Macros and DTP: Useful Tool or Lazy Way Out?

Many desktop publishers take pride in offering to their clients a higher quality of work than average. After all, anyone can change the colors on the template they downloaded from the web. It takes a professional to create a custom document from scratch. No, not just a document, the visual expression of a brand. The representation of a companies image to everyone who encounter it. What you make is so much more than a simple document. Taking that into account is easy to see why so many desktop publishers are leery about using Macros. The thing is that when a Macro is not overly used, can be a useful tool. Here are some basic guidelines to determine when to use Macros in your desktop publishing project.

• When you have a boring and repetitive task that can be done more easily by a machine. Maybe you need slight customizations on a wedding invitations envelopes or a flyer for events in multiple cities. If it’s a fill in the blank task let a Macro do it.
• Don’t let a Macro control placement of an item in the document. You always want to retain control of placement of your elements. Sure, if you do a serial newsletter with an image in the center you may be tempted to let a Macro update the image. That could be a big problem if you want to resize to change to a different orientation image or resize for quality reasons.
• Do not use a Macro for a task that you can use a built in feature to handle. A good example is the mail merge function. Sure, you could do it with a Macro, but there is a built in that can do it with less fuss.
• When the Macro is unknown. This is not an issue of function, but one of safety. An unknown Macro can be a virus which can potentially damage your computer. Replacing a system is much more expensive then the time you will spend on the task at hand.

Now that you have some basic guidelines you can use your best personal and professional judgment to decide when to use a Macro and when to do the task yourself. Best of luck.