How to Add the Developer Tab to Your Excel Worksheet

Author:: James Smith

James likes to learn about technology and share what he learns through his articles.

Enabling the developer table provides access to several advanced features in Excel. This tab is hidden by default, but can be easily enabled to display on the Microsoft Excel ribbon.

A Visible Developer Tab

By default, the developer tab is not visible unless it is activated. This can be accomplished from Excel's options menu. The first part of this article serves as a 4-step tutorial on how to make the developer tab visible. The later sections describe the usefulness of having the tab available.

No Developer Tab Present

In this illustration the developer tab is not visible. When added the developer tab will appear on the far right of the ribbon next to the view tab by default.

Step 1

Click on the File button to a make the Excel options button available.

The file button in Excel displays many options for Excel use. When clicked all of the information about the spreadsheet is displayed. Other features include the ability to create a new spreadsheet, open an existing file, account info and more.

Step 2

In the bottom left-hand corner of the page click on the options button.

how-to-add-the-developer-tab-to-your-excel-worksheet

Step 3

After the Excel options window appears, click on the customize ribbon button.

The customize ribbon area of Excel allows you to arrange the ribbon to make navigating Excel easier. You can hide or unhide tabs depending on how you want the ribbon to be displayed.

Step 4

Lastly, to the right side of the window you will see a checkbox labeled developer tab. Click on this checkbox to have the developer tab displayed on the ribbon. After clicking the Ok button, the developer tab should appear.

The main tabs area of the customized ribbon area shows all of the main tabs that can be either added or hidden from the ribbon.

Developer Tab Appears

The Code Section

Now that you can use the developer tab let's briefly discuss each section. The code section allows an Excel user to create a Visual Basic module, edit an existing module, create recorded macros, organize macros, and view macro options.

Developer Code Tools

The Add-ins Section

This section allows one easy access to the details and settings for all add-ins associated with your Excel program. An Excel user can see add-ins available in Excel and can also link to Microsoft to find add-ins online that are available for download. Additionally, automation servers can be searched from this area.

Developer Add-ins

The Controls Section

The options in this section relate to designing and viewing anything in the document that has to do with Visual Basic coding. There are many types of form control and Active X objects that can be inserted from the controls section.

Developer Controls

The XML Section

The XML Section only deals with XML technology in Excel. This section is used for sharing and managing structured data. XML follows guidelines so that it can be processed by a variety of applications. It is used by designers to create customized data structures, schemas, and tags.