How to retrieve old macro?

[Clueless in Seattle]

Years ago (nearly a decade ago I think) I set up a macro in Word 97
that would open up a set of task management lists in a single Word
window. Each list was in a separate file.

I used the macro recording option, and just set it to record while I
manually opened and re-sized each file so they all would fit nicely in
the same window.

This setup worked great as a poor-man's task manager and I used it all
day long every day.

Then, a few years later I took the bus over to Microsoft headquarters
for a usability study and got a copy of Office 2003 for my trouble.
But when I tried to import my task management macro from Word 97 into
Word 2003, I couldn't figure out how to do it. (I've since gone back
over to MS headquarters for another usability study and picked up a
copy of Office 2007, but haven't even opened the box because I fear my
old hand-me-down computer doesn't have the power to run it).

Also, over the last ten years I've become increasingly disabled from
the symptoms of poorly understood chronic illnesses, so it's become
more and more difficult for me to keep up with the most basic tasks of
daily living, much less trying to figure out how to get my homemade
task manager up and running again.

At this point, I think the simplest approach would be to just recreate
the little task manager macro from scratch in Word 2003, rather than
trying to import the old macro. But, before I do that, I'd like to
know how and where the macro will be saved, so I can back-up a copy of
it on an external hard drive and maybe avoid this predicament when I
finally end up upgrading to Word 2007.

However, just out of curiosity, I'd like to know where to look for my
old macro on the HD of my old computer with Word 97 on it (Yes! I
still have that old clunker in the back bedroom collecting dust!) . I
used to religiously back-up my computer every evening onto a tape
drive, so, if I can get that old tape drive working again, I might be
able to actually dig out that old macro after all.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

The macro would have been created in the Normal.dot template in Word 97

If you can start that machine and use Alt+F11 to access the Visual Basic
editor, under the Normal item in the Project Explorer window of the Visual
Basic Editor, in the Modules folder, you should see a NewMacros module.
Double Click on it to open it to confirm that it contains your code and if
so, Right Click on it and select Export File. The Export File dialog will
open with the suggested file name of NewMacros.bas and probably wanting to
save it in the System32 folder. You can use the dropdown in the Save in
control at the top of the dialog to change the located (make it an easier
one to find) where the file will be saved at at this point, you may as well
change the name of the module to something that has more meaning than
NewMacros - say Favorites.bas

After saving that file, you can then copy it to some removable media to
transfer it to your new machine and on that machine, in the Visual Basic
Editor, with the Normal item selected in the Project Explorer window, select
Import File from the File menu of the Visual Basic Editor and then navigate
to and select the .bas file that you transferred to that machine.

Your macro should then be available on that machine.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com