I need to reinstall Microsoft Office. Will the macros I created stay intact? One macro is attached to a spreadsheet which is saved on a network drive. I created a macro button on the Excel menu bar; Will I have to redo that? The other macro was created in Outlook and is saved in the default Application Data folder. Is this macro safe? I also have a database created in Access on a network drive. The database is in 2002-2003 format so you can create an MDE file. Will reinstalling Office have any effect on this? The version of Office I am using is Office 2003. Reason for reinstall is corrupted version of database which won't allow creation of am MDE file. The workaround published by Microsoft doesn't work either, even though I did use it before with no problems. Thanks to all who reply.

Be safe and back-up the macros.

The easiest way is to just copy the code into a text file and paste it back into a VBA module later.

All modifications to Excel toolbars, including custom buttons, are automatically saved in a .xlb file. Rename and copy that file to another location in case the re-install overwrites it, then just put it back wherever it is on your system now.

I can't speak to the Access database other than to say I doubt a re-install will impact any files on a network drive. Once again, create a backup in another location just in case.

You should be backing up your macros, personal.xls file, .xlb file and databases on a regular basis anyway. You rarely get a warning before things go terribly bad.

DerbyDad03,
Thanks for your response. Where is the .xlb file stored? Where are Excel macros stored? A little while ago I sent myself an email with the macros as attachments but renamed each one to a .txt file. Can I use the files I sent to myself as backups? Of course I'd have to rename them back to their original extensions.

The macros could be stored in a number of places, either in your personal.xls file which would be in your XLSTART folder, or in each individual file that uses them.

Use the XP Search wizard to see if you can find a personal.xls file in a path something like this:

C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART

If you have a personal.xls file, rename it and move it to another (safe) location so you can put it back later. If a personal.xls file exists in the XLSTART folder, then the macros in that workbook (which is usually hidden) are available to every workbook whenever Excel is open.

You could try going to Window…Unhide in Excel and see if you see a hidden personal.xls listed there.

If you don’t have a personal.xls file in your XLSTART folder, then the macros are probably stored in the VBA modules of the specific workbooks you use them in. I doubt a reinstall would impact those files, but I’d back them all up just to be safe.

The .xlb file should be in folder one level above the XLSTART folder, but I can't say for sure. Use the XP Search wizard to look for it. Search for *.xlb since the first part of the filename will be dependent on the version of Excel you are running.

Keep in mind that there are a vast number of different configurations of XP machines, so it’s hard to say definitively where everything is. On my corporate-imaged machine there are actually *two* XLSTART folders, and Excel looks at both of them when starting up, but will only use the personal.xls from one of them. Very strange.