Moving Macros from the Personal Workbook

It is not uncommon to place commonly used macros in the Personal.xls workbook. By placing them there, you are able to have the macros available all the time while you are using Excel. At some point, however, you may want to move the macros to a different workbook. For instance, you may want to place them in a workbook so they are easily accessible by anyone else opening the workbook.

To move macros from the Personal.xls workbook to a different workbook, follow these general steps:

1. Make sure the workbook that is the target of your macro transfer operation is loaded.
2. Unhide the Personal.xls file by choosing Unhide from the Window menu. (In Excel 2007, instead display the View tab of the ribbon and click Unhide within the Window group.)
3. Press Alt+F11 to display the VBA editor.
4. Using the Project window, display the macros that you want to move.
5. Select (highlight) and cut (Ctrl+X) the macros from their original location in Personal.xls.
6. Using the Project window, display the module in the workbook where you want the macros to be. (If there is not an existing module in the workbook, you may need to create one.)
7. Paste (Ctrl+V) the macros in the module.
8. Close the VBA editor.
9. Hide the Personal.xls file by choosing Hide from the Window menu or, in Excel 2007, displaying the View tab of the ribbon and clicking Hide within the Window group.
10. Close and save the workbooks.

It should be noted that when you move the location of the macros, the address by which they are called and invoked is also changed. Thus, if you have any menu items or toolbar buttons that were used to run the macros, these will need to be changed to point to the new location.