Basics of How to create an Add-in which colleagues can install giving a custom ribbon?

Hi

Havent posted in ageees !

I would be really grateful if someone could give me either high-level or detail steps on achieving the following:

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I want to create a file (which I am thinking will be an add-in), that my colleagues can import into their Excel, and when they do, they get a custom ribbon which has the frequently used tools for our work, and also buttons to launch custom macros (or VBA scripts) like formatting the sheet with our logos.

We plan to alter the ribbon now and again with more useful buttons. We may also update the VBA scripts to automate more tasks. So I am thinking the add-in file will need to be editable somehow.
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So far:
I have the macros in my personal workbook so I don't need help with coding the VBA.

I installed Visual Studio and made a custom ribbon with one dummy icon (vsto type I think), which automatically loads into my Excel, but it is just a dummy button so it doesnt do anything and therefore I dont know:
a) how to create a custom ribbon in Visual Studio (if that is the correct application to use) with a button that actually does something (like bottom borders)
b) how to create a button in Visual Studio and link a VBA script to it
c) how to export the ribbon from Visual Studio so that I can install it on other people's computers.

I am only assuming Visual Studio is the software to use to get this job done - perhaps it isnt.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Thanks for the info and for doing that on the other site

Hi,
If you're using Visual Studio then it sounds like you're creating a COM addin which essentially a compiled program that integrates with Excel.

The more common type is an Excel addin created by saving an Excel file as .xlam

Developing an Excel addin essentially has three parts:
1) Creating the ribbon structure in XML
2) Adding the vba code in the xlam file to both do whatever it is you want to do and to handle the call backs from the ribbon. The ribbon can be static, but if you want any sort of dynamic interaction, you'll need to reference routines that the ribbon action calls to determine what has occurred and what action should then be taken.
An example of a call back would be setting a variable to determine if a checkbox was ticked or not.
3) Distribution


To get to the XML you'll need an editor. There's a suggestion on Ron de Bruins site but I still use Microsoft's OfficeCustomUIEditor. It's officially unsupported and doesn't work on Windows 11, but is easy to use as you just open the addin file from it.
example of it here https://bettersolutions.com/vba/ribb...r-download.htm

However the editor itself is poor so I usually copy it into something like Notepad++, edit there and then paste it back.

It's pretty easy for the ribbon object in your code to lose reference to the ribbon, but there's quite a good work around on Ron's site https://www.rondebruin.nl/win/s2/win015.htm

Distribution wise, it's simplest to have the addin file on the server and reference it there, as per the link given in the answer to your cross-post but there are problems if you want the ribbon (or bits of it) to function offline. The other option is to install it locally, but you'd have to create some versioning/installer process so that it can detect newer versions and update itself.