Sandbox | Mac Excel Automation

Problems with Apple’s sandbox requirements

In Windows Excel 97-and higher and in Mac Excel 2011 you can open files or save files where you want in almost every folder on your system without warnings or requests for permission. But in Mac Office 2016 and higher Microsoft have to deal with Apple’s sandbox requirements. When you use VBA in Mac Excel 2016 or higher that Save or Open files you will notice that it is possible that it will ask you permission to access the file or folder (Grant File Access Prompt), this is because of Apple’s sandbox requirements.This means that when you want to save/open files or check if it exists with VBA code the first time you will be prompted to allow access on the first attempt to access such a folder or file.

How to avoid problems

There are a few places on your Mac that you can use to avoid the prompts and let your code do what it needs to do without user interaction. But these folders are not in a place that a user can easily find so below are some steps that I hope to make it easier for you to access the folder manual if you want.

This is the Root folder on my machine that we use in the examples on this page:
/Users/rondebruin/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office
Note: rondebruin is the user name in this path and I agree that the naming of the folder for Office(UBF8T346G9.Office) is not so nice, but Microsoft do not have control of this name.

The folder above you can use to share data between Office programs or with a third party application, so this location will always work if you want to have read and write access. If you want to have a location only for Excel for example use this path : /Users/rondebruin/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data I not use this location on this example page to be sure that every Office program can access my files if this is needed. To get this Excel path you can also use Environ("HOME") or Environ("CFFIXED_USER_HOME")

Manual create a folder for your Excel files in the Office folder

Follow the steps below :

Open a Finder Window
Hold the Alt key when you press on Go in the Finder menu bar
Click on Library
Open the Group Containers folder
Open the UBF8T346G9.Office folder
Create a Folder inside this folder named MyExcelFolder for example
Select this folder

This are three ways to easily open the folder manual :

Add it to your Favorites in Finder by dragging it to it.
Add it to your Favorites in Finder with the shortcut : cmd Ctrl T
Drag the folder to the Desktop with the CMD and Alt key down. You now have a link(alias) to the folder on your desktop so it is easy to find it and open it in the future.

Note : Adding the folder to your Favorites is my favorite because you see the folder in your open and save dialogs in Excel. Or use this script one time to create a folder for your Office files and create shortcuts to a few important folders, check out this page : Setup your Mac for Mac Office

How to create a folder in the Office folder with VBA code

Below you find a macro and a function that you can use to create a folder if it not exists in the Root folder named : UBF8T346G9.Office In the macro you see one line that call the function and the argument is the name of the folder that you want to create. Change "MyProject" to something else to create another folder.

Sub MakeFolderinMacOffice()
    'Create folder if it not exists in the Microsoft Office Folder
    'This macro use the custom function
    'named : CreateFolderinMacOffice
    Call CreateFolderinMacOffice(NameFolder:="MyProject")
End Sub

Function CreateFolderinMacOffice(NameFolder As String) As String
    'Function to create folder if it not exists in the Microsoft Office Folder
    'Ron de Bruin : 13-July-2020
    Dim OfficeFolder As String
    Dim PathToFolder As String
    Dim TestStr As String

    OfficeFolder = MacScript("return POSIX path of (path to desktop folder) as string")
    OfficeFolder = Replace(OfficeFolder, "/Desktop", "") & _
        "Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/"

    PathToFolder = OfficeFolder & NameFolder

    On Error Resume Next
    TestStr = Dir(PathToFolder & "*", vbDirectory)
    On Error GoTo 0
    If TestStr = vbNullString Then
        MkDir PathToFolder
        'You can use this msgbox line for testing if you want
        'MsgBox "You find the new folder in this location :" & PathToFolder
    End If
    CreateFolderinMacOffice = PathToFolder
End Function

How do I open files with VBA code in the folder MyProject?

Below you find a macro and a function that you can use to open a file in the sub folder MyProject of the UBF8T346G9.Office folder. In the macro you see one line that call the function and there are two arguments, the folder name and file name.

Note : You can also add code in the macro to test if the file is already open, I use that also in the code example in this section : Browse to a file or files in a sub folder of the Office folder.

Sub OpenFileinMacOffice()
    'Open a file in a sub folder of the Office folder
    'This macro use the custom function
    'named : MacOfficeOpenFile
    Dim FileString As String
    Dim wb As Workbook
    FileString = MacOfficeOpenFile(FolderName:="MyProject", FileName:="ron.xlsm")
    If FileString <> "Error" Then
        Set wb = Workbooks.Open(FileString)
        'You can do with wb now what you want
    End If
End Sub

Function MacOfficeOpenFile(FolderName As String, FileName As String) As String
    'Function to open a file in a sub folder of the Office folder
    'Ron de Bruin : 13-July-2020
    Dim OfficeFolder As String
    Dim PathToFile As String
    Dim TestStr As String
    Dim wb As Workbook

    OfficeFolder = MacScript("return POSIX path of (path to desktop folder) as string")
    OfficeFolder = Replace(OfficeFolder, "/Desktop", "") & _
        "Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/"
    PathToFile = OfficeFolder & FolderName & Application.PathSeparator & FileName

    On Error Resume Next
    TestStr = Dir(PathToFile)
    On Error GoTo 0
    If TestStr = vbNullString Then
        MacOfficeOpenFile = "Error"
        MsgBox "Sorry the file not exists in this location : " & PathToFile
    Else
        MacOfficeOpenFile = PathToFile
    End If
End Function

How do I save a file with VBA code in the MyProject folder ?

The first macro create a file of only the activesheet and save it in a folder named MyProject and the second macro save a copy of the file in a folder named Backup. Both are sub folders of your UBF8T346G9.Office folder.

Note : Both macros use the custom function CreateFolderinMacOffice that you find in the first section of this page.

Sub SaveAsExcel()
    'Save only the activesheet with a Date/time stamp in a sub folder
    'in the Microsoft Office Folder
    'This macro use the custom function named : CreateFolderinMacOffice
    Dim Folderstring As String
    Dim Sourcewb As Workbook
    Dim Destwb As Workbook
    Dim FileExtStr As String
    Dim FileFormatNum As Long
    Dim FileName As String

    'Create folder if it not exists in the Microsoft Office Folder
    Folderstring = CreateFolderinMacOffice(NameFolder:="MyProject")

    'set reference to the Active Workbook
    Set Sourcewb = ActiveWorkbook

    'Copy the ActiveSheet to a new workbook
    'You can also use Sheets("MySheetName").Copy
    ActiveSheet.Copy
    Set Destwb = ActiveWorkbook

    'Determine file extension/format
    With Destwb
        Select Case Sourcewb.FileFormat
            Case 51: FileExtStr = ".xlsx": FileFormatNum = 51
            Case 52:
                If .HasVBProject Then
                    FileExtStr = ".xlsm": FileFormatNum = 52
                Else
                    FileExtStr = ".xlsx": FileFormatNum = 51
                End If
            Case 56: FileExtStr = ".xls": FileFormatNum = 56
            Case Else: FileExtStr = ".xlsb": FileFormatNum = 50
        End Select
    End With

    '    'Change all cells in the worksheet to values if you want
    '    With Destwb.Sheets(1).UsedRange
    '        .Cells.Copy
    '        .Cells.PasteSpecial xlPasteValues
    '        .Cells(1).Select
    '    End With
    '    Application.CutCopyMode = False


    'Name the file and Save it
    FileName = "Part of " & Sourcewb.Name & " " & Format(Now, "dd-mmm-yy h-mm-ss")
    With Destwb
        .SaveAs Folderstring & Application.PathSeparator & FileName & _
            FileExtStr, FileFormat:=FileFormatNum
    End With

    'Close the file
    Destwb.Close False
    MsgBox "You find a workbook with the active sheet in this folder :" & Folderstring
End Sub


Sub SaveCopyAsExcel()
    'Save a copy of the file with a Date/time stamp in a sub folder
    'in the Microsoft Office Folder
    'This macro use the custom function named : CreateFolderinMacOffice
    Dim Folderstring As String
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Dim StrFilePath As String
    Dim StrFileName As String
    Dim FileExtStr As String

    'Create folder if it not exists in the Microsoft Office Folder
    Folderstring = CreateFolderinMacOffice(NameFolder:="Backup")

    Set wb = ActiveWorkbook

    StrFilePath = Folderstring & Application.PathSeparator
    StrFileName = "Copy of " & wb.Name & " " & Format(Now, "dd-mmm-yy h-mm-ss")
    FileExtStr = "." & LCase(Right(wb.Name, Len(wb.Name) - InStrRev(wb.Name, ".", , 1)))

    With wb
        .SaveCopyAs StrFilePath & StrFileName & FileExtStr
    End With

    MsgBox "You find a copy of the workbook in this folder :" & StrFilePath
End Sub

Browse to a file or files in a sub folder of the Office folder

In the example below it opens a browse dialog with a folder folder named : MyProject from your UBF8T346G9.Office folder and you are only able to select xlsx files. Below the macro you find a list of format names and you can read how you can change it. Note: Do not forget to copy the bIsBookOpen function in your module, you find it below the macro.

Sub Select_File_Or_Files_Mac_Office()
    'Select files in sub folder of the Mac Office folder
    'Working only in Mac Office 2016 or higher
    'http://www.rondebruin.nl/mac/mac034.htm
    'Ron de Bruin, 13 July 2020
    Dim NameFolder As String
    Dim OfficeFolder As String
    Dim MyPath As String
    Dim MyScript As String
    Dim MyFiles As String
    Dim MySplit As Variant
    Dim N As Long
    Dim Fname As String
    Dim mybook As Workbook
    Dim OneFile As Boolean
    Dim FileFormat As String

    'Fill in the name of the folder where the files are that you want to select
    'Note: this must be a subfolder of your Office folder
    NameFolder = "MyExcelFolder"

    'In this example you can only select xlsx files
    'See my webpage how to use other and more formats.
    FileFormat = "{""org.openxmlformats.spreadsheetml.sheet""}"

    ' Set to True if you only want to be able to select one file
    ' And to False to be able to select one or more files
    OneFile = True

    On Error Resume Next
    OfficeFolder = MacScript("return POSIX path of (path to desktop folder) as string")
    OfficeFolder = Replace(OfficeFolder, "/Desktop", "") & "Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/"

    MyPath = MacScript("return POSIX file(" & _
        Chr(34) & OfficeFolder & NameFolder & Chr(34) & ")")

    'Building the applescript string, do not change this
    If OneFile = True Then
        MyScript = _
            "set theFile to (choose file of type" & _
            " " & FileFormat & " " & _
            "with prompt ""Please select a file"" default location alias """ & _
            MyPath & """ without multiple selections allowed) as string" & vbNewLine & _
            "return posix path of theFile"
    Else
        MyScript = _
            "set theFiles to (choose file of type" & _
            " " & FileFormat & " " & _
            "with prompt ""Please select a file or files"" default location alias """ & _
            MyPath & """ with multiple selections allowed)" & vbNewLine & _
            "set thePOSIXFiles to {}" & vbNewLine & _
            "repeat with aFile in theFiles" & vbNewLine & _
            "set end of thePOSIXFiles to POSIX path of aFile" & vbNewLine & _
            "end repeat" & vbNewLine & _
            "set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, ASCII character 10}" & vbNewLine & _
            "set thePOSIXFiles to thePOSIXFiles as text" & vbNewLine & _
            "set text item delimiters to TID" & vbNewLine & _
            "return thePOSIXFiles"
    End If
   
    MyFiles = MacScript(MyScript)
    On Error GoTo 0

    'If you select one or more files MyFiles is not empty
    'We can do things with the file paths now like I show you below
    If MyFiles <> "" Then
        With Application
            .ScreenUpdating = False
            .EnableEvents = False
        End With

        MySplit = Split(MyFiles, Chr(10))
        For N = LBound(MySplit) To UBound(MySplit)

            'Get file name only and test if it is open
            Fname = Right(MySplit(N), Len(MySplit(N)) - InStrRev(MySplit(N), _
                Application.PathSeparator, , 1))

            If bIsBookOpen(Fname) = False Then

                Set mybook = Nothing
                On Error Resume Next
                Set mybook = Workbooks.Open(MySplit(N))
                On Error GoTo 0

                If Not mybook Is Nothing Then
                    MsgBox "You open this file : " & MySplit(N) & vbNewLine & _
                    "And after you press OK it will be closed" & vbNewLine & _
                    "without saving, replace this line with your own code."
                    mybook.Close savechanges:=False
                End If
            Else
                MsgBox "We skip this file : " & MySplit(N) & " because it Is already open"
            End If

            Next N
        With Application
            .ScreenUpdating = True
            .EnableEvents = True
        End With
    End If
End Sub

Function bIsBookOpen(ByRef szBookName As String) As Boolean
    ' Rob Bovey
    On Error Resume Next
    bIsBookOpen = Not (Application.Workbooks(szBookName) Is Nothing)
End Function

Other File formats

In the macro you see this code line that say which file format you can select (xlsx).

FileFormat = "{""org.openxmlformats.spreadsheetml.sheet""}"

If you want more then one format you can use this to be able to also select xls files.

FileFormat = "{""org.openxmlformats.spreadsheetml.sheet"",""com.microsoft.Excel.xls""}"

This is a list of a few formats that you can use :

xls : com.microsoft.Excel.xls
xlsx : org.openxmlformats.spreadsheetml.sheet
xlsm : org.openxmlformats.spreadsheetml.sheet.macroenabled
xlsb : com.microsoft.Excel.sheet.binary.macroenabled
csv : public.comma-separated-values-text
doc : com.microsoft.word.doc
docx : org.openxmlformats.wordprocessingml.document
docm : org.openxmlformats.wordprocessingml.document.macroenabled
ppt : com.microsoft.powerpoint.ppt
pptx : org.openxmlformats.presentationml.presentation
pptm : org.openxmlformats.presentationml.presentation.macroenabled
txt : public.plain-text
pdf : com.adobe.pdf
jpg : public.jpeg
png : public.png
QIF : com.apple.traditional-mac-plain-text
htm : public.html