MS EXCEL: Unable to record a macro in Personal Macro Workbook

Question

I'm trying to record a macro in the Personal Macro Workbook and I get two messages.

1. "Personal Macro Workbook in the startup folder must stay open for recording"
2. "Unable to record"

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Hi J G Enterprises,

This usually points to Excel not being able to keep the Personal Macro Workbook (PERSONAL.XLSB) open in a stable state while recording.

A few things you can gently check:

1. Make sure no VBA code is running

If any macro is still executing (even in the background), Excel won’t allow macro recording. If you’ve recently run code, fully close Excel and reopen it before trying again.

2. Let Excel recreate PERSONAL.XLSB

Sometimes the Personal Macro Workbook itself becomes unavailable or corrupted.

• Close all Excel windows
• Restart Excel
• Go to Developer > Record Macro
• Set Store macro in: Personal Macro Workbook
• Record a very simple action (for example, type a value in a cell)
• Stop recording and save when prompted

This allows Excel to reopen or recreate PERSONAL.XLSB cleanly.

3. Check that PERSONAL.XLSB isn’t read‑only

If your Excel startup folder is synced (for example via OneDrive), the file can sometimes open as read‑only, which will block recording.

If the message still appears after a clean Excel restart, it may help to temporarily move or rename PERSONAL.XLSB and let Excel generate a fresh one.

Please let me know if this proves useful to you, or if you would like further assistance.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

---

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

The messages indicate that Excel cannot use or create the hidden Personal Macro Workbook (PERSONAL.XLSB) while code is running. To resolve this, ensure no VBA code is executing, then let Excel create or open PERSONAL.XLSB correctly.

Use these steps to (re)create the Personal Macro Workbook and record into it:

1. Make sure no macros are running
   • If any code is currently executing, stop it (for example, press CTRL+BREAK on Windows). The error “You must end execution to begin recording” occurs when trying to record while code is running.
2. Start recording a macro into the Personal Macro Workbook
   • In Excel, show the Developer tab if it is not visible (see “Show the Developer tab” from the linked article).
   • On the Developer tab, in the Code group, select Record Macro.
   • In Record Macro:
     • Enter a name in Macro name (no spaces).
     • In Store macro in, choose Personal Macro Workbook.
   • Click OK.
   • Perform any simple action (for example, type something in a cell).
   • On the Developer tab, click Stop Recording.
3. Save the Personal Macro Workbook when prompted
   • Close the workbook you were using.
   • When Excel prompts to save changes to the Personal Macro Workbook, choose Save.
   • This creates or updates PERSONAL.XLSB, which is a hidden workbook that opens automatically whenever Excel starts. Macros stored there will then be available in all workbooks on that computer.

If recording still fails with “Unable to record,” close Excel completely and restart Windows, then repeat the steps above so Excel can open or create PERSONAL.XLSB cleanly without any running code.

---

References:

• Copy your macros to a Personal Macro Workbook
• Automate tasks with the Macro Recorder
• Can't record into running module