Cannot Enable or Disable Built-in Commands with a Macro (160903)

SYMPTOMS

When you run a macro that attempts to set the Enabled property for a built-in menu command or a submenu command, you receive an error message.

In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, you receive the following error message:

Run-time error '1004':
Application-defined or object-defined error

In Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 7.0, you receive the following error message:

Run-time error '1005':
Cannot enable built-in commands.

RESOLUTION

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Simulating Disabling a Built-in Menu Command

You cannot enable or disable a built-in menu command. However, you can create a macro that gives a built-in menu command the appearance of being disabled.

The sample macro in this article makes the built-in Exit menu command on the File menu appear disabled. This macro performs the following steps:

The built-in menu command location is saved.
The built-in menu command is deleted.
A custom menu command with the same caption and index is added to the menu.
The custom menu command is disabled.

Sample Macro

     Sub Disable_Builtin_MenuItem()

       Dim i
       Dim x

       'If you are using Microsoft Excel on the Macintosh replace
       'the word "Exit" with "Quit" on the following line
       With MenuBars(xlWorksheet).Menus("File").MenuItems("Exit")
           i = .Index     'Save the position of the built-in menu command.
           .Delete        'Delete the built-in menu command.
       End With

       'Add a custom menu command with the same caption and index as the
       'built-in menu command that you deleted.
       Set x = MenuBars(xlWorksheet).Menus("File").MenuItems.Add _
           (Caption:="Exit", before:=i)
       x.Enabled = False

   End Sub

Resetting the Menu That Is Changed by the Sample Macro

To reset the entire menu to the default values, run the following macro:

   Sub ResetMenubar()
 
      MenuBars(xlWorksheet).Reset
 
   End Sub

NOTE: There is not a way to reset a single menu or menu command.