Backing Up Your Customized Toolbars

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 2, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


4

Excel, like all Office Applications, is highly customizable. This means that you can change menus, toolbars, and other user interface options quite easily. (In fact, you can make Excel look completely different if you want to.)

As you make changes to your toolbars, Excel keeps track of the changes in a file called Excel.xlb. (The name of the file can vary depending on your version of Excel, but will always end in the .xlb filename extension. For instance, in Excel 2002 the file is called Excel10.xlb and in Excel 2003 it is Excel11.xlb.) The contents of the file are updated whenever you quit your Excel session.

It is interesting to note that this particular filename extension (.xlb) is only used by Excel for this one file. This means it is very easy to locate the file (use the Find File feature of Windows) and then copy the file to a safe location.

If, at some later time, your toolbars become corrupted in Excel, you can quit the program and copy the backup version of your.xlb file over the top of the corrupted file. This should then restore everything to the proper state when you again start Excel.

As a side note, you can copy toolbar configuration from one Excel installation to another by simply copying the Excel.xlb file from one system to another. The only thing you should do is make sure that both installations of Excel are of the same version. Thus, you would not want to copy an Excel.xlb file from Excel 2002 and use it in an Excel 97 installation.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2557) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Spell Checking Your Document

One of the final touches that many people perform is to check the spelling of their document. This can help improve the ...

Discover More

Changing Shading when a Column Value Changes

If you have a data table in a worksheet, and you want to shade various rows based on whatever is in the first column, ...

Discover More

Renaming a Macro

Got a macro that doesn't have quite the right name? You can rename the macro by following these simple steps.

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel 2013 Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Getting Audible Feedback

Want to get a little bit of sound with your data? Excel can provide audible feedback that you may find helpful. Here's how.

Discover More

Determining Your Serial Number

The serial number assigned to your copy of Excel is valuable. It allows you to get support and is necessary for some ...

Discover More

Inserting Cells

When developing worksheets, you often need to make room in your existing information for new information. One of the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 7?

2018-08-29 13:53:43

Jim Boyer

Great! I have some toolbars and macros to use on other computers. I've copied the Personal.xls and Excel11.xlb to the appdata folder as needed. Upon opening Excel, the personal.xls was there with it's macros, but the toolbars still would not appear - it was as if Excel didn't see the file.

What I found worked was to create a custom toolbar, add one command, then close Excel. That created the xlb file - and "linked" it to Excel to run when opened. Then I replaced that file with the good file. When I reopened Excel, my toolbars finally were visible.

However, they could not find the macros assigned to them because Excel was looking for them at the path of the original Personal.xls. I had to re-assign the appropriate macro to each button.


2018-08-29 12:09:11

Jim Boyer

Great! I have some toolbars and macros to use on other computers. I've copied the Personal.xls and Excel11.xlb to the appdata folder as needed. Upon opening Excel, the personal.xls was there with it's macros, but the toolbars still would not appear - it was as if Excel didn't see the file.

What I found worked was to create a custom toolbar, add one command, then close Excel. That created the xlb file - and "linked" it to Excel to run when opened. Then I replaced that file with the good file. When I reopened Excel, my toolbars finally were visible.


2018-02-20 20:44:46

rob

And see this related tip for backing up/restoring customised quick access toolbars
https://excelribbon.tips.net/T005824_Backing_Up_Quick_Access_Toolbars.html


2016-04-16 09:16:05

Bert

And where is that xlb file located...?


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.