Run an Excel Macro With a Worksheet Button

In my workbooks, I sometimes add buttons to run macros. Usually, they’re for navigation to the next or previous sheet, or to run a macro that’s specific to the contents of the worksheet.

In this example, I’ve got two macros in the workbook – one that takes you to the next sheet in the workbook, and one that takes you to the previous sheet.

So, if you’re on the second sheet, you can click the Next button to go to the third sheet. Or, click the Back button to go to the first sheet.

Update: I’ve added a video, about halfway down the page, to show the steps.

Add a Button

  • On the Ribbon, click the Developer tab
    • Note: If the Developer tab isn’t visible, click the Office Button, then click Excel Options. Click the Popular category, then add a check mark to Show Developer tab in the Ribbon.
  • In the Controls group, click Insert, to see the controls from the Form toolbar and the Control Toolbox.
  • In the Form Controls section, click Button.

FormButton01

  • Click on the worksheet to add a button, or drag on the worksheet to add a button of a specific size.
  • In the Assign Macro dialog box that opens automatically, click on the name of a macro to select it, then click OK
Assign Macro to Form Control button
Assign Macro to Form Control button

Format the Button

While the button is still selected, you can change its caption and add some formatting.

  • To change the button’s caption, select the existing text, and type a caption to replace it. The border around the button will have diagonal lines when you’re editing the text

ButtonBack01

  • Click on the border of the button, to select it. The outline should change to a dotted pattern, as you can see in the next screenshot.

ButtonBack02

  • On the Ribbon’s Home tab, use the font formatting buttons, such as Bold and Font Size, to change the appearance of the button.

Use the Buttons

After you’ve added the Back button, repeat the steps to create a Next button. Then, copy the two buttons to any worksheets or chart sheets in the workbook.

To move through the sheets, click either the Back or Next button on any sheet.

ButtonBack03

Video: Add Worksheet Navigation Buttons

This video shows how to add the buttons, and align them. Then it shows how to copy the buttons to other worksheets.

NOTE: This video does NOT show the steps for writing the Excel macros. Those are in the sample file that you can download.

The Navigation Code

Here’s the code that I used to make the buttons select the next or previous sheet.

Sub GoSheetNext()
Dim wb As Workbook
Dim lSheet As Long
Set wb = ActiveWorkbook
lSheet = ActiveSheet.Index
With wb
  If lSheet = .Sheets.Count Then
    .Sheets(1).Select
  Else
    .Sheets(lSheet + 1).Select
  End If
End With
End Sub
'=================================
Sub GoSheetBack()
Dim wb As Workbook
Dim lSheet As Long
Set wb = ActiveWorkbook
lSheet = ActiveSheet.Index
With wb
  If lSheet = 1 Then
    .Sheets(.Sheets.Count).Select
  Else
    .Sheets(lSheet - 1).Select
  End If
End With
End Sub

Get the Sample File

To get an Excel sample file with buttons to navigate to the previous or next worksheet, go to the Worksheet Macro Buttons page on my Contextures site. The zipped Excel file is in xlsm format, and contains macros.

Update: There is a newer version of the code on this Add Navigation Buttons blog post.

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16 thoughts on “Run an Excel Macro With a Worksheet Button”

  1. Or you could use hyperlinks instead of macros. Advantage is that they keep the workbook macro free (assuming this would be your only macro), and don’t wipe out undo functionality. I’ve been using them a lot recently for navigation round the mother of all spreadsheets, and put the forward and back navigation buttons on my quick access toolbar in Excel, which helps too.

  2. On second thoughts, hyperlinks would be a pain for next/prev sheet navigation, because you’d need to set up 2 for each sheet, and if the sheet orders were changed the hyperlinks wouldn’t adjust accordingly, so you wouldn’t be going to the next sheet.

  3. Ron, yes, and thanks for the comment about the 1094 date system. I added a note to the article.

    Thanks Jeffrey, a menu sheet, with hyperlinks, can be useful at the front of a large workbook. This article was showing how to attach a macro to a button, so I tried to pick a simple task to demo that.

  4. Debra – A little behind on my blog reading, but just did the macro button one. That means I followed your steps and actually created a workbook with the macros assigned to a button. Thank you! I always wondered how to do that, but never had a driving need.

  5. I have made a user form with a next button.How do i modify the next code for cells (next record)instead of using the sheet as in your code

  6. I’m desperate for some help on this. I’ve be using buttons on certain sheets to run my code. It’s been working for a number of years without any problems. Suddenly I can’t “activate” the button – it will not “fire”. I delete the button and tried to replace it. I get a message “Cannot insert object” with “OK” the only option.
    Any assistance will be much appreciated.

    1. The problem is probably caused by a security update that Microsoft released in December – it caused problems with the ActiveX controls for many people.
      Microsoft has now provided a “Fixit” button that will remove the .exd files that are causing the problems, and it is available on this page:
      http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3025036/EN-US
      You could try that, or perhaps one of your IT people could run it.

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