Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 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: Full Path Names in Excel.
When you open a workbook in Excel, the workbook name is displayed in the title bar. At times, it would be nice to display more than a simple workbook name in the title bar. Many people could profit by a way to display a full path name along with the workbook name in the title bar. Unfortunately, Excel does not provide a way to do this easily.
If you only need to know the full path name once in a while, then you can create a very simple macro and assign it to the QAT or a shortcut key. When you run the macro, the information in the title bar for the active window is changed to reflect the full path name. This macro, called ChangeCaption, is as follows:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 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: 
Sub ChangeCaption()
ActiveWindow.Caption = ActiveWorkbook.FullName
End Sub
The only drawback to this approach is that whenever you rename your workbook by saving it under a different name, the new file name (and path) are not updated in the title bar unless you rerun the macro.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7850) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Full Path Names in Excel.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Excel keeps track of the most recent workbooks you've used. If you want to access that information in a macro, you'll ...
Discover MoreIf you don't like the way that Excel exports information you intend to use with other programs, then your best bet is to ...
Discover MoreWant to make your importing of text data faster than ever? Here are some ideas you can apply right away.
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2018-06-04 21:02:52
Julie
You can always add to your page layout for reporting purposes (or just to look at if you are using). Go to Page Layout tab, click the little arrow at the right bottom corner of Page Setup, choose Header/Footer tab, the Custom Footer, and maybe in the right section put your cursor and add the Insert File Path (little folder icon)/Insert File Name (Excel icon). Now you can always see it if you print it out.
2018-06-04 12:15:02
Steven
It is also possible to add the filename to one's Quick Access Toolbar. Select Customize QAT, More Commands. On the list on the left, under Choose Commands From, select Commands Not in the Ribbon. Choose Document Location.
This will always show the path for the current file in the QAT. Depending on how many commands you have in your QAT and your window size, this path listing may be truncated.
2018-06-03 09:39:23
Rhonda Landry
I don't know if this is at all helpful (I'm more of a beginner user), but I wanted to be able to add the full-path name of my current file to my list of files to work on later, so I added the file's full-path to the Quick Access Toolbar. One must click the name to be able to see the actual path (and perhaps arrow over a bit), so it's a bit of a pain, but it is easy for me to click on the name, copy, then paste where I need it. To do this (for other beginners): > File > Options >Customize > Commands Not in Ribbon > Document Location > Add, OK. Thank you so very, very, very much for your tips, and to all the commenters, from an avid learner :-)
2018-06-02 08:30:18
Dave
The other drawback is there is not enough room title bar to show the path if you have other commands there. It would be nice to have it display at the end of the line with the commands tabs since there is more space there.
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments