Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Grabbing a User's Name from Excel.
Mark has a worksheet where he wants to record the name of a user, but rather than asking the user to fill in a form, he wants to automatically grab their username from Excel.
The username that a person sets in Excel when first installing the software or when changing the general options for the program cannot be accessed via formula. Instead, you need to use a macro to access the information and then make it available to your worksheet. This is possible through the use of a user-defined function. Consider the following simple example:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: 
Function GetUserName()
GetUserName = Application.UserName
End Function
Note that the macro does nothing more than to access the UserName property of the Application object. You use this function in your worksheet in the following manner:
=GetUserName()
With this simple formula in a cell, the username is displayed in the cell.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3289) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Grabbing a User's Name from Excel.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Want to move around in dialog boxes using just the keyboard? You'll love the ideas in this tip, then.
Discover MoreIf you get errors about unfindable files when you first start Excel, it can be frustrating. Here's how to track down and ...
Discover MoreYou can freeze information in rows or columns using one of the built-in features of Excel. As you move up or down in the ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-09-17 03:49:33
Rahul Takalikar
Formula in Cell H1 "=INFO("DIRECTORY")"
Formula in Cell H2 "=LEFT(RIGHT(H1,LEN(H1)-9),LEN(RIGHT(H1,LEN(H1)-9))-11)"
This should work
2019-07-29 09:35:56
Lisa
Very helpful, I find myself referring to your site quite a bit as I am learning more and more about programming in Excel. The above command to grab the username works nicely, is there a way to incorporate this with an IF statement? Say a user has typed an X in cell D23, I would like to display that user's username in cell C23. if there is no X I don't want their username...
2017-10-19 07:46:22
mahdiar
hi.how i get users group name from excel vba?
2017-03-21 14:54:13
Kathleen
I receive the same error as Nomka - "It did not work for me showing error #Name?"
2016-09-30 10:19:54
Raj
it's helpful..thanks.
2016-04-12 18:08:18
Brenda
it works but when I give the workbook to a co-worker, their name - sometimes appears.?? Sometimes it still displays my name.
2015-11-03 09:25:22
awyatt
Nomka: You would get that error in the workbook if you didn't create the macro (GetUserName) in a regular module in that workbook.
-Allen
2015-11-03 05:31:44
Nomka
It did not work for me showing error #Name?
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments