Personal.XLSB Access Problems - Excel 2016/Office 365

[NamssoB]

It's complicated, but in summary, my corporate IT department has restricted my access to the XLSTART folder for my Personal.XLSB file using very restrictive group policies. I have all my macros backed up - but I can no longer access them from within Excel 2016. I also don't have the ability to add new Trusted Locations, so I am not aware of a method to create a new personal.xlsb file and just put it somewhere else.

Any ideas?

 

[RickXL]

Hi,

Sorry I can't try this out right now but you should be able to convert your Personal.xlsb into an Add In.

If you can still open the Personal then you should be able to save it as a .xlam file. Then, select the addin you have just created from one of the Add In menus. If you leave it selected it should always be there. It has the advantage that you can easily disable it as well - just de-select it.


Regards,

 

[NamssoB]

Excellent - this worked! It did take some effort to create the .XLAM file (you can't just rename it), but I eventually got it working. Here are the steps I used to create the file:

1) Open Personal.XLSB
2) (Tried Save As - wouldn't work). Created a NEW empty file (Book1.xls).
3) Copied all Modules and objects from Personal.XLSB to Book1.xls.
4) Used Save As to save Book1.xls as an AddIn (you must choose Add In, .xlsm, from the drop down menu so it formats it properly)
5) Looked for the file in my "Macros" folder where I told it to save - didn't find it. But discovered it saved it in my AddIns folder.

THANK YOU!

 

[RickXL]

Great news! I am pleased you got it working.

I am sorry I could not iron out the issues. I knew it would not be entirely straightforward but I am writing this from a hospital bed and do not have access to a full version of Excel to try anything out!

There are two ways to swap add-ins - either via the Developer menu or from the File menu.
You can have several add-ins and swap them as you like. Great for testing and keeping functionality separate.

You can place add-ins on a central file for others to access, too.


Regards,