Find and access elusive add-ins in Excel 2007

by Kara Soos

Application:

Microsoft Excel 2007

Operating System:

Microsoft Windows

 

When you want to easily package your favorite macros and send them to a colleague or client, an add-in is the way to go. Once installed, the add-in provides all of the macros you included in your add-in on the new system. Excel has several add-ins that come with the application, but the ability to create your own can help you share specialized macros with others — and they don’t need to know how it works.

Unfortunately, Excel 2007 isn’t exactly add-in friendly. Keep reading if you’re frustrated with an add-in that worked like a charm in previous Excel versions, but now seems impossible to locate.

 

Install add-ins through the new Office button

Excel 2007 has a completely new interface so you may not know where to find the familiar Add-in Manager. The good news is that it’s there — it’s just hidden within the new Office button.

 

To install an add-in:

1.          Click the Office button and then click the Excel Options button.

Click Add-ins in the left panel. Excel displays a list of your active and inactive add-ins, as shown in Figure A.

A:

You can control your add-ins through the Excel Options window.

 

1.          Choose Excel Add-ins from the Manage dropdown list and click the Go button. Excel opens the familiar Add-ins dialog box from earlier versions, as shown in Figure B. In our example, the Lookup Wizard is the only installed add-in.

          2. Click the Browse button to open the Browse dialog box.

          3. Navigate to the add-in you want to install, select it, and then click OK. The add-in displays    in  the Add-ins dialog box with its corresponding check box selected, as shown in Figure C.

         4.  Click OK to return to your spreadsheet.

Join Now Close