Cat On A Spreadsheet

Semantic Versioning and Release Governance for Excel-Based Tools

Once you have a build pipeline for your VBA projects, a new problem appears almost immediately. You can now build reliably — but how do you decide what you are releasing, when you should release it, and how risky that release actually is?

Many Excel tools collapse under their own success at this stage. Users begin to depend on them, workflows form around them, and suddenly a “small tweak” breaks a critical process. The issue is rarely technical. It is almost always the absence of a shared language around change. Semantic versioning and release governance provide that language.

This post explains how to apply software-grade versioning discipline to Excel and VBA tools in a way that feels natural, lightweight, and proportionate — without turning spreadsheets into bureaucratic nightmares.

Why Version Numbers Matter More Than You Think

A version number is not just an identifier. It is a contract. When users open a workbook labeled version 1.2.3, they are implicitly trusting that it behaves in a predictable way relative to 1.2.2 and very differently from 2.0.0. When that trust is broken, confidence erodes quickly, even if the underlying change was well intentioned.

In unmanaged Excel environments, version numbers are often cosmetic or misleading. Files are renamed, overwritten, emailed around, and quietly modified. Semantic versioning replaces ambiguity with intent.

Applying Semantic Versioning to VBA Projects

Semantic versioning divides change into three categories: breaking changes, backward-compatible enhancements, and backward-compatible fixes. In Excel terms, these categories map very cleanly to real user impact.

A breaking change is anything that alters how users interact with the tool in a way that existing workflows cannot tolerate. Removing a button, renaming a worksheet, changing the meaning of an input cell, or modifying the shape of exported data all qualify. These changes demand a major version increment.

Enhancements add new functionality without breaking existing behavior. New reports, optional features, additional buttons, or performance improvements typically fall into this category. These justify a minor version increment. Fixes correct incorrect behavior without changing intent. Bug fixes, calculation corrections, and defensive coding improvements belong here. These should only increment the patch version.

Once this language is established, discussions about change become clearer and less emotional. You are no longer arguing about whether a change is “small” — you are classifying its impact.

Encoding the Version Into the Workbook

A version that only exists in source control is not useful to users. The workbook itself must declare its version unambiguously.

A common and reliable pattern is to store the version in a hidden named range, stamped during the build process. This ensures that the version always reflects the actual contents of the file.

  Public Sub SetAppVersion(Version As String)
 
      On Error Resume Next
 
      ThisWorkbook.Names("AppVersion").Delete
 
      On Error GoTo 0
 
      ThisWorkbook.Names.Add "AppVersion", "=""" & Version & """"
 
 End Sub

At runtime, this value can be surfaced in an “About” dialog, status bar message, or diagnostic screen. Users should never have to guess what they are running.

Release Governance Without Bureaucracy

Governance does not mean slowing down. It means being deliberate. A healthy Excel release process answers three questions before any production file is distributed. What changed, why it changed, and who approved it. A simple release note file stored alongside the source code often suffices. Each release documents the version number, the date, and a short narrative description of changes. Over time, this becomes an invaluable institutional memory.

Governance also means deciding where releases come from. Production files should only ever be built from tagged versions in source control, never from a developer’s working copy. This rule alone eliminates an enormous class of accidental regressions.

Managing Breaking Changes Explicitly

Breaking changes are inevitable. What matters is how visible and controlled they are.

When a breaking change is introduced, the major version must change, and the workbook should detect incompatible older states proactively. This can be as simple as checking expected worksheet names, required named ranges, or configuration values on startup.

  Public Sub ValidateWorkbookState()
 
      If Not NameExists("RequiredConfig") Then
 
          MsgBox "This workbook is incompatible with the current version.", vbCritical
 
          End
 
      End If
 
 End Sub

Failing fast is kinder than producing silent corruption.

Release Cadence and User Trust

Frequent releases are not inherently bad. Unpredictable releases are. Users adapt quickly when they understand the rhythm of change. If fixes arrive regularly and enhancements arrive deliberately, trust grows. If major behavior changes appear without warning, trust disappears.

Semantic versioning gives you a way to signal intent before users even open the file. Over time, users learn what to expect from a patch update versus a major one, and resistance to change decreases dramatically.

Why This Complements a Build Pipeline Perfectly

Build pipelines make releases possible. Versioning and governance make them safe. Together, they transform Excel from a fragile artifact into a managed system. Bugs become traceable. Rollbacks become possible. Conversations become clearer. And the emotional load of maintaining large Excel solutions drops significantly.

At this point in the series, Excel is no longer just a productivity tool. It is an application platform with discipline, structure, and longevity.