Safely keep revision history of Excel VBA projects, track and compare changes in macros

XLTools Version Control add-in keeps your Excel macros safe:

Version Control for VBA Projects is one of the 20+ features within XLTools Add-in for Excel. Works in Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, desktop Office 365.

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XLTools Version Control add-in for VBA is a revision control, or a source control tool. It helps track changes to VBA projects in Excel and gives a clear picture of who, how and when modified the script.

Enable Developer macro settings:

Developer tab Macro Security Check "Trust access to the VBA project object model".



Or:File Options Trust Center Trust Center Settings Macro Settings Check "Trust access to the VBA project object model"





Enable Version Control for the Excel workbook:

Open the workbook Click the Enable button on XLTools ribbon In the Settings window, click Enable Done, now you are tracking changes and history of the spreadsheet.



Or:open XLTools Settings Version Control tab Enable.

Once you enable Version Control in a workbook with macros, we recommend you commit the initial version to the Change Log. This will allow you to compare future versions with it, as well as restore the initial version if necessary.

1. Click the Commit Changes button A dialogue box will open.
2. Add a descriptive comment, e.g. "Initial version" OK Done, the initial version is saved to Change Log.

As you keep editing the workbook or the macro, keep committing versions along the way. We recommend you commit a version after any critical changes, or as often as often as you find necessary.

1. Make changes When ready to commit the version, click Commit Changes.
2. Add a comment OK.

Tip:create descriptive comments. It will help tell the versions apart and search for the necessary version in the Change Log.

1. Open XLTools Settings Version Control tab.
2. Check the box "Commit a version to Change Log every time I save a workbook with changes".

1. Edit the VBA module Click Commit Changes A window will open.
2. To preview and diff changes, double-click on the modified VBA module name in the list.
3. The side-by-side comparison of the Older and the Newer versions of the script will display. The changed lines will be highlighted.
4. Review the result Close the comparison window Click OK to commit this new version, or Cancel to go back to editing.

All versions of a workbook that were committed to the Change Log are saved to the Git repository on your computer. Being a widely adopted system for revision control, Git accurately records all changes and does not take much of your disk space.

Immediately after you enable Version Control, a folder 'WorkbookName_Revisions' is automatically generated in the same destination as the workbook. This is the Git repository that will safely store all revision history of the workbook and macros. Every time you commit a version, it is saved to the repository.

Important:do NOT delete, rename or move this repository folder. Otherwise the revision history will be lost.

The Change Log shows the list of all previously committed versions.

Click the Change Log button on XLTools tab The Change Log will open.

• Review the list of versions: it displays comments, authors and the time the version was committed. You can see who made changes and when.
• Filter the committed versions and search for the version you need. Type what you are looking for, and the search will run through version names, comments, authors and dates.
• Review the tools in the menu: you can expand and collapse the list, open, save, roll back to, diff and compare versions.

You can easily compare two versions of a macro with each other:

1. Click the Change Log button The log will open.
2. Hold the Ctrl key and select two versions of the VBA module you want to compare In the log's menu, or in the right-click context menu, select Compare two selected versions.

   

   
3. The side-by-side comparison of the Newer and the Older script will open. The changed lines will be highlighted.

In the same way, you can compare any VBA module version with the previous or the current version:

1. Click the Change Log button Select any module version.
2. In the log's menu, or in the right-click context menu, select Diff with Previous version or Diff with Current version.
3. The comparison will open, and the modified lines will be highlighted.

The Version Control tool is integrated with the Inquire plugin. It helps compare spreadsheet versions in more detail.

1. Click the Change Log button The log will open.
2. Hold the Ctrl key and select two versions of the VBA module you want to compare In the log's menu, or in the right-click context menu, select Compare two selected versions in Inquire.

   

   
3. The result of the comparison will open in Inquire: review the changes in code.

In the same way, you can compare any VBA module version with the previous or the current version:

1. Click the Change Log button Select any module version.
2. In the log's menu, or in the right-click context menu, select Diff with Previous version in Inquire or Diff with Current version in Inquire.
3. The comparison will open in Inquire and you can review the changes.

To save or roll back to any previous version of Excel macro:

1. Click the Change Log button Select the VBA module version you need.
2. In the log's menu, or in the right-click context menu, select the operation you need:

   • Save this macro version as
   • Roll back to this macro version

XLTools Version Control add-in helps arrange group work and collaborate on shared spreadsheets effectively.

1. Make sure that all your team members have XLTools add-in installed on their PCs.
2. Place the workbook in a shared folder on a local disk Share the workbook with your team Provide reading and writing permissions. This prevents anyone outside the group from editing the workbook under versioning.
3. Each member can commit and compare versions and view the Change Log.

When the spreadsheet is stored on a network folder or a cloud drive, Version Control may return file path errors (“pathname is too long”). In order to store revision history, the Git repository creates nested folders and sometimes the paths to these subfolders may exceed the limitation set in Windows.

Our development team is already searching for a workaround. In the meanwhile, we recommend you try and shorten the network path, as well as the name of the spreadsheet. Or, save the spreadsheets on the local disk on your computer.