How to edit Text on Control Buttons in Excel 2010

Is the worksheet protected or are you using the Share Workbook feature?

Have you tried renaming the Excel14.xlb toolbar to Excel14.old? You do this when Excel is not running. On my computer, this file is found in C:\Documents and Settings\my Windows log-in name\Application data\Microsoft\Excel

Hi byundt

- The sheet is not protected
- Share Workbook is not used
- There is no file named Excel14.xlb on my computer

-> I am running Excel 2010 under Windows 7

The Excel14.xlb file may be hidden--but it definitely exists.

Hi Byundt

Sorry #1: I was on an x-mas holiday, therefore my late reply.

Sorry #2: There is NO *.xlb file on my Computer.
                As I said I am using Excel 2010

Regards
gpsfsc

Hi Experts!

I did some reading and it looks to me that *.xlb files do not exist any longer in a Win7 / Office 2010 environment. May be someone can confirm this?
I also noticed that not all control buttons are affected, even if they are on the same worksheet.
If I copy an editable control button and paste it onto the same sheet, I can't edit the text on the copied button. If I open the workbook on an old machine with Vista / Office 2007 everything works fine.
Any helpful feedback is highly appreciated!

gpsfsc

May I see the file for a faster resolution?

Sid

Sorry to ask but are you displaying the Developer Tab?  

If not, here's how:
Select File > Options > Customize Ribbon
On the Right side, check the box for Developer
Click OK

Also, have you tried Right-clicking the command button and selecting Edit Text?

Sid is correct....this would go much quicker if you could post an example file for us to play with.

FYI... you are correct regarding the .xlb file.  This no longer exists.  Ribbon controls are saved differently than toolbar controls in previous versions.

Note the .xlb files "that no longer exist" for Excel 2007 and Excel 2010.

Sorry...I should have clarified.  The new Ribbon User Interface doesn't use the .xlb format by default any longer.  

I am correct that these buttons appear in the actual spreadsheet?

Thanks for your newly posted comments

Because the workbook I am having the problem with is very huge and contains confidential information, I had first to create an extract of it with one worksheet left showing the problem.
 Buttons.xlsm
On the top button I can select and edit the text, on the others I can't. When I open the file with Excel 2007 the text on all buttons can be selected and changed, just the way it should be. Unfortunately I don't  have the possibility to try it on an other machine with exactly the same configuration like the one the workbook is used on. So I can't tell for sure if it is a general issue or if only my PC has got the problem.
I am looking forward to your feedback, to see how the file behaves in your environment.
I have the following platform: Win7 Enterprise (32Bit), German version with Office 2010, German version as well. The file was originally created on a machine with Vista / Office 2007, English version

You can Edit the text. It is just that the controls are smaller in size :)

Do either of this to check

1) Increase the size and then do an edit

or

2) Right click and select Edit. The press Shift + Home and start typing :)

Sid

Hi Sid
Doesn't help! I can make the buttons as big as I want and the "Edit text" from the right-click-menue still does not do anything :-(
I'll try to find somebody who has the same PC configuration to see if the problem appears there as well or if it is just a bug on my machine.

gpsfsc

What exactly happens when you Right Click...

Sid

I get the normal right-click-menue and it looks the same for the editable and the non-editable buttons
The "Edit Text" item is available in both cases, on some buttons it works on others it doesn't.

Once you right click, try pressing the back space. Does it delete the text?

Sid

No.
But I just noticed some ather interesting Detail. I'll come back

ok:)

ok, I am back
I noticed a different behaviour of the "good" and the "bad" buttons.
If I just right-click (select) the buttons, both look the same.
  If I select the "Edit Text" option from the menue, the buttons look different -> Have a look at the resize-handles
  Any ideas why?
Just for reference, this is how the right-click popup menue looks like
 

In meantime I tried the sample file on an different machine with the same platform
-> Same situation!  So it is not just on my computer

@ finalword
Unbelievable !!!!
I tried it on the original file and indeed your trick works !
Just drag a new control button onto the sheet and the old buttons behave as expected.
But after saving and re-open the file editing is blocked again (blind-typing still works)
Not really obvious what is exactly going on there .......

@ Sid
I don't think it has something to do with the protection, because the text on the editable button is locked as well. The blind-typing works, even if the protection is set to locked.
Your assumption is right, as mentioned before the file was created under Vista / Office 2007
So I'll probably have to re-create most of the buttons to have kind of a stable situation  :-(

gpsfsc

I'm so glad it worked for you.  I did have the same result with closing and reopening and having to add another control back to the sheet in order to edit the text on the button again.  It's weird, but it does work.

I also tried the Unlock options in the properties with no change.  Blind editing is still available, of course.

Recreating may be the way to go, but if you need a quick solution you at least have one now.

Thanks finalword, Sid for your comments.
We still don't know what exactly the problem is, but we are a few steps further, at least. The workbook contains almost 100 control buttons, so in the first phase I will use finalwords "Drag-a-new-button-on-the-sheet" method, but in the long run I will probably have to re-create all buttons as Sid suggested to be sure not to run into more problems in the future.
Thanks again and best regards
gpsfsc