Want to create or add your own custom Visual Basic scripts in Excel? The first step is to know how to open VBA Editor in Excel. Here’s how.
When it comes to ease of use and overall features, there is no other spreadsheet application that comes even close to Excel. No matter what you want to do, there is a high degree of chance that there is an option for it, provided you can dig into Excel’s deep-buried menus. When you cannot find the option or for advanced configuration or calculations, you can simply create your own custom scripts using the Visual Basic language.
To create or add custom scripts in Excel, you have to use the built-in Visual Basic Editor. Since scripting is considered an advanced feature, the VBA Editor is hidden by default. That is unless you know the exact keyboard shortcut or enabled the Developer tab in Excel, it is very hard to find and open the VBA Editor in Excel.
In this quick guide, let me show how to open the VBA Editor in Excel using a keyboard shortcut or from the Developer tab.
Open VBA Editor in Excel
You can open the visual basic editor in Excel in two ways. One using a keyboard shortcut and the other from the hidden Developer tab. Use the one you like.
Keyboard shortcut to open VBA Editor
The shortcut key to open the VBA Editor in Excel is “Alt + F11.”
That is, hold down the “Alt” on your keyboard and press the “F11” key. As soon as you press the keyboard shortcut, the Visual Basic Editor will be opened in Excel. From there, you can add or create new modules (Insert -> Module) for your scripts.
While pressing the shortcut, make sure the target Excel worksheet for which you want to add the VBA script is opened.
Open VBA Editor from the Developer tab
You can open the VBA Editor by clicking on the Visual Basic option under the Developer tab. The problem is, the Developer tab is hidden by default. You have to first enable the Developer menu to open VBA Editor from there. Here’s how.
1. First, open the Excel worksheet. You can do that by double-clicking on the Excel file.
2. In the Excel window, click on the “File” option and then click on the “Options” option on the sidebar. This action will open the Excel settings window.
3. In the options window, select the “Customize Ribbon” tab on the sidebar.
4. Now, select the “Developer” checkbox under the “Main Tabs” section. After selecting the checkbox, click on the “Ok” button to save changes.
5. In the main window, you will see a new tab called “Developer” on the Ribbon. Click on that and then click on the “Visual Basic” option.
6. As soon as you click the option, the VBA Editor will be opened in Excel.
That is it. It is that simple to open VBA Editor in Excel.
I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.
If you like this article, check out how to open multiple links at once in Excel using a simple VB script.
