Opening a powerpoint file in VBA (Office XP)

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I must be missing something really obvious here, but can’t find out what! I’m just trying to open a powerpoint file (in this case a slide show, but I get the same error with presentations) using VBA in Excel (this isn’t the exact code I’m using but amounts to the same thing):

Dim pp as Powerpoint.Application, pps as Powerpoint.Presentation
Set pp = New Powerpoint.Application
Set pps = pp.Presentations.Open(“H:My Documentsfilename.pps”)

… and get the error shown in the attached screenshot. What am I doing wrong?

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You must either make PowerPoint visible before opening the slide show/presentation:

Dim pp as Powerpoint.Application, pps as Powerpoint.Presentation
Set pp = New Powerpoint.Application
pp.Visible = True
Set pps = pp.Presentations.Open(“H:My Documentsfilename.pps”)

or open the slide show/presentation without opening a window:

Dim pp as Powerpoint.Application, pps as Powerpoint.Presentation
Set pp = New Powerpoint.Application
Set pps = pp.Presentations.Open(FileName:=”H:My Documentsfilename.pps”, WithWindow:=False)

If you open the slide show/presentation without a window, it will be invisible, but available for manipulation in code.

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Thanks, Hans, that’s perfect. I’m only opening the file to read it’s properties (pps.BuiltinDocumentProperties) and then closing it again, so I’ve gone for the second option.

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It is also possible to read built-in document properties without opening the file. See Dsofile.dll lets you edit Office document properties without Office in Visual Basic .NET 2003 and in Visual Basic .NET 2002. (It works in Office VBA too, despite the .NET reference)

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Excellent! Thanks again, I’ll give it a go.

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Works a dream. It also seems that you can edit the properties using that .dll, too, although I haven’t tried that yet. My organisation has just introduced some new rules around file handling, stipulating that the document properties have to be filled in for every document, spreadsheet, etc. – doing it en mass in VBA is going to make life SO much easier. Thanks again, Hans, you’re a hero!

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