Can a macro run in the background?

I have absolutely no programming experience, and would like some help! I made a macro and the macro itself works great, but I have two questions:

1.) The macro takes a while to run, during that time my computer seems to not let me use other programs (I can but the program constantly "deselects" itself so it is difficult) Is there any way to prevent the macros from doing this, so that I can do other things while the macro is running?

2.) I have the macro set to change cell A4 to a particular value, then right after that to change cell B4 to equal A4+1. However, every other time that it changes A4, the value of B4 changes to a decimal (ex. 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, etc). A4 is always an integer, so B4 should always be an integer also. I think that this may be because it changes B4 while A4 is still changing so it takes the midpoint of the two A4 values, but I am not sure. Any ideas?

Hi

You will not be able to run other excel macros or work on other excel sheets when an excel macro is running, but you ought to be able to run other programs.

Macros perform their instructions in the order you write them, so if you codes sets A4 to “5” and then B4 to “=A4 + 1” it should always return 6. I guess there is something else in the macro producing your unexpected result. Perhaps you could post your code and we’ll take a look?

Thanks for the fast reply! I actually figured out what it was in the code that was returning the decimals, so that is fixed. But as for other programs, I can run them, but my computer constantly "de-selects" them and reselects Excel. In other words, if I was running the macro while I was typing in this box, my internet explorer would constantly unselect and I would have to keep clicking in this box continuously to be able to keep typing. Hope that makes sense!

1.) You're macro could probably be made to run in under a second. Post your macro code. Or better yet, your workbook.
2.) Excel doesn't work like that.

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

1.) You're macro could probably be made to run in under a second. Post your macro code. Or better yet, your workbook.
2.) Excel doesn't work like that.

It runs about 40 simulations from an add-in program and those take a really long time.

Within your macro code, eliminate any commands with .Select or .Activate as those take up a lot of resources and are generally not needed. Also, try to incorporate the DoEvents function to surrender execution of the macro during loops.