Getting started
From an empty project to an installed add-in.
addin.studio builds Excel add-ins without you having to know RibbonX or the
structure of an .xlam. You design visually, attach VBA where you need it, and
download a finished file.
What comes out
An .xlam file. That is an Excel add-in: a workbook without sheets that Excel
loads in the background and whose interface appears in every open workbook. It
holds your ribbon as XML, your VBA as real modules and, if you built one, your
form as a real designer.
None of it has to be imported by hand after the download.
Try it without an account
Open example project drops you straight into the editor. The draft survives a reload. It is not stored on the server and it belongs to that one browser.
Once you have an account, projects live in the database and save themselves shortly after the last change. The button at the top shows the state: Unsaved, Saving …, Saved; a click saves right away. Switching areas, say from forms to modules, saves first, and the new page picks up your state.
The six areas
Switch between them on the left:
| Area | For |
|---|---|
| Ribbon | tabs, groups and controls |
| Context menus | entries in the right-click menu |
| Backstage | a settings page in the File menu, with profiles |
| Forms | UserForms with controls and event code |
| Modules | your own VBA modules |
| Library | reusable snippets and icons |
The ribbon is always available. The others sit behind Pro.
The shortest path
- Create a project. A tab and a group come prefilled.
- Drag in a button, set its label and icon.
- Attach VBA in the code field on the right, say
MsgBox "Hello". - Click As .xlam at the top right.
- Load the file in Excel via File → Options → Add-ins → Go.
Your tab is then in the ribbon, and a click runs your code.
Where you are stays in the address
The five areas are in the URL: Context menus and Forms as their own
address, Modules and Backstage as ?mode=. So is what is selected inside
them — ?tab= for the ribbon tab, plus ?module=, ?menu= and ?form=.
A reload therefore lands exactly where you were, and a link can be shared:
/en/editor/<id>?mode=modules&module=mod_0001
/en/editor/<id>/forms?form=frm_login
A link pointing at something that no longer exists — a deleted module, a project replaced since — is ignored rather than producing an empty selection.
Searching these docs
There is a search field in the header, opened with Cmd+K or Ctrl+K — /
works too. It covers every page and the changelog, and a hit jumps straight to
the matching section. The search runs entirely in your browser; nothing is sent
to a search service.