isladogs
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In May 2024, Microsoft announced the planned deprecation of VBScript at some future date. This change impacts VBA developers who rely on VBScript, particularly for reference libraries such as regular expressions. As a result, it has caused significant concern amongst many VBA developers.
However, some important news was shared in a Microsoft Office blog post published on 9 Sept 2025: Prepare your VBA projects for VBScript deprecation in Windows
"Starting with Office Version 2508 (Build 19127.20154) on Windows, RegExp classes are included in the VBA for Office by default. This enables the use of RegExp functions in VBA scripts without referencing external libraries. These features require Microsoft 365 version 2508 or later.
Use RegExp classes included in VBE
The default RegExp classes in VBA in Office version 2508 or later contain four types of classes to define the object type: RegExp, Match, MatchCollection, and SubMatches. There are slight differences between objects created as early binding and as late binding. For more information on early and late binding, see Early and Late Binding on Microsoft Learn.
To create a variable for RegExp object type as early binding in VBA script, no external reference to external library is needed."
With M365 Version 2508 Build 19127.20154 onwards, you will see the following in the VBE Object Browser:
The result is that if all users are on Office version 2508 or later, you no longer need to manually add the vbscript.dll reference library (for early binding) or reference it (for late binding).
This news appears to solve the justifiable ccncerns that people had about the consequent implications for RegExp when VBScript deprecation was announced in 2024.
I have written a draft article about this news:
www.isladogs.co.uk
Before I publish it, I'm hoping to get clarification about whether this also apples to perpetual licensed retail (non-LTSC) versions of Office from 2016 onwards
If you have Office 2016/2019/2021/2024 on Current Channel 2508, please could you check the VBA library as in the screenshot above and let me know whether this also applies to you
However, some important news was shared in a Microsoft Office blog post published on 9 Sept 2025: Prepare your VBA projects for VBScript deprecation in Windows
"Starting with Office Version 2508 (Build 19127.20154) on Windows, RegExp classes are included in the VBA for Office by default. This enables the use of RegExp functions in VBA scripts without referencing external libraries. These features require Microsoft 365 version 2508 or later.
Use RegExp classes included in VBE
The default RegExp classes in VBA in Office version 2508 or later contain four types of classes to define the object type: RegExp, Match, MatchCollection, and SubMatches. There are slight differences between objects created as early binding and as late binding. For more information on early and late binding, see Early and Late Binding on Microsoft Learn.
To create a variable for RegExp object type as early binding in VBA script, no external reference to external library is needed."
With M365 Version 2508 Build 19127.20154 onwards, you will see the following in the VBE Object Browser:
The result is that if all users are on Office version 2508 or later, you no longer need to manually add the vbscript.dll reference library (for early binding) or reference it (for late binding).
This news appears to solve the justifiable ccncerns that people had about the consequent implications for RegExp when VBScript deprecation was announced in 2024.
I have written a draft article about this news:
RegExp Added to VBA Library with Office Version 2508
Starting with Office version 2508, RegExp is now included in the default VBA library. It will no longer be dependant on VBScript which is in the early stages of being deprecated.
www.isladogs.co.uk
Before I publish it, I'm hoping to get clarification about whether this also apples to perpetual licensed retail (non-LTSC) versions of Office from 2016 onwards
If you have Office 2016/2019/2021/2024 on Current Channel 2508, please could you check the VBA library as in the screenshot above and let me know whether this also applies to you
