There has been a lot of confusion about global and local variables lately so I thought I would create some visuals to help everyone understand.

When one starts Macro Express think of the variable space as one blank whiteboard with no boundaries and no variables defined. When we create macros and define variables we need fences and corrals to keep them penned in so I will create representative circles.

Before we go too far let me create some rules.

1. Each macro is given it's own space when it starts. This is absolute and no other macros can access this space.
2. Each macro that is called by parent uses the same global space but has it's own local space.
3. All macros use their own local variable before the global. IE they will only use the global value when the local does not exist.
4. All variables created by a macro cease to exist when the macro is done.

So here is what I envision when I launch a macro with some sample variables. Call it A.

Now if I launch anther macro B that is not run from A it might look like this:

But since they all have their own space we can ignore that in the paradigm.

Now let's use Macro Run to launch macro B from A.

Now things get interesting. Now you can see that the global space is shared. In this case the %Counter% in A can be 1 and the counter in B can b 2. But if you use %File Name% in either they share the same var.

Here we have a case where %SSN% is defined as a local in B so when it's called by A an SSN like 123-45-6789 will be stored to the local value. In fact there is no way to store it to the global. And if one uses %SSN% in B it will look to the local B value first.

Now with all this don't forget that one is not required to define a variable like %File Name% in B. You might get a warning box while creating B that it is not defined but that's OK, go ahead and dismiss the warning. However I think it's a good practice to define it as a global as well if for no other reason to keep track of your vars.

Now I have to give props to Joe Weinpert here. We had a debate the other night about whether or not they are truly global vars and I have to admit I was wrong, they're not. But up to this point for all practical purposes they are. So how are they not? Take a look at the 'global' checkbox label:

This is actually the most accurate description of how it works. An example of how these are not truly global is this... Create 3 macros, Parent, Sub1 and Sub2. Define variable %Test% in Sub1 and create one like to set %Test% to "Something" then perform a basic pause. Now in Sub2 insert a pause and create a text box that displays %Test%. In Parent run Sub1 but choose not to wait for the the called macro to terminate before proceeding. When you run A it sets the var %Test% but as it awaits closure Sub2 runs and displays %Test%. In this example it will not correctly show "Something" meaning it is not truly a global var but rather doing exactly as the check box label suggests.