Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Inserting the User's Name in a Cell.

Inserting the User's Name in a Cell

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 31, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

Sunlim noted that when Office is installed, the user specifies their name. This name can be accessed in some Office programs, such as in Word. Sunlim wonders how he can access the user's name in Excel and place that name in a cell.

The way to do this is to implement a short, one-line macro that accesses the UserName property of the Application object. This technique is detailed in a different issue of ExcelTips:

https://excelribbon.tips.net/T009814

That approach is great at determining the user name associated with the current installation of Excel. However, that may not be the same thing as who is using the current workbook. For instance, if the workbook is shared, it is possible that multiple people could be using it at the same time. In that case, you need a way to determine those names, as shown here:

Function UserNames() As String
    Dim Users As Variant
    Dim sMsg As String
    Dim iIndex As Integer

    Users = ActiveWorkbook.UserStatus

    For iIndex = 1 To UBound(Users, 1)
        sMsg = Users(iIndex, 1) & vbLf
    Next iIndex
    'remove final line feed
    sMsg = Left(sMsg, Len(sMsg) - 1)

    UserNames = sMsg
End Function

To use the function, just enter the following formula in the cell where you want the names to appear:

=UserNames()

If you instead want to know who is using the computer currently, it is best to look beyond Office and instead grab the name from Windows itself. In that way you can determine who is logged in to Windows and use that as the user name. This takes an API function call declaration, but is otherwise relatively easy:

Private Declare Function GetUserName Lib "advapi32.dll" _
  Alias "GetUserNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize _
  As Long) As Long

Function UserName2() As String
    Dim strBuff As String * 100
    Dim lngBuffLen As Long

    lngBuffLen = 100
    GetUserName strBuff, lngBuffLen
    UserName2 = Left(strBuff, lngBuffLen - 1)
End Function

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12745) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Inserting the User's Name in a Cell.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Formatting Labels

Need your labels to look a certain way? You can save time by formatting them before Word actually creates the sheet of ...

Discover More

Protecting Conditional Formatting

When you apply conditional formatting to the cells in your worksheet, those rules can seem a bit fragile at times. For ...

Discover More

Extracting a State and a ZIP Code

Excel is often used to process or edit data in some way. For example, you may have a bunch of addresses from which you ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Dividing the Screen Unevenly between Two Workbooks

When working with multiple workbooks, you'll typically want to resize the workbook windows so you can see the data from ...

Discover More

Measuring Efficiency of Formulas and Macros

As the limits on what you can store in Excel have increased, so has the need to consider how to make your workbooks and ...

Discover More

Controlling Automatic Backups

Excel can make backups whenever you save your workbook. If you want to turn the feature on or off, this tip explains how ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is four less than 4?

2025-05-31 15:22:03

J. Woolley

My Excel Toolbox includes the following dynamic array function:
    =ListUserStatus([SkipHeader])
Login name, last activity (date/time), and type (exclusive/shared) are listed in 3 columns for each user that has the active workbook open. If SkipHeader is FALSE (default), the first row will be a header (User, Last Activity, Type).
This formula will list the login name of the Nth user who currently has the formula cell's workbook open:
    =INDEX(ListUserStatus(TRUE), N, 1)
Make N equal to 1 for the first (or only) user.
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.