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: Inserting the User's Name in a Cell.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 4, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Sunlim noted that when Office is installed, the user specifies their name. This name can be accessed in some Office programs, such as in Word. Sunlim wonders how he can access the user's name in Excel and place that name in a cell.
The way to do this is to implement a short, one-line macro that accesses the UserName property of the Application object. This technique is detailed in a different issue of ExcelTips:
http://excel.tips.net/T003289
That approach is great at determining the user name associated with the current installation of Excel. However, that may not be the same thing as who is using the current workbook. For instance, if the workbook is shared, it is possible that multiple people could be using it at the same time. In that case, you need a way to determine those names, as shown here:
Function UserNames() As String Dim Users As Variant Dim sMsg As String Dim iIndex As Integer Users = ActiveWorkbook.UserStatus For iIndex = 1 To UBound(Users, 1) sMsg = Users(iIndex, 1) & vbLf Next iIndex 'remove final line feed sMsg = Left(sMsg, Len(sMsg) - 1) UserNames = sMsg End Function
To use the function, just enter the following formula in the cell where you want the names to appear:
=UserNames
If you instead want to know who is using the computer currently, it is best to look beyond Office and instead grab the name from Windows itself. In that way you can determine who is logged in to Windows and use that as the user name. This takes an API function call declaration, but is otherwise relatively easy:
Private Declare Function GetUserName Lib "advapi32.dll" _ Alias "GetUserNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize _ As Long) As Long Function UserName2() As String Dim strBuff As String * 100 Dim lngBuffLen As Long lngBuffLen = 100 GetUserName strBuff, lngBuffLen UserName2 = Left(strBuff, lngBuffLen - 1) End Function
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7251) 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: Inserting the User's Name in a Cell.
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!
There are lots of error messages that can pop up in Excel from time to time. One of the most confusing may be the ...
Discover MoreIf you find yourself working with a number of different workbooks at the same time, you may want to arrange your desktop ...
Discover MoreDo you want Excel to use a task button, on the Windows Taskbar, for each of your open worksheets? Then just make this ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
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 © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments