VBA code to open word doc not working

Question

I have searched thru other posts for this topic but can not find a solution. I want to run some VBA code in excel 2016 (on an imac running OS 10.13.5) to open a word document (preferably as Read Only). If an instance of word is already running, I want to close it before proceeding. (It would be nice if word is already running to be asked if I wanted to save the other instance(s) before closing them.) The code I have is

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Dim w As Object
' If word is already open get ahold of the running instance
' Otherwise create a new instance
On Error Resume Next
Set w = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
If w Is Nothing Then Set w = CreateObject("Word.Application")  
On Error GoTo 0
' Close all open files and shutdown Word
' Loop through any open documents and close them
Do Until w.Documents.Count = 0
    w.Documents(1).Close
Loop
w.Quit False
Set w = Nothing
' Now that all instances of word are closed, open the template
Dim wdApp As Object
Dim wdDoc As Object
Set wdApp = CreateObject("Word.application")  
wdApp.Visible = True
wdApp.DisplayAlerts = False
MYPATH = "Volumes/256SSD/""How to do stuff""/""myfile.docx"""
Set wdDoc = wdApp.Documents.Open(FileName:=MYPATH)
End Sub

When I run this with word already open, I get variable results. Sometimes the code runs thru the "do until loop" and seems to close the open word instances then proceeds to the last line and gives a vba runtime error "Application-defined or object-defined error". A word instance has been started and is awaiting input of which file to be opened.

If I immediately run the code again, the "do until loop" is not entered and word come asking for file name input. VBA gives a run time error "Automation error". I can then select a file name from Recent Files and this is opened but the run time error remains and the file selected in MYPATH is not opened.

I would appreciate some help on this.

@urdearboy on error resume next is correctly used here. GetObject will throw an error if Word is not open, which If w Is Nothing catches. Error handling is then immediately reset. — chris neilsen

chris neilsen chris neilsen · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-13T05:46:01

The first part of your code needs work.

It won't close all instances of Word if there are more than one running
If no already open instance of Word is found, it creates one then immediately closes it.

This part could be refactored as

Dim w As Object
On Error Resume Next
    Set w = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
On Error GoTo 0
Do Until w Is Nothing
    Do Until w.Documents.Count = 0
        w.Documents(1).Close SaveChanges:=-2
    Loop
    w.Quit SaveChanges:=0
    Set w = Nothing
    On Error Resume Next
        Set w = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
    On Error GoTo 0
Loop
On Error GoTo 0

VBA code to open word doc not working

1 Answers