How to Automate Excel Tasks with Office Scripts (No VBA)

Step-by-step

Office Scripts let you record a set of actions once and replay them with one click. You don’t write any code: Excel writes it for you while you work. The example below fixes a print layout that doesn’t fit on the page.

1. Spot a task you repeat

Go to File > Print. In the example the sheet prints in portrait on A4 and spills across several pages. Making it landscape on wider paper is something you’d otherwise redo on every sheet.

2. Start recording

Before changing anything, go to the Automate tab, click New Script and choose Record Actions. A pane opens on the right and records everything you do from now on.

No Automate tab? Your Microsoft 365 plan may not include Office Scripts, or an administrator may have turned them off.

3. Do the steps once

Go to Page Layout > Orientation > Landscape, then Size > Legal (or whichever paper you need). Each action appears in the Record Actions pane as you go. Click Stop when you’re done.

4. Name the script

Click the script name and change it to something descriptive, such as Print wide. Add a short description too, for example Changes to landscape using legal-size paper. Press Enter to save each.

5. Run it on another sheet

Go to a sheet that still prints in portrait. Click Automate > All Scripts, pick Print wide and click Run. Check File > Print: the sheet is now landscape and fits on one page.

6. Look at the code (optional)

Click Edit on the script to see the TypeScript Excel wrote from your actions. You never need to touch it, but it’s a good way to learn if you’re curious.

Go further

My Excel Tips & Shortcuts: 100+ Powerful Hacks course collects a hundred time-saving techniques like this one.