Reviewing PERSONAL.xlsb integrity on MacOS

Hello @James Palmer

PERSONAL.xlsb is Excel's Personal Macro Workbook. Normally, Excel loads the active copy automatically from its startup location, but you don't need to install an old copy there just to inspect its macros.

To review it, first make a copy of the file and rename it something like PERSONAL-review.xlsb. Then open Excel and use File → Open to open that copy. If Excel opens it as hidden, use Window → Unhide, or press Option+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor and inspect the VBA project/modules.

On macOS, the active PERSONAL.xlsb is typically stored in Excel's startup folder under:

~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Excel/

Do not replace the active PERSONAL.xlsb yet. Review each backup separately first, because Excel automatically loads files placed in its startup folder.

If none of the copies open manually, the next question is what error Excel shows. If Excel reports corruption or an invalid file format, that's different from the workbook simply being hidden or blocked by Excel's macro/security settings.

Reference: Microsoft - Create and save all your macros in a single workbook

If you can provide the exact error message when opening one of the copies, we can determine whether it's a location/security issue or whether the .xlsb itself is damaged.

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