{"id":114,"date":"2014-02-10T16:56:47","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T16:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zaffy.co.za\/blog\/?p=114"},"modified":"2014-03-05T15:47:02","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T15:47:02","slug":"convert-a-macro-to-an-add-in-office-applications-tutorial-for-powerpoint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zaffy.co.za\/blog\/computers-it\/convert-a-macro-to-an-add-in-office-applications-tutorial-for-powerpoint\/","title":{"rendered":"Convert a Macro to an Add-in: Office Applications (Tutorial for PowerPoint)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wanted to convert a PowerPoint Macro to a PowerPoint Add-in so I could use the same macro code against multiple PowerPoint presentations, regardless of them being macro-enabled or not. For my purposes I needed this done in PowerPoint however I would imagine that the steps would some what similar for Excel and Word. Outlined are the steps I followed after visits to forums and Microsoft documentation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Step 1:<\/strong> Create your macro. <\/b><\/p>\n

For purposes of this discussion I assume you already know how to create a macro. If not please refer to the further reading links below.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Step 2:<\/strong> Paste the code from PPTFAQ.com<\/a>\u00a0in your Powerpoint: to create the tool bars. They have provided a piece of code which creates the tool bar and calls a function called Button1() to allow for testing<\/b>. [please find the code at\u00a0PPTFAQ.com<\/a>].\u00a0All you need to do is edit the Button1() and replace with the function you would like called when the button is clicked on the toolbar.<\/b><\/p>\n

Step 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Create a Self-Signed Digital Certificate with the SelfCert.exe in the office folder under program files. This allows your macro to run as a trusted source, by letting the computer know that the code was written by you. Should you require your eventual add-in to be run on multiple PC’s you can either generate a self-cert for every PC (lots of effort), decrease the security setting (not recommended) to run untrusted macro’s or purchase a digital certificate to allow for your add-in to be distributed.<\/b><\/p>\n

Step 4:<\/strong> Go to tools in your PowerPoint document, under Visual Basic code and select from the Tools menu, digital certificate.<\/p>\n

Step 5:<\/strong> Assign your newly created Self-Signed Digital Certificate to your code. This allows you to execute your code after you converted it to an add-in.<\/p>\n

Step 6:<\/strong> Save your file as a Macro enabled Office file , for PowerPoint this is a “.pptm” file extension.<\/p>\n

Note: You have to save your file because once you save it as an add-in you cannot edit the code anymore.<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Step 5:<\/strong>\u00a0Now save your file as an Office add-in , example PowerPoint gives you the option to SaveAs a “.ppam” file extension.<\/p>\n

Notice:<\/strong> add-ins do not get saved to your folders , they get saved in a trusted folder, in your documents\/appdata (this folder is normally has the hidden attribute applied)<\/p>\n

Step 6:<\/strong> Go to File, Options, Add-ins in your office application, click the drop down and select the Office application specific add-in, for example:<\/p>\n

In PowerPoint you have “Com-in” as the default and under that is \u201cPowerPoint add-in\u201d this is the one you want.<\/b><\/p>\n

Step 7:<\/strong>\u00a0Select the “add-in” you have just saved<\/p>\n

Step 8:<\/strong> Test, restart with another non-macro enabled file and see if your ribbon loads properly.<\/p>\n

Further reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n