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When Personal.XLSB in Excel fails to load

personal.xlsb doesn't load

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personal.xlsb doesn't loadI spent several hours today creating an extensive Excel Macro to combine two reports exported out of QuickBooks Premier. I created a Customer:Job Status report and a Job Profitability report, blending them into an Excel table that would allow my client to filter by Job Status, and use Conditional Formatting to colorize it based on profit margin by Job Type.

It was a great project, and it worked well, allowing her to do in two minutes what had taken them hours…until it suddenly stopped.

I had exported my two .bas Modules out of the Personal Macro workbook and imported them into the Personal Macro Workbook on another computer. I ran them once and they worked.

But when it came time to train my client, nothing happened when I pressed the keyboard shortcuts.

Without warning the keystrokes to invoke the macros stopped working. I could no longer create or save macros without getting a message that there was no Personal.xlbs file. The buttons I had added to the Quick Access Toolbar gave me error messages.

What was wrong? I began my internet research, and followed every step from every help article.

…the Personal.xlsb failed to load, so go find it in the XLSTART folder…not there.

…Enable all Trust Settings for Macros…well, most of them.

…Enable the Macro Add-ons…nothing was disabled.

…View the Personal.xlsb hidden workbook and modify it…but it wasn’t there anymore.

I tried everything and nothing worked. I even called two colleagues who had no answers for me.

After 90 minutes, you know what I did to solve it?

Restart the computer. Open Excel to a new blank workbook. THEN export the reports out of QuickBooks to Excel.

It’s so simple…but it worked!

Picture of Alicia Katz Pollock
Alicia Katz Pollock
Recently named the 2026 Top ProAdvisor Educator by Insightful Accountant, Alicia is a nationally recognized QuickBooks Online expert with a Master’s in Teaching and decades of business consulting experience. Known for her patience, commitment, and approachable teaching style, she makes QuickBooks easier to understand for small business owners and accounting professionals alike, helping them build the skills they need to manage their finances with clarity and ease.
Picture of Alicia Katz Pollock
Alicia Katz Pollock
Recently named the 2026 Top ProAdvisor Educator by Insightful Accountant, Alicia is a nationally recognized QuickBooks Online expert with a Master’s in Teaching and decades of business consulting experience. Known for her patience, commitment, and approachable teaching style, she makes QuickBooks easier to understand for small business owners and accounting professionals alike, helping them build the skills they need to manage their finances with clarity and ease.
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