Excel - User Form

Question

For a long time I could customize the ribbon and show the User Form. Today I noticed that I could not find the feature. In VBA I can still type activesheet.showuserform, but how would I access it otherwise? TIA

Answer 1

Hi @Glenn Harris,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand how inconvenient it can be when something that previously worked as expected is no longer available, especially after an update or change in Excel’s behavior.

To clarify, in Excel, a UserForm isn’t opened directly from the Ribbon by default. In many cases, Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar customizations can be reset, for example, after an Office update, a profile reset, or a manual ribbon reset. In addition, these customizations are application‑specific and aren’t stored within the workbook itself unless the button or macro entry point is recreated. Most likely, what you were using before was a macro or a custom button you had added, which called and displayed the UserForm.

With that in mind, here are a few reliable ways you can access it again:

1/ Make sure the Developer tab is visible:

This makes it easier to run macros when needed.

• In Excel, go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon.
• Under Main Tabs, select Developer, and then click OK.
  

2/ Run the UserForm from the Macros list (the quickest option without editing code):

Once the Developer tab is available:

• On the ribbon tab > Go to Developer > Macros.
• Select the macro that displays your UserForm, and then click Run.

As a quick note, while there are other ways to open the Macros dialog depending on your setup, using the Developer tab is the recommended and supported approach.

3/ Create a simple “Show form” macro if you don’t already have one:

A common and reusable approach in VBA is to create a standard macro whose only purpose is to show the UserForm, and then run that macro from the Excel interface. For example, in a standard module:

Sub ShowMyForm()
    UserForm1.Show
End Sub

Once this macro is in place, it will appear under Developer > Macros, allowing you to run it whenever needed.

4/ Add the macro back to the Quick Access Toolbar for one‑click access:

If you’d like to restore the same convenience you had before, go to File > Options > Quick Access Toolbar.

In “Choose commands from,” select Macros, choose your ShowMyForm macro, and click Add. Optionally, you can select Modify to choose an icon and give it a more user‑friendly display name.
For example:

5/ Alternatively, add it to a custom group on the Ribbon:

If you prefer using a Ribbon button instead, go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon.

Select the tab where you’d like the button to appear (for example, Home), then click New Group and rename it if you wish.

In “Choose commands from,” select Macros, add your macro, and then click OK.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.   

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out again so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

To access the User Form in Excel, you can typically customize the ribbon to include a button that triggers the User Form. If you're unable to find this feature, consider the following steps:

1. Check Ribbon Customization: Go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon. Ensure that the option to customize the ribbon is enabled and that your User Form is linked to a button.
2. Using VBA: As you mentioned, you can still use VBA to show the User Form by typing ActiveSheet.ShowUserForm. This method is a direct way to display the form programmatically.
3. Accessing from Macros: If you have created a macro that shows the User Form, you can run that macro from the View tab under Macros or by assigning it to a button on your worksheet.
4. UserForms Collection: You can also access the User Forms through the UserForms collection in VBA, which allows you to iterate through all loaded User Forms in your application.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, it may be beneficial to check for updates or reinstall the Office application to restore any missing features.

---

References:

• Create a Custom Dialog Box
• Displaying a Custom Dialog Box