I have a bunch of csv files that I create everyday and that I want to format nicely with colors and stuff.
So I wrote a macro that do all I want.
Now I'm looking for the most practical way to call that macro from Excel.
It looks like macros are stored in the spreadsheet and can't be "global" or "external".
So when I open a csv, I need to create a new macro, paste my vb code, and run it.
It would be great if I could add a button to Excel toolbar, or at least open a menu that will let me select the macro and run it.
It looks like one answer could be to create an excel add-in, but I'm not sure this is the right way to go.
Thanks a lot for your help
This will work with a so-called "Personal Macro Workbook". In Excel 2010, it will be called Personal.xlsb and reside somewhere in your users directory.
See http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/excel-help/copy-your-macros-to-a-personal-macro-workbook-HA102174076.aspx for details. This also applies with small variations to other versions of Excel.
Related
I've never been able to find the Personal.xlsb workbook. I've looked in the XLStart folder, it does not show in my VBA project explorer, and I don't know what to do. I went into my C:\Users...\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART
folder and just made a dummy xlsb. Can anyone think of any negative consequences to having this?
I honestly just need a spot to store all my macros for easy referencing, as I currently just put them in workbooks I need them to work, and then back them up in some text file somewhere in a pretty rudimentary list. Any advice on that would also be nice.
Best,
George
Yes, you can just create it. As far as I know there are no negative consequences for doing so, as long as you:
- call the file Personal.xlsb
- put it in the Excel Startup path (which you can find by executing ? Application.StartupPath from the Immediate pane in VBA editor) - usually this would be the path you mention
- hide the file (View tab, Hide command)
You can alternatively get Excel to automatically create the file in the right place with the right name etc by just recording a dummy macro using the macro recorder and choosing to Store macro in: "Personal Macro Workbook".
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Copy-your-macros-to-a-Personal-Macro-Workbook-aa439b90-f836-4381-97f0-6e4c3f5ee566
You can go to the tab 'View' in your ribbon. You click on 'unhide'.
There you should be able to unhide Personal.xlsb
If it's not there, it doesn't exist.
I'm using Excel 2010 and adding a small VBA macro to a spreadsheet. (The purpose of the macro is to take the data on the active sheet and export it to a CSV file, but that's tangential to the question.) The macro determines the output path for the file using ThisWorkbook.Path. I also added a custom button to the Quick Access Toolbar to activate the macro.
After getting a working algorithm in place in my experimental spreadsheet (Test.xlsm, stored in one path), I made a copy of the spreadsheet in another path and renamed it to _Database.xlsm. Then I opened _Database.xlsm and ran the macro. To my surprise, the file was written to the original path, not the new one. And looking down at the Windows toolbar, I saw that Excel had opened the original file over in its original path as well.
After a lot of jiggering around with code tweaks, checking properties and such I finally found that I could prevent this by opening the copied spreadsheet, removing the Quick Access Toolbar button, re-adding it, and then saving the file. My questions are:
Why isn't the macro "independently portable" along with the spreadsheet? I.e. why does the copy maintain this kind of tie to the original sheet?
Is there a way I can create or modify the macro to make it portable in that sense?
If you want a toolbar/button to travel with a file (ie. not always link back to the original version) then you need to add it to the file itself, not to the QAT. The QAT only "knows" about the actual file you linked the button to.
It might be better to add the macro to your Personal Macro Workbook and then just have it operate on the ActiveWorkbook.
However, if you want to distribute it to other users, you can keep the macro in the "database" workbook and add a custom ribbon part. See: http://www.rondebruin.nl/win/s2/win001.htm
I have a report that I run from a system once a week, and the data is exported into an excel document. I have set up the tool that exports the data to excel to do a decent job on formatting, but there is still more that I need to do once the data is in excel.
Is it possible to create a stand alone macro, save it in a Microsoft office folder and be able to call it after I open this file? I have written plenty of macros that are part of ONE given spreadsheet, but never tried one that was open to many spreadsheets.
IS it possible, and a starting direction of good resources of where I can learn how to achieve this goal? Thank you.
...and be able to call it after I open this file?...
You have 2 very good options
1) Write and save your macro to Personal file. See this link for more information
Topic: Deploy your Excel macros from a central file
Link: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/deploy-your-excel-macros-from-a-central-file-HA001087296.aspx
Quote from the above link:
Have you ever wanted to use that really handy macro in all of your Excel worksheets? You can. This column explains how to place your macros in a file called personal.xls and make them available each time you start Excel.
2) Create an Add-In
Topic: Creating an Excel Add-in
Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa140936%28v=office.10%29.aspx
Quote from the above link:
You create a Microsoft® Excel add-in by creating a workbook, adding code and custom toolbars and menu items to it, and saving it as an Excel add-in file.
I'm trying to get a simple VBA function to run in an excel (.xlsm) worksheet.
I created this function:
Function abc()
abc = 2
End Function
in Module2, and it worked.
But after I copied the spreadsheet to another system, it now just shows "#name" as if it can't find it. The function shows up on the available list of functions however.
This makes me think there is some kind of setting I need to enable, but I've enabled whatever I was prompted for. Any ideas?
I should've known it was in the trust center:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/change-macro-security-settings-in-excel-HP010096919.aspx
Basically, hit the ball and poke around until you find "trust" and "enable macros" and select the least secure options.
And then close and re-open the spreadsheet.
I think we may need more information. What version of Excel are you using? Is it different from the destination system version?
You'll want to make sure that Module2 was in the Workbook you copied into the other system. Excel 2007 stores macros on a personal workbook by default sometimes so you'll need to check the the code is actually inside of the .xlsm file.
If you're still stuck and need a quick fix just copy the code text into the new system's Excel workbook directly without making a .xlsm file (create new module in the other system then paste).
If you would like to learn how to put together add-ins you can get started here or here.
I have a reasonably complex macro that I need to run on multiple different excel sheets, this macro is updated periodically and whenever a change is made its necessary to change it in each individual excel sheet. is there a way to get each excel document to refer to the one macro?
for example if i had a hierarchy like this:
DOCUMENTS:
-xlsheet1.xls
-xlsheet3.xls
-xlsheet2.xls
MACROS:
-macro1.bas
where there was a button in each sheet that ran macro1 when clicked.
I would recommend either moving that macro to your personal file or create an Add-In
Working with Personal File
Topic: Create and save all your macros in a single workbook
Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-and-save-all-your-macros-in-a-single-workbook-66c97ab3-11c2-44db-b021-ae005a9bc790
Quote from the above link:
When you first create a macro in a workbook, it works only in that workbook. But what if you want to use the macro in other workbooks? To make your macros available every time you open Excel, you can create them in a workbook called Personal.xlsb. That’s a hidden workbook stored on your computer, which opens in the background every time you open Excel.
Creating an Add-In
Topic: Creating Excel Add-ins
Link: http://www.ozgrid.com/VBA/excel-add-in-create.htm
Quote from the above link:
I am often asked by users 'what is the best way to distribute their macros?' My answer, is without doubt via an Excel Add-in. After all, this is what Add-ins are for. For those that are not sure what an Excel add-in is, it's is nothing more than an Excel Workbook that has been saved as an Add-in, File>Save as \ Microsoft Excel Add-in (*.xla). Once saved and re-opened the Workbook will be hidden and can only be seen in the "Project Explorer" via the Visual Basic Editor. It is NOT hidden in the same way as the Personal.xls as this can be seen (and made visible) via Windows>Unhide.
The Personal file is good for having a macro across any number of workbooks on a single computer. In a networked environment with multiple users, you could simulate the Personal file by having a single workbook with your macros in it and coding all other workbooks to open and hide this workbook when they start up.