
This practical VBA exercise explains one small technique at a time. Work in a copy of your workbook, use Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor, and test the macro on a small sample before running it on live data.
In this article
Before you run the code
- Save a macro-enabled copy of the workbook (.xlsm).
- Use Option Explicit in a standard module to catch misspelled variable names.
- Read the comments and adjust sheet names, ranges and examples to fit your own file.
What this exercise covers
This chapter teaches you how to create anΒ Excel VBA Userform. The Userform we are going to create looks as follows:

Add the Controls
To add the controls to the Userform, execute the following steps.
1. Open theΒ Visual Basic Editor. If the Project Explorer is not visible, click View, Project Explorer.
2. Click Insert, Userform. If the Toolbox does not appear automatically, click View, Toolbox. Your screen should be set up as below.

3. Add the controls listed in the table below. Once this has been completed, the result should be consistent with the picture of the Userform shown earlier. For example, create a text box control by clicking on TextBox from the Toolbox. Next, you can drag a text box on the Userform. When you arrive at the Car frame, remember to draw this frame first before you place the two option buttons in it.
4. Change the names and captions of the controls according to the table below. Names are used in the Excel VBA code. Captions are those that appear on your screen. It is good practice to change the names of controls. This will make your code easier to read. To change the names and captions of the controls, click View, Properties Window and click on each control.
| Control | Name | Caption |
|---|---|---|
| Userform | DinnerPlannerUserForm | Dinner Planner |
| Text Box | NameTextBox | |
| Text Box | PhoneTextBox | |
| List Box | CityListBox | |
| Combo Box | DinnerComboBox | |
| Check Box | DateCheckBox1 | June 13th |
| Check Box | DateCheckBox2 | June 20th |
| Check Box | DateCheckBox3 | June 27th |
| Frame | CarFrame | Car |
| Option Button | CarOptionButton1 | Yes |
| Option Button | CarOptionButton2 | No |
| Text Box | MoneyTextBox | |
| Spin Button | MoneySpinButton | |
| Command Button | OKButton | OK |
| Command Button | ClearButton | Clear |
| Command Button | CancelButton | Cancel |
| 7 Labels | No need to change | Name:, Phone Number:, etc. |
A combo box is a drop-down list from where a user can select an item or fill in his/her own choice. Only one of the option buttons can be selected.
Show the Userform
To show the Userform, place aΒ command buttonΒ on your worksheet and add the following code line:
PrivateΒ SubΒ CommandButton1_Click()
DinnerPlannerUserForm.Show
EndΒ Sub
We are now going to create the Sub UserForm_Initialize. When you use the Show method for the Userform, this sub will automatically be executed.
1. Open theΒ Visual Basic Editor.
2. In the Project Explorer, right click on DinnerPlannerUserForm and then click View Code.
3. Choose Userform from the left drop-down list. Choose Initialize from the right drop-down list.
4. Add the following code lines:
PrivateΒ SubΒ UserForm_Initialize()
‘Empty NameTextBox
NameTextBox.Value = “”
‘Empty PhoneTextBox
PhoneTextBox.Value = “”
‘Empty CityListBox
CityListBox.Clear
‘Fill CityListBox
WithΒ CityListBox
.AddItem “San Francisco”
.AddItem “Oakland”
.AddItem “Richmond”
EndΒ With
‘Empty DinnerComboBox
DinnerComboBox.Clear
‘Fill DinnerComboBox
WithΒ DinnerComboBox
.AddItem “Italian”
.AddItem “Chinese”
.AddItem “Frites and Meat”
EndΒ With
‘Uncheck DataCheckBoxes
DateCheckBox1.Value =Β False
DateCheckBox2.Value =Β False
DateCheckBox3.Value =Β False
‘Set no car as default
CarOptionButton2.Value =Β True
‘Empty MoneyTextBox
MoneyTextBox.Value = “”
‘Set Focus on NameTextBox
NameTextBox.SetFocus
EndΒ Sub
Text boxes are emptied, list boxes and combo boxes are filled, check boxes are unchecked, etc.
Assign the Macros
We have now created the first part of the Userform. Although it looks neat already, nothing will happen yet when we click the command buttons on the Userform.
1. Open theΒ Visual Basic Editor.
2. In the Project Explorer, double click on DinnerPlannerUserForm.
3. Double click on the Money spin button.
4. Add the following code line:
PrivateΒ SubΒ MoneySpinButton_Change()
MoneyTextBox.Text = MoneySpinButton.Value
EndΒ Sub
This code line updates the text box when you use the spin button.
5. Double click on the OK button.
6. Add the following code lines:
PrivateΒ SubΒ OKButton_Click()
DimΒ emptyRowΒ AsΒ Long
‘Make Sheet1 active
Sheet1.Activate
‘Determine emptyRow
emptyRow = WorksheetFunction.CountA(Range(“A:A”)) + 1
‘Transfer information
Cells(emptyRow, 1).Value = NameTextBox.Value
Cells(emptyRow, 2).Value = PhoneTextBox.Value
Cells(emptyRow, 3).Value = CityListBox.Value
Cells(emptyRow, 4).Value = DinnerComboBox.Value
IfΒ DateCheckBox1.Value =Β TrueΒ ThenΒ Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value = DateCheckBox1.Caption
IfΒ DateCheckBox2.Value =Β TrueΒ ThenΒ Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value = Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value & ” ” & DateCheckBox2.Caption
IfΒ DateCheckBox3.Value =Β TrueΒ ThenΒ Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value = Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value & ” ” & DateCheckBox3.Caption
IfΒ CarOptionButton1.Value =Β TrueΒ Then
Cells(emptyRow, 6).Value = “Yes”
Else
Cells(emptyRow, 6).Value = “No”
EndΒ If
Cells(emptyRow, 7).Value = MoneyTextBox.Value
EndΒ Sub
First, we activate Sheet1. Next, we determine emptyRow. The variable emptyRow is the first empty row and increases every time a record is added. Finally, we transfer the information from the Userform to the specific columns of emptyRow.
7. Double click on the Clear button.
8. Add the following code line:
PrivateΒ SubΒ ClearButton_Click()
CallΒ UserForm_Initialize
EndΒ Sub
Explanation: this code line calls theΒ Sub UserForm_InitializeΒ when you click on the Clear button.
9. Double click on the Cancel Button.
10. Add the following code line:
PrivateΒ SubΒ CancelButton_Click()
Unload Me
EndΒ Sub
This code line closes the Userform when you click on the Cancel button.
Test the Userform
Exit the Visual Basic Editor, enter the labels shown below into row 1 and test the Userform.
Result:

Test, adapt and continue
Run this example on a few known cells first and compare the result with a manual check. Once it works, replace hard-coded references with named ranges or clear input cells so the macro is safer to reuse.
This post is part of the Excel VBA learning series. For formula-led alternatives and related spreadsheet techniques, see our Excel guides.
Test formulas dynamically in our web formula laboratory or download the companion Excel workbook.
Atul (AJ) builds office-automation and local-first AI tools as Atulya AI, and works with Excel, SAP and Oracle EPM every day. He writes about the shortcuts, macros and automations that actually save time β plus the occasional wacky fact. Videos on YouTube: Lazy Automator AI (@LazyAutomatorAI).
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