Example 1

First create a new document in Notepad and insert the following text (be careful, XML is case sensitive!):

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui">
<ribbon startFromScratch="false">
<tabs>
<tab id="customTab" label="Extra">
   <group id="firstGroup" label="First Group">
      <button id="button1" label="First button" onAction="YouHitMe1"/>
      <button id="button2" label="Second button" onAction="YouHitMe2"/>
      <menu id="menu1" label="Menu example">
         <button id="menuButton1" label="First menu item" onAction="MenuChoice"/>
         <button id="menuButton2" label="Second menu item" onAction="MenuChoice"/>
      </menu>
   </group>
</tab></tabs></ribbon></customUI>

Now create a new workbook, save it to the desktop as Test.xlsm and close it. Rename it by adding the .zip extension to the file name so it becomes Test.xlsm.zip. Double click it. The file opens in a folder window.

Drag and drop ExtraTab.xml in the root of the zip file.

Double click the _rels folder and drag the .rels file to the desktop. Right click it and select Edit. Just before the final </Relationships> element at the end, add the following text:

<Relationship Id="customUIRelID" Target="ExtraTab.xml"
 Type="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/relationships/ui/extensibility"/>

Before testing you should open Excel Options, Advanced, go to the General section and check Show add-in user interface errors. Now Excel will warn you when an error occurs and give you an indication of its nature and location.

Remove the .zip extension from Test.xlsm.zip and double click Test.xlsm. If you didn't make any mistakes, your Ribbon should have an additional Extra tab at the end with two buttons and a menu.

When you click on a control now, you get an error because there are no macros assigned to them yet.

Open VB editor, right click VBAProject(Test.xlsm) in the Project pane, select Insert, Module and insert the following text:

Option Explicit                                  
Sub YouHitMe1(Control As IRibbonControl)
   MsgBox "Hello, you clicked 'First button'"
End Sub                                          
Sub YouHitMe2(Control As IRibbonControl)
   MsgBox "Hello, you clicked 'Second button'"
End Sub                                          
Sub MenuChoice(control As IRibbonControl)
Select Case control.ID
   Case "menuButton1"
      MsgBox "Hello, you clicked 'First menu item'"
   Case "menuButton2"
      MsgBox "Hello, you clicked 'Second menu item'"
End Select
End Sub                                          

Suppose you want to add a group in the Extra tab that should only be visible when a particular sheet is active. Example 2 shows you how to do it.

What about Personal.xlsm?

Create a new workbook and save it as an Excel add-in. In the Save As dialog type Personal for example as file name and select Excel Add-in (*.xlam) in the Save as type: drop down. Excel automatically selects the AddIns folder (typically C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\AddIns\).

Go to Excel Options and select Add-Ins. In the Manage: drop down, select Excel Add-ins and click Go.... In the Add-Ins dialog, check Personal and click OK. Now perform the example procedure with this add-in file.

What about Word?