Skip to main content

Kutools for Office — One Suite. Five Tools. Get More Done.

How to get the active workbook location/path in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

Sometimes, you may open multiple workbooks at the same time, and you may forget the workbooks’ locations, and now I will introduce the methods to get the active workbook location/path in Excel.

Get workbook location with formulas

Get workbook location with Kutools for Excel good idea3

Get workbook location with VBA

Open containing folder with Kutools for Excelgood idea3


Get workbook location with formulas

In Excel, you can get workbook location with formula.

Select a cell and select one of below formulas and paste it into the cell, and press Enter key to get the location.

To get workbook location

=LEFT(CELL("filename",A1),FIND("[",CELL("filename",A1))-1)

To get workbook location and workbook name

=SUBSTITUTE( LEFT(CELL("filename",A1),FIND("]",CELL("filename",A1))-1),"[","")

To get workbook location, workbook name and active worksheet name

=CELL("filename",A1)

Notes: If you have never saved active workbook before, the first two formulas will return #VALUE! errors, while the formula =CELL("filename",A1) will return blank.


Get workbook location with Kutools for Excel

With Kutools for Excel’s Insert Workbook Information utility, you can get the workbook location and then insert it into a cell you need.

Kutools for Excel offers over 300 advanced features to streamline complex tasks, boosting creativity and efficiency. Itegarate with AI capabilities, Kutools automates tasks with precision, making data management effortless. Detailed information of Kutools for Excel...         Free trial...

After free installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:

1. Select a cell you want to insert workbook location, and click Kutools Plus > Workbook > Insert Workbook information. See screenshot:

click Insert Workbook information feature of kutools

2. In the Insert Workbook Information dialog, check the information option you need to insert in Information section, and then you also can specify to insert the information at cell, header or footer in Insert at section.

set options in the Insert Workbook Information dialog

3. Click Ok. Now the information you selected has been inserted.

the information you selected has been inserted

Note: If active workbook has never been saved before, this utility will return the text of “This workbook never saved”.


Get workbook location with VBA

If you want to try to get workbook location with VBA, you can do as below:

1. Enable the workbook, and press Alt + F11 keys to enable Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window, then click Insert > Module to display a Module window.

2. Paste below VBA code to the Module window.

VBA: Show workbook location

Sub DisplayWorkbookPath()
    MsgBox ActiveWorkbook.Path, vbInformation, "Workbook Path"
End Sub

3. Click Run button, then a dialog pops out to show the workbook path for you.

vba code to show the workbook path

Note: If you have never saved active workbook before, this VBA will throw out a blank dialog box. See screenshot:

 a blank dialog box is shown if the file is not saved

If you want to show the workbook location and workbook name, you can use below VBA:

VBA: Show workbook location and workbook name

Sub DisplayWorkbookFullName()

    MsgBox ActiveWorkbook.FullName, vbInformation, "Workbook Complete Path"

End Sub

Open containing folder with Kutools for Excel

If you want to pop out the folder which containing the current workbook, you also can apply Open Containing Folder of Kutools for Excel.

After free installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:

Activate the workbook you want to open its folder, and click Kutools Plus > Workbook > Open Containing Folder. See screenshot:

click Open Containing Folder feature of kutools

Then the folder containing active workbook is opened.

Best Office Productivity Tools

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup    Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar    Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells    Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more
Use Kutools in your preferred language – supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...


Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!

All Kutools add-ins. One installer

Kutools for Office suite bundles add-ins for Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint plus Office Tab Pro, which is ideal for teams working across Office apps.

Excel Word Outlook Tabs PowerPoint
  • All-in-one suite — Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint add-ins + Office Tab Pro
  • One installer, one license — set up in minutes (MSI-ready)
  • Works better together — streamlined productivity across Office apps
  • 30-day full-featured trial — no registration, no credit card
  • Best value — save vs buying individual add-in