How to Remove Macros from an Excel Workbook: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Macros are powerful. They can automate tasks and enhance your productivity in Excel. But they can also be dangerous. They can drag down your Excel performance, screw up your calculations, or even erase your files. I've seen it happen. A friend of mine opened a workbook that had a hidden macro that wiped out all his data. He was crushed.

That's why you need to know how to remove macros from Excel and how to shield your workbooks from unwanted or harmful macros. In this article, I'll teach you how to do that. You'll learn how to:

And we’ll also meet Code Crusher, a special agent who works for the Excel VBA Enforcement Division (EVED). His job is to hunt down and destroy rogue macros that create havoc and mayhem in the Excel world.

Are you in? Let's go!

Macros are sequences of commands or actions that you can record or write in Excel using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language. Macros can perform tasks that are repetitive, complex, or time-consuming, such as formatting data, creating charts, or generating reports.

You can create your own macros or use macros that are built-in or provided by others. You can also assign macros to buttons, shapes, or keyboard shortcuts to run them easily.

However, not all macros are useful or safe. Some macros can be annoying, unnecessary, or outdated. For example, you might have recorded a macro for a specific project that you no longer need, or you might have received a workbook with a macro that does something you don't want.

Some macros can also be dangerous, especially if they come from unknown or malicious sources. Macros can access and modify your files, settings, and system information.

They can also run other programs or scripts that can harm your computer or steal your data. These are called macro viruses and they are a type of malware.

Therefore, it's wise to remove macros from Excel if you don't need them or if you don't trust them. This will help you avoid potential issues and keep your workbooks

Before you remove macros from Excel, you might want to view and edit them first. This will help you understand what the macros do and how they work. You might also want to modify or improve some macros instead of deleting them.

To view macros and edit them, you need to use the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), a tool that allows you to write and edit VBA code. Learn more in our ultimate beginner’s guide to how to edit macros in Excel.

Code Crusher is a special agent who works for the Excel VBA Enforcement Division (EVED). His mission is to track down and eliminate rogue macros that cause havoc and destruction in the Excel world. He has a unique ability to detect and disable macros with his powerful code-crushing skills.

Sometimes you may want to share your workbook with others who don’t need the macros. Or maybe you just want to give your workbook a fresh start.

What’s a fast way to get rid of all macros in a workbook?

Save your workbook as an .XLSX file. It’s like a magic wand that makes all the macros disappear.

You can only store Excel VBA macro code in .XLSM, .XLSB, and the older .XLS format.

By saving your workbook as an .XLSX file, Excel automatically removes all the macros for you. How cool is that? You can always save a copy of your original workbook with macros if you want to keep them for later.

To save your workbook as XLSX, follow these steps:

You will see a prompt that warns you that the workbook contains features that are not compatible with the selected file format. These features include macros, user forms, ActiveX controls, and user-defined functions.

Click on Yes to continue saving the workbook. This will remove all the macros from your workbook.

This way, you will have two versions of your workbook: one with macros and one without macros.

Saving your workbook as XLSX is a quick and easy way to remove all macros from your workbook. However, it may also affect other features that you may want to keep. Therefore, you should use this method only if you are sure that you don't need any macros or other features in your workbook.

Sometimes you may want to remove macros from an Excel workbook manually. This can be useful if you want to have more control over which macros you delete or if you don't want to use the XLSX format.

However, this method can also be tedious and time-consuming, especially if you have many macros in your workbook. You also need to be careful not to delete any modules or code that you may need later.

In this section, I’ll show you how to manually remove all macros from an Excel workbook using two different ways: deleting them from the Macro dialog box or deleting them from the VBE window.

To delete macros from an Excel workbook, follow these steps:

Alternatively, you can also remove all macros from an Excel workbook by deleting all the code modules that contain them. This way, you can delete multiple macros in one go, if they are all stored in a single code module.

To do this, follow these steps:

You've learned a lot in this article. You've discovered how to remove macros from Excel and how to stop them from running automatically. I've also given you some tips on how to shield your Excel workbooks from macro viruses.

Macros are powerful tools that can automate tasks and enhance your productivity in Excel. But they can also be dangerous if you don't use them right or if you get them from shady sources.

That's why it's crucial to know how to remove macros from Excel and how to protect your workbooks from unwanted or harmful macros. By following these steps, you'll be able to keep your data safe and sound.

I hope you enjoyed this article and found it useful and fun. If you have any questions or feedback, please drop them below. I'd love to hear from you!

And if you want to learn more about Excel VBA and Office Automation, check out my other articles on this topic:

Thank you for reading and happy coding!😎