Buttons Don't Stay Put

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 25, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013


Gary uses a lot of buttons to trigger macros in his workbooks, and for some reason they move all over the place and resize themselves. He wonders why this happens and how he can stop it. He wants the buttons to stay the size he chooses, in the place he specifies.

Believe it or not, Excel allows those buttons to move and resize by default. If you don't want them to behave in that way, then you need to take steps to nail them down. If your buttons are actually form control buttons or ActiveX command buttons, then you simply need to right-click on the button and choose Format Control from the resulting Context menu. Excel displays the Format Control dialog box, on which you should select the Properties tab. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Properties tab of the Format Control dialog box.

Just click the radio button that reflects the behavior you want for the control—in most cases you'll click Don't More or Size with Cells.

If the buttons you are using are actually shapes, clip art, or a text box that you've assigned macros to, you can follow the same general steps. Right-click the object and choose Format Shape (or, if it is available, Size and Properties) from the Context menu. Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 display the Format Shape dialog box, while Excel 2013 displays the Format Shape task pane.

  • If you see the Format Shape dialog box, make sure the Properties tab is displayed.
  • If you see the Format Shape task pane, click on Shape Options | Size & Properties and expand the Properties section.

Set the movement and resizing radio buttons to, again, reflect the behavior you want for your object.

Note:

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ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7009) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013.

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. ...

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