vba-edit 0.3.0

Enable seamless MS Office VBA code editing in preferred editor or IDE (facilitating the use of coding assistants and version control workflows)

Enable seamless Microsoft Office VBA code editing in your preferred editor or IDE, facilitating the use of coding assistants and version control workflows.

Features

• Edit VBA code in your favorite code editor or IDE

• Automatically sync changes between your editor and Office applications

• Support for Word, Excel, and Access (PowerPoint support coming in v0.4.0)

• Preserve form layouts and module properties

• Handle different character encodings

• Integration with version control systems

• Support for UserForms and class modules

Note

Inspired by code from xlwings vba edit (xlwings-Project) under the BSD 3-Clause License.

Quick Start

Installation

pip install vba-edit

Prerequisites

Enable “Trust access to the VBA project object model” in your Office application’s Trust Center Settings:

1. Open your Office application

2. Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings

3. Select “Macro Settings”

4. Check “Trust access to the VBA project object model”

Note

In MS Access, Trust Access to VBA project object model is always enabled if database is stored in trusted location.

Basic Usage

Excel Example

1. Open your Excel workbook with VBA code

2. In your terminal, run:

excel-vba edit

3. Edit the exported .bas, .cls, or .frm files in your preferred editor

4. Changes are automatically synced back to Excel when you save

Word Example

# Export VBA modules from active document
word-vba export --vba-directory ./VBA

# Edit and sync changes automatically
word-vba edit --vba-directory ./VBA

# Import changes back to document
word-vba import --vba-directory ./VBA

Access Example

# Export VBA modules
access-vba export --vba-directory ./src

# Import changes
access-vba import --vba-directory ./src

Detailed Features

Supported File Types

• Standard Modules (.bas)

• Class Modules (.cls)

• UserForms (.frm)

• Document/Workbook Modules

Command Line Tools

The package provides separate command-line tools for each Office application:

• word-vba

• excel-vba

• access-vba

Each tool supports three main commands:

• edit: Live sync between editor and Office (Word/Excel only)

• export: Export VBA modules to files

• import: Import VBA modules from files

• check: Check if ‘Trust Access to the VBA project object model’ is enabled

Note

The command python -m vba_edit.utils can be used to troubleshoot Trust Access to VBA project object model, scanning and giving feedback on all supported MS Office apps

Common Options

--file, -f             Path to Office document (optional)
--vba-directory        Directory for VBA files
--encoding, -e         Specify character encoding
--detect-encoding, -d  Auto-detect encoding
--save-headers         Save module headers separately
--verbose, -v          Enable detailed logging
--logfile, -l         Enable file logging

Excel-Specific Features

For Excel users who also have xlwings installed:

excel-vba edit -x  # Use xlwings wrapper

Best Practices

1. Always backup your Office files before using vba-edit

2. Use version control (git) to track your VBA code

3. Run export after changing form layouts or module properties

4. Use --save-headers when working with UserForms

5. Consider using --detect-encoding for non-English VBA code

Known Limitations

• Access support is limited to import/export (no live editing)

• UserForms require --save-headers option

• PowerPoint support coming in v0.4.0

• --in-file-headers option coming soon

Links

• Homepage

• Documentation

• Source Code

• Changelog

• Changelog of latest dev version

• Video Tutorial (xlwings walkthrough, with similar functionality)

License

BSD 3-Clause License

Acknowledgments

This project is heavily inspired by code from xlwings vba edit, maintained by the xlwings-Project under the BSD 3-Clause License.