How to Insert a Button in Excel (That Looks Awesome)

Ever thought about adding buttons to the face of your spreadsheet?

Inserting buttons in Excel can significantly enhance the interactivity and functionality of your worksheets.

Plus point: it looks cool 😎

You can create buttons in Excel using simple shapes and by leveraging Form and ActiveX controls. Behind these buttons, you can run hyperlinks to different web pages, cells, macros, and VBA scripts.

To learn how to insert a button in Excel, continue reading this guide and experiment with inserting buttons in Excel that not only perform well but also look great.

Table of Contents

Insert a button in Excel from shapes

If you think inserting a button in Excel is going to be too big of a deal, that’s not the case.

A button in Excel is a shape edited into a button with colors and shading of your choice. Let us create one together below to see how you can insert a button in Excel from shapes ⏺

Step 1) Launch the Excel workbook > sheet where you want the button inserted.

Step 2) Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon > Illustrations group > Shapes.

Step 3) From the drop-down menu of shapes, choose the shape in which you want to create a button.

Like I am choosing a rounded rectangle button.

Step 4) Click and drag the cursor on your worksheet to draw the shape of the desired size.

Step 5) Click on the shape and type in the text that you want for the button. (e.g., Click here).

Step 6) Format the text by right-clicking the shape > clicking on the Edit text button from the context menu.

The text will be selected.

Step 7) Now adjust the font, size, color, and alignment of the text as you like by exploring the Font and Alignment groups on the home tab 🏠

Once the shape is drawn and the CTA text is inserted, you need to format it any way you like to make it look like the button you’ve in your head.

Step 8) Right-click the shape and click on the Format Shape button from the context menu.

Step 9) From the Format Shape pane that launches towards the right, go to “Fill”. Select a Solid or Gradient fill as you like.

Step 10) Choose the color for the button 🎨

Step 11) In the Format Shape pane, go to Line.

Step 12) Choose a Solid line and pick a color that complements the color of the button. Adjust the border’s width to make the outline more pronounced if needed.

Step 13) Next, go to the Effects section in the Format Shape pane.

Step 14) Select “Shadow” and choose a shadow preset (e.g., outer or inner shadow).

This is what the button looks like until now.

And there’s still so much more that you do about it including adjusting the shadow properties like transparency, size, blur, angle, and distance, adding a bevel, glow, reflection, and much more.

The sky is your limit ☁

Pro Tip!

A closer look at cool buttons reveals that they follow a set design that elevates their look. Here are some design cues for you to follow (if you like):

• Use solid colors with minimal gradients and no shadows for a modern, flat look.
• Use subtle shadows and light gradients to give the button a slightly raised appearance.
• Use strong bevel effects and pronounced shadows to make the button look three-dimensional.

Hyperlink to a webpage

Until the above section, we’ve created a button (or at least the interface of it).

However, it is not a button in essence since nothing is running at the back of it. Here’s how you can add a hyperlink to the button in Excel 🌐

Step 1) Right-click on the shape you created and click on the Link / Hyperlink button.

Step 2) In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box that appears, select “Existing File or Web Page” from the left pane.

Step 3) Enter the URL of the webpage to which you want to create a link in the Address field.

Step 4) Click on the Okay button.

As you hover your cursor around this button, you will see the link running behind it like this.

Your shape now turns into a clickable button that will open the linked URL / webpage when clicked.

Link another cell from the same sheet

Just like a webpage, you can also link the shape to another cell from the same sheet i.e., when you click on this button, you’ll be navigated to the linked cell 🙌

Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1) Right-click on the shape you created and click on the Link / Hyperlink button. Or press the Ctrl key + K to launch the Insert hyperlink dialog box.

Step 2) In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box that appears, select “Place in This Document” from the left pane.

Step 3) Enter the cell reference (e.g., A1) or click on the cell you want to create a link to in the “Type the Cell Reference” field.

Step 4) Click Ok.

Your shape now turns into a clickable button that will navigate you to the linked cell from the same sheet when clicked.

Link to another sheet

Why only cells from the same sheet? Behind an Excel button, you can also create a link to cells from other sheets of your workbook 📝

Here is how.

Step 1) Right-click on the shape you created and click on the Link / Hyperlink button. Or press the Ctrl key + K to launch the Insert hyperlink dialog box.

Step 2) In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box that appears next, select “Place in This Document” from the left pane.

Step 3) In the “Or select a place in this document” section, select the sheet you want to link to and specify the cell reference.

Step 4) Click on the Okay button.

Clicking on the button will now take you to the specified cell from the specified sheet.

Pro Tip!

One potential problem with this method of linking is that if you rename the linked sheet anytime later, this link will become invalid, and the button will no longer work.

You can help this problem by defining a name for that specific cell from another sheet. It will begin to appear under the “Or select a place in this document” section > Defined Names section.

Select it from there. Now whatever you do to the sheet’s name will not have any impact on the link or the button.

Insert a Macro button using Form Controls Group

How about running a Macro by pressing a button placed on your spreadsheet? Sounds cool, right?

Let’s create one and see how to do it in Excel.

Step 1) Go to the Developer Tab on the ribbon.

Pro Tip!

If you can’t see the Developer Tab on the Ribbon, you need to activate it from Excel Options following the steps below:

1. Go to the File tab > Excel Options.
2. From the pane on the left, select “Customize Ribbon”.
3. From the windowpane on the right of the Excel options, find and check the box for the Developer tab.
4. Press okay.
5. The Developer tab would be added to the Ribbon.

Step 2) Under the Developer tab > Controls group > click on the Insert button > Form Control > Click on the Button icon.

Step 3) Click and drag the cursor on your worksheet to draw the button.

As soon as you draw the button, the Assign Macro dialog box will appear as below 🔎

Step 4) From this dialog box (where you’d have recorded macros already), select the macro you want to assign to this button.

Step 5) Click Okay.

Step 6) Right-click the button and click on the Edit Text button to change its text.

Step 7) To format its design, right-click the button and click on the Format Control button.

Edit the button however you like by exploring these options.

Now, when you click on this button, the underlying Macro will run 🏃‍♀️

Insert a Macro button using ActiveX Controls

In addition to a Form Control button, you can also add a command button from the ActiveX controls ⚒

Here are the steps to add one to your sheet.

Step 1) Go to the Developer tab > Controls group > click on the Insert button > ActiveX Controls > Click on the Button icon.

Step 2) Click and drag the cursor on your worksheet to draw the button.

Step 3) Right-click on this button.

Step 4) From the context menu, go to View Code.

This opens the VBA editor where you can write the macro code / VBA Script that you want running behind this button.

Step 5) Once the code is written, close the VBA editor.

Step 6) Right-click the button > Click on CommandButton Object > Edit to make edits to the text and format of the button.

Write text for the button as you like and edit it to your preference.

And there you get it.

A button is created that runs the Macro / VBA code behind it every time it is pushed ✅

Conclusion

Up until now, we have seen how to insert a button in Excel – using simple shapes and Form and ActiveX controls.

Not only inserting them, but we have also learned how can you link them to URLs, cells, macros, and VBA codes. Excel allows you to bring in your aesthetics and style the buttons just the way you like.

Hope you enjoyed learning different ways of creating and formatting buttons in Microsoft Excel. If you did, must check out the following similar Excel tutorials by Spreadsheeto.

• How to Color Cells in Excel (Many Examples Explained)
• How to Create Multiple Selections Drop-Down List in Excel