integer, float, boolean, string, array, and object. After you create a variable, you can perform other tasks, for example: Get or reference the variable's value. Increase or decrease the variable by a constant value, also known as increment and decrement.

You can convert the integers to floats in an expression. With the add and div functions you can calculate the result. With formatnumber you can turn it into a percent format (P).

How do I automate in Excel without VBA?

The fundamental difference is that VBA macros are developed for desktop solutions and Office Scripts are designed for secure, cloud-based solutions. Currently, Office Scripts are only supported in Excel on the web.

Macros are now disabled by default in Excel in build 16.0. 14427.10000 and later. Admins can still configure the setting in Microsoft 365 applications policy control.