Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: Understanding Add-Ins.
Many features of Excel are available only through what are called add-ins. For instance, the Analysis ToolPak is a good example of an add-in. The tools available in add-ins such as the Analysis ToolPak are not part of the basic Excel system, but can be added to the system as needs dictate. These add-ins are nothing more than programs which have been "added to" Excel in such a way that they appear to be part of Excel itself.
You also know that macros are nothing more than programs that you write using a language understood by Excel. These programs instruct Excel to perform tasks that otherwise might be time consuming or repetitious on your part. These programs, if elaborate enough, can become full-fledged applications that operate under Excel.
Excel allows you to translate your macro programs into add-ins, which can become part of Excel—the same as the Analysis ToolPak and others. Eventually you might want to take advantage of this capability. The files you convert to add-ins do not need to be elaborate, nor do they have to be fancy. Converting them to add-ins does have several advantages, however:
In essence, add-ins are nothing but a special type of workbook which you have converted to an add-in format that is understood by Excel.
You may want to make sure your macro code which is destined to be an add-in performs some initializing routine that modifies, in some way, the Excel user interface. For instance, an add-in may modify the ribbon structure used by Excel or it may add a selection to the Quick Access Toolbar so that the functions in the add-in can be accessed. Your macros should take care of the interface modification so that people can access your add-ins. If you don't modify the interface in some way, then users can only get to the macro code in your add-in by directly referencing in a worksheet formula the names of any functions in your add-in.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8527) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Understanding Add-Ins.
Save Time and Supercharge Excel! Automate virtually any routine task and save yourself hours, days, maybe even weeks. Then, learn how to make Excel do things you thought were simply impossible! Mastering advanced Excel macros has never been easier. Check out Excel 2010 VBA and Macros today!
There are a variety of ways you can count information in different groupings. One convenient way is to use the subtotaling ...
Discover MoreDepending on who you ask, Smart Tags can be really cool or really distracting. If you fall on the "cool" side, you may make a ...
Discover MoreCheck boxes, just like those used in Windows dialog boxes, can be a great addition to a worksheet. Here's how to add them and ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2016-03-25 10:15:51
allen@sharonparq.com
Scott: It is impossible to get a list of "available add-ins" because they aren't created just by Microsoft. They can be created by just about anyone who can problem a macro.
Case in point: The list that TomW supplied is a list of add-ins from that ONE company, not a comprehensive list of available add-ins.
-Allen
2016-03-25 07:16:49
TomW
For what it's worth, I just looked up this site with a list:
https://www.add-ins.com/product_list.htm.
2016-03-21 09:03:59
scott
It would have been nice had a listing of available add-ins and what they can do been incorporated in the tip.
2013-09-27 07:03:45
Shravan Kumar Yadav
I want to know how any add-ins may be converted as macros. Because I have to work on different computer and when any add-ins is available at one computer, it does not work at another. Second problem comes when i leave one computer and delete add-ins each time excel asks about it.
2013-07-05 21:45:01
Everyone using Excel should use the ASAP add on.
You can find it at
http://www.asap-utilities.com/
I have been using it for years. It has saved me hundred of hours of application design.
2013-06-22 10:03:37
Robert Ilechuku
At work 2 days ago I spotted that the "EoMonth" and "NetWorkDays" worksheet functions, previously only available in the Analysis Toolpak Addin, had been re-created as intrinsic Excel 2010 worksheet functions.
As a matter of fact, because I was migrating an Excel 2003 application to Excel 2010, Excel assumed that my pre-existing Excel 2003 version was a user-defined function in conflict with its own worksheet version of "EoMonth". Imagine that!
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 © 2017 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: 
Comments