Skip to Main Content
Microsoft Excel 365 Bible
book

Microsoft Excel 365 Bible

by Michael Alexander, Dick Kusleika
March 2022
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
1072 pages
28h 16m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Microsoft Excel 365 Bible

CHAPTER 45Creating Custom Excel Add-Ins

For developers, one of the most useful features in Excel is the capability to create add-ins. This chapter discusses this concept and provides a practical example of creating an add-in.

Understanding Add-Ins

An add-in provides software with additional functionality. Excel includes several add-ins, including the Analysis ToolPak and Solver. Ideally, the new features blend in well with the original interface so that they appear to be part of the program.

Excel's approach to add-ins is quite powerful: any knowledgeable Excel user can create add-ins from workbooks. The type of add-in covered in this chapter is basically a different form of a workbook file. Any Excel workbook can be converted into an add-in, but not every workbook is a good candidate for an add-in.

What distinguishes an add-in from a normal workbook? Add-ins, by default, have an .xlam extension. In addition, add-ins are always hidden, so you can't display worksheets or chart sheets that are contained in an add-in. However, you can access its VBA procedures and display dialog boxes that are contained on UserForms.

The following are some typical uses for Excel add-ins:

  • Store one or more custom worksheet functions  When the add-in is loaded, you can use the functions as you would any built-in worksheet function.
  • Store Excel utilities  VBA is ideal for creating general-purpose utilities that extend ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Excel 2019 Bible

Excel 2019 Bible

Michael Alexander, Richard Kusleika, John Walkenbach

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781119835103Purchase Link