Does the add-in run on a Mac or in the browser?

With Office.js, yes, it runs in Excel on Windows, on the Mac and on the web. With VSTO, Windows only, but with deeper access to the system. Which fits depends on what the macro does today.

What happens to the existing files?

They stay as they are. The add-in works with the workbooks you already have; only the macro inside them is no longer needed.

Excel programming

Typical cases

VBA macros from the dawn of time

With a macro nobody dares to touch, failure is only a matter of time: the next Office update with a changed security policy, or slightly different input data, and that is that. On top of it, many VBA macros are painfully slow, above all when they came out of the macro recorder.

As an Office add-in, the same workflow is more robust, maintainable and many times faster. The solution is then distributed centrally to everyone instead of hanging on one file. For the people using it, everything works as before.

Approach

The existing code is read and broken down: what it actually does, what it does on the side and what nobody has needed for years. The old macro’s results serve as the benchmark for the new code.

The macro is rebuilt as an add-in and integrated directly into Office, with its own buttons in the ribbon or entries in the right-click menu. Calculation-heavy parts run many times faster thanks to compiled code and multithreading. Often that is the difference between minutes and seconds.

Updates reach everyone, and nobody has to click away a security warning any more.

What drives the effort

The size and state of the VBA code
Extensions and changes you would like

Every quote is preceded by a free conversation.

In practice

Confidential Office add-in

Confidential · Office add-in
Survey Reporting Engine

Replacement for an old VBA macro that turns survey results into statistical Excel reports, around a hundred times faster and finally reliable.

When it is not worth it

If a small or well-documented macro with only a few users runs reliably and fast, it does not need rebuilding. That is the exception. Very few macros have real error messages, fallbacks for failed actions, or use the fastest Excel methods available.

Common questions

Does the add-in run on a Mac or in the browser?: With Office.js, yes, it runs in Excel on Windows, on the Mac and on the web. With VSTO, Windows only, but with deeper access to the system. Which fits depends on what the macro does today.
What happens to the existing files?: They stay as they are. The add-in works with the workbooks you already have; only the macro inside them is no longer needed.

More cases

When a spreadsheet becomes too important

Survey Reporting Engine