Setting the Ribbon Name in Code

The typical way to choose a custom ribbon in an Access application is via File > Options > Current Database > Ribbon Name.

But what if you want to assign that ribbon name in code?  It's quite easy once you know where the information is stored: in a database property named CustomRibbonID:

So, if we wanted to set the application-level ribbon to our Print Preview ribbon, we could use the following code:

CurrentDB.Properties("CustomRibbonID").Value = "gbRibbonPrintPreview"

Handling the "Property not found" Error

Now, let's say you haven't set a custom Ribbon Name through the Options dialog yet–or you set it at one time but then cleared it out:

If your "Ribbon and Toolbar Options" look like the above screenshot, then you won't be able to assign a value to the CustomRibbonID database property because it doesn't exist:

In this situation, you would need to create the property itself and then append it to the database properties collection.  You can do this in a single line of code if you wanted to:

CurrentDB.Properties.Append CurrentDB.CreateProperty("CustomRibbonID", dbText, "gbRibbonTaxColl2k")

The problem is that if you run the above code and the property already exists, then you'll get a different error message:

The SetProp() Routine

Rather than worrying about whether the property exists or not, you can just use my SetProp() routine which will handle either scenario gracefully:

SetProp "CustomRibbonID", "gbRibbonTaxColl2k" 

Referenced articles

Database Properties for Thee
The DAO Database object has a Properties collection. You can read through the list of properties to extract saved database options. You can also add your own properties to the object.

External references

Apply a custom ribbon when starting Access
How to apply customized ribbons when opening a database in Access 2013.

Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay