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Miscellaneous Articles & Tips
Save MS Office Customizations when Upgrading your Computer or Reinstalling Office

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© 2018 DJH Training & Application Solutions Inc.

Have you ever upgraded your computer or reinstalled Microsoft Office, only to realize that all of your customizations, macros, and more have disappeared?

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Make sure to follow this checklist before your next upgrade for a smooth transition!

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BACK UP CUSTOMIZED QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR & RIBBON (All Office Programs):

  1. Open the program (Word, Excel, etc.) that contains the custom toolbar/ribbon

  2. File > Options > Quick Access Toolbar

  3. On the bottom right, click Import/Export and choose Export all customizations

  4. Save the file to a USB, network drive or other destination that will not be deleted on upgrade

  5. Once the upgrade is complete, open the program and follow the same steps, selecting Import customization file

Customizations 1.jpg

BACK UP YOUR PERSONAL MACRO WORKBOOK (MS Excel):

Macros that are available to all files are stored in a hidden workbook called PERSONAL.XLSB that is saved in a folder called XLSTART. When Excel is reinstalled or upgraded, this file is deleted. Follow the steps below to make a copy of the file:

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  1. To avoid searching through folders, click the Windows search area and type %AppData%\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\

  2. In the resulting XLSTART folder, locate the PERSONAL.XLSB file and copy it to a USB, network drive, or other destination that will not be deleted on upgrade

  3. Once the upgrade is complete, copy the PERSONAL.XLSB file back into XLSTART folder using the search tip above

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NOTE: If you have modified the default workbook template (Book.XLTX) or worksheet (Sheet.XLTX), you will also find them in the XLSTART folder. Follow the steps above to copy and restore these as well

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BACK UP CUSTOMIZED STYLES, QUICKSTEPS, QUICKPARTS, ETC. (MS Word and Outlook):

  1. To avoid searching through folders, click the Windows search area and type %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates

  2. In the resulting Templates folder, locate the Normal.dotm file (Word default template) and the NormalEmail.dotm (Outlook default template) files and copy them to a USB, network drive, or other destination that will not be deleted on upgrade

  3. Once the upgrade is complete, copy the files back into the Templates folder

 


BACK UP OUTLOOK SIGNATURE FILES:

  1. To avoid searching through folders, click the Windows search area and type %appdata%\microsoft\signatures

  2. In the resulting Signatures folder, locate the 4 items for each signature (file folder, HTM file, RTF file and TXT file), and copy them to a USB, network drive, or other destination that will not be deleted on upgrade

  3. Once the upgrade is complete, copy the files back into the Signatures folder

 

 

Do you have questions on the points above? Feel free to contact us!

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