My Personal Macro Workbook Disappeared! How To Get It Back
Where Did It Go!?
Man-oh-man did this freak me out the first time this happened!
One day, I opened up Excel and noticed some of my favorite macros weren’t running when I used my keyboard shortcuts. What the heck was going on?
I then proceeded to take the next logical step and investigate my VBA code. But there was a glaring problem, my Personal.xlsb file was NOT in the VBA Editor! I started to freak out (but of course I was in the office, so it was an internal freak out). Did all my favorite macros really just get deleted? I didn’t back them up anywhere and some of them took weeks to figure out! I was screwed!
Well, I’m here to tell you there is a good chance they were not deleted as I later found out my macros ended up getting disabled during an Excel crash. The next section in this post will share the steps I took to get the Personal.xlsb file up and running again.
Steps to Enable Your Personal Macro Workbook
- Navigate to your Excel Options (File tab >> Options)
- Click the Add-ins menu on the left-hand side of the dialog
- In the Manage drop-down, select Disabled Items (last choice)
- Select Personal Workbook and click Enable
- Restart your Excel Application
After 10+ years of creating macros and developing add-ins, I've compiled all the hacks I wish I had known years ago!
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Chris Newman
Chris is a finance professional and Excel MVP recognized by Microsoft since 2016. With his expertise, he founded TheSpreadsheetGuru blog to help fellow Excel users, where he shares his vast creative solutions & expertise. In addition, he has developed over 7 widely-used Excel Add-ins that have been embraced by individuals and companies worldwide.