Basic Excel Macros: Part 3 Of 3, Personal.xlsb & Adding A Macro To Your Quick Access Toolbar

(This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on Basic Excel Macros. Part 1 is Creating & Saving Excel Macros. Part 2 is Editing & Deleting Excel Macros).

 

Personal.xlsb Items — Basic Excel Macros

At some point you may find that PERSONAL.XLSB for some reason isn’t opening automatically when Excel starts.  To solve this, first go to File and click on Options (or hit Alt+F+T), then select Add-Ins (or Alt-F-T-A), which opens the dialog box below.  Once in this dialog box, got to “Manage” on the bottom, select “Disabled Items” and click “Go.”  PERSONAL.XLSB is probably listed there – and if so, Enable it.

If you want to create a macro only for one specific workbook, you need to store it in “This Workbook” instead of “Personal Macro Workbook” (PERSONAL.XLSB) by selecting the appropriate item in the drop-down below:

 

Adding An Excel Macro To Your Quick Access Toolbar

Once you have your macro, you can also put it in your QAT using the same method you did to customize your QAT.  You right click on the Ribbon/QAT, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar, then (below) choose Macros.  From there, select your macro and move it to the QAT.

You can also modify the macro’s QAT icon after you add it to the QAT.  First, select the macro in the dialog box for customizing your QAT.  Click on Modify…, then click on the icon you want in the Modify Button dialog box.

That’s it for a basic introduction to macros.

Note: There are many outstanding sites devoted to or heavily focused on macros.  Just Google “Excel macros” or “VBA” or “Visual Basic.”  You can also check out the MrExcel forum or some of Chandoo’s free material.