Since 1993, Excel has included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language based on Visual Basic which adds the ability to automate tasks in Excel and to provide user defined functions for use in worksheets.

VBA is a powerful addition to the application which, in later versions, includes a fully featured integrated development environment (IDE), that allows the user to write, edit and debug macros.

VBA is an implementation of Microsoft's Visual Basic which is built into all Microsoft Office applications (including Apple Mac OS versions), some other Microsoft applications such as Microsoft MapPoint and Microsoft Visio; as well as being at least partially implemented in some other applications such as AutoCAD and WordPerfect.