Where apps hide your files

Excel's startup folder and PERSONAL.XLSB

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Windows has an XLSTART folder. On a Mac the same job is done by a folder buried inside an Office group container. Files you put there open every time Excel starts, and in most setups your Personal Macro Workbook lives there too.

The startup folder

~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Startup.localized/Excel

This is the Mac equivalent of Windows' XLSTART folder. In Finder, the .localized parts of the names are hidden and the folders appear as User Content, Startup and Excel, so the visible path is UBF8T346G9.Office > User Content > Startup > Excel (Startup reads Start-up with British English, which is how Microsoft's help page spells it). On the Mac used for this guide, the folder exists, next to Startup.localized/Word and Startup.localized/PowerPoint.

To open it, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) in Finder, paste the path with the real folder names and press Return. From Terminal:

open ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User\ Content.localized/Startup.localized/Excel

If UBF8T346G9.Office does not exist, Office has never run for your user. If the Excel folder is missing, the next section explains what puts things in it.

What belongs in it

Excel opens files in this folder at launch. On the guide Mac, it holds an add-in named SaveAsAdobePDF.xlam, which is what Adobe Acrobat installs to add its PDF export to Excel. That is a good example of what lives here:

• add-ins you want loaded on every launch (.xlam);
• your Personal Macro Workbook, PERSONAL.XLSB, in most reported setups (see below);
• a template named Book.xltx (or Book.xltm), which Microsoft says Excel then uses for every new blank workbook;
• any workbook you want opened automatically when Excel starts.

Files starting with ~$ are lock files Office creates while a file is open and sometimes leaves behind. Ignore them, and do not copy them.

Other siblings under User Content.localized hold templates, add-ins, themes and similar content. Templates.localized is the one Word uses for Normal.dotm, so the Word side of this lives in a sibling folder.

The Personal Macro Workbook

PERSONAL.XLSB does not exist until you create it. Microsoft's route is:

1. Open the Developer tab. If it is hidden: Excel > Preferences > Ribbon & Toolbar, tick Developer under Main Tabs, and click Save.
2. Click Record Macro.
3. In Store macro in, choose Personal Macro Workbook.
4. Record anything, then click Stop Recording.

Excel then prompts you to save the Personal Macro Workbook. It opens hidden at every launch, so its macros are available in every workbook, and in the Visual Basic editor it appears as VBAProject (PERSONAL.XLSB).

Where the file lands is the one detail sources disagree on. Excel guides and users on Microsoft 365 report it in the startup folder above, while Microsoft's own help page names the Excel home folder instead:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Roaming/Excel/

Ask Excel rather than guessing. In the Visual Basic editor (Developer > Visual Basic), open View > Immediate Window, type ?Workbooks("PERSONAL.XLSB").FullName and press Return: it prints the file's full path. ?Application.StartupPath prints the startup folder. Or search both places from Terminal (read-only):

find ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel -iname 'personal.xlsb' 2>/dev/null

If nothing turns up, no macro has been stored in it yet.

Using a different startup folder

Excel can also open every file in a second folder at launch. Microsoft's steps: Excel > Preferences (Settings in some recent builds), under Authoring click General, and enter the folder in the box Microsoft labels At start-up, open all files in.

Moving your macros to a new Mac

Quit Excel, copy PERSONAL.XLSB from wherever the check above found it, and put it in the same folder on the new Mac after Excel has run there once. Do the same for .xlam add-ins. Keep a backup copy of this one file, since it holds every macro you recorded into it.

Fixing problems

• Excel complains the macro cannot be found: the workbook is missing or did not open. Check that PERSONAL.XLSB exists, spelled exactly like that.
• A workbook opens every time and you do not want it: with Excel closed, move it out of the startup folder, which is Microsoft's own fix.
• Do not edit Group Containers by hand elsewhere. Other apps use the same container and moving things around can break Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Add-ins and the startup folder

Add-ins reach Excel two ways. An .xlam in the startup folder opens at every launch, which is how products such as PDF tools add their buttons. Add-ins ticked in Tools > Excel Add-ins… load from wherever they are stored, and unticking one turns it off without deleting the file. If a file in the startup folder is causing a slow launch or an error, move it to the Desktop, start Excel, and see whether the problem goes away. Put it back if it does not.

Why search misses it

The folder is inside ~/Library/Group Containers, and Spotlight and Finder searches leave ~/Library results out. The .localized names also confuse people because Finder shows them differently.

Finding it next time

Group Containers and app containers are folders macOS protects, so Everywhere finds files there once it has Full Disk Access. Then typing PERSONAL.XLSB shows your Personal Macro Workbook in whichever folder Excel saved it, and typing xlam lists every add-in on the Mac. Press ⌘↵ to reveal the file in Finder, so you can copy it to a new Mac. It matches file names only, not the macros inside.

Common questions

Where is the XLSTART folder on a Mac?

Excel for Mac uses ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Startup.localized/Excel. In Finder it shows as User Content, Startup, Excel.

Where is PERSONAL.XLSB on a Mac?

Usually in the Excel startup folder, ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Startup.localized/Excel, though Microsoft's help names ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Roaming/Excel/. In the VBA editor's Immediate window, ?Workbooks("PERSONAL.XLSB").FullName prints the exact path.

Why can't I find my Personal Macro Workbook on Mac?

Usually because it was never created. Record a macro into the Personal Macro Workbook, stop recording, and Excel creates the file.

How do I move my Excel macros to a new Mac?

Quit Excel, copy PERSONAL.XLSB and your .xlam add-ins, and put them in the same folders on the new Mac after Excel has run there once.