Transferring an Older Personal.xls to Excel 2007

Summary: As you update your computer equipment, it is not unusual to also upgrade to a newer version of your software. With Excel, this may mean updating some of your older customizations to work with the newer system. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

Billy's boss is getting a new PC, and he is responsible to get the system set up for her. Her old PC has Excel 2000, but the new system will have Excel 2007. He needs to get her old Personal.xls to the new PC, as it has all her macros in it. Billy wonders if he can just copy and paste Personal.xls from the old system to the new one.

The short answer is "probably not." Excel 2007 uses a new file format based on XML. It is best to have your Personal.xls file in the new format. That doesn't mean that you can't get the old information to the new system, however. The way you do that is to follow these general steps:

Copy the old Personal.xls file to the new system.
Rename it something else, such as OldPersonal.xls.
On the new system, start Excel and open the Excel 2007 Personal.xls file.
Open the OldPersonal.xls file.
Copy the macros from the old file to the new one.
Save the new Personal.xls file.

That should be it—your macros will be on the new system.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3262) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Transferring an Older Personal.xls to Excel 2007