Forum Discussion
Opening a Word document from an Excel spreadsheet
YES, YES, YES! That works, Thank you so much.
Helloaekbus,
Yes, it’s possible to open a Word document directly from an Excel macro. You just need to automate Word from within Excel using VBA. A simple example looks like this:
Sub OpenWordDoc()
Dim wdApp As Object
Dim wdDoc As Object
Dim docPath As String
' Full path to your Word document
docPath = "C:\Users\YourName\Documents\Example.docx"
' Create a new Word application instance
Set wdApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
' Open the document
Set wdDoc = wdApp.Documents.Open(docPath)
' Make Word visible
wdApp.Visible = True
End Sub
CreateObject(“Word.Application”) starts Word from Excel.
Documents.Open(docPath) opens the file.
wdApp.Visible = True ensures you can see Word; otherwise, it runs hidden.
If Word is already running and you want to attach to that instance instead of starting a new one, you can use:
Set wdApp = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
This way, your Excel macro can open and even interact with Word documents seamlessly.
This procedure worked all except the Visible = true. I have screenprinted the Properties window and the sub as I changed it to my variable names and pasted them into a Word document and will attach it if I can figure out how. Comment: This procedure is not helpful to the user if they cannot see the document. (Few computer skills)
YES, YES, YES! That works, Thank you so much.
Hi aekbus,
You are right - in practice Word can open in the background, so just setting Visible = True is not always enough.
This version handles that and works even if Word is already running:
Sub OpenWordDoc()
Dim wdApp As Object
On Error Resume Next
Set wdApp = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
On Error GoTo 0
If wdApp Is Nothing Then
Set wdApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
End If
wdApp.Visible = True
wdApp.Documents.Open "C:\Path\To\Your\File.docx"
wdApp.Activate
End Sub
This forces Word to become visible and brings it to the front, so the user actually sees the document.