Last updated February 3, 1997

Visual Basic supports a set of objects that correspond directly to elements in Microsoft Word 97, most of which you're familiar with from the user interface. For example, the Document object represents an open document, the Bookmark object represents a bookmark in a document, and the Selection object represents the selection in a document window pane. Every type of element in Word — documents, tables, paragraphs, bookmarks, fields, and so on — can be represented by an object in Visual Basic. To automate tasks in Word, use methods and properties of these objects.

When you start a Word session, you automatically create an Application object. You use properties or methods of the Application object to control or return application­wide attributes, to control the appearance of the application window, and to get to the rest of the Word object model. Use the Application property to return the Word Application object. The following example switches the view to print preview.

Some properties of the Application object control the appearance of the application. For example, if the DisplayStatusBar property is True, the status bar is visible, and if WindowState property is wdWindowStateMaximize, the application window is maximized. The following example sets the size of the application window on the screen.

Properties of the Application object also provide access to objects lower in the object hierarchy, such as the Windows collection (representing all currently open windows) and the Documents collection (representing all currently open documents). You use properties, which are sometimes called accessors, to move down through the object hierarchy from the top­level Application object to the lower levels (Document, Window, Selection, and so forth). You can use either of following examples to open MyDoc.doc.

Because the Documents property is global, the Application property is optional. Global properties and methods don't need the Application object qualifier. To view the list of global properties and methods in the Object Browser, click <globals> in the Classes box. The global items are listed in the Members of box.

When you open or create a file in Word, you create a Document object. You use properties and methods of the Document object or the Documents collection to open, create, save, activate, and close files.

In addition to referring to a document by either its name or index number, you can use the ActiveDocument property to return a Document object that refers to the active document (the document with the focus). The following example displays the name of the active document; if there are no documents open, the example displays a message.

To open an existing document, use the Open method. The Open method applies to the Documents collection, which you return using the Documents property. The following example opens the file Test.doc (from the current folder) and turns on change tracking.

Notice that the return value of the Open method in the preceding example is a Document object that represents the document that was just opened. The file name in the example doesn't contain a path; therefore, the file is assumed to be in the current folder. This is guaranteed to cause a run­time error, because as soon as the user makes a different folder the current folder, Visual Basic can no longer find the file. You can, however, ensure that the correct file is opened by specifying the complete path, as shown in the following table.

If your macro is intended for only one file system, you can hard­code the path separator ("\" or ":") in the FileName argument, as shown in the preceding table. The following example shows file­system­independent code you can use to open Sales.doc, assuming that Sales.doc has been saved in the Word program folder.

The PathSeparator property returns the correct separator character for the current file system (for example, "\" for MS­DOS/Windows FAT or ":" for the Macintosh). The DefaultFilePath property returns folder locations such as the paths for the document folder, the program folder, and the current folder.

Instead of hard­coding the FileName argument of the Open method, you may want to allow a user to select a file to open. Use the Dialogs property with the wdDialogFileOpen constant to return a Dialog object that refers to the Open dialog box (File menu), as in the following example. The Show method displays and executes actions performed in the Open dialog box.

For more information about displaying Word dialog boxes, see "Displaying built­in Word dialog boxes" in Help.

To determine whether a particular document is open, you can enumerate the Documents collection by using a For Each...Next statement. The following example activates the document named "Sample.doc" if it's already open; if it's not currently open, the example opens it.

Use the Count property to determine how many documents are currently open. The Count property applies to the Documents collection, which you return using the Documents property. The following example displays a message if there are no documents open.

To create a new document, apply the Add method to the Documents collection. The following example creates a new document.

The Add method returns the document that was just created as a Document object. When you add a document, you can set the return value of the Add method to an object variable so that you can refer to the new document in your code. The following example creates a new document and sets its top margin to 1.25 inches.

To save a new document for the first time, use the SaveAs method with a Document object. The following example saves the active document as "Temp.doc" in the current folder.

After a document is saved, you can use its document name to get to the Document object. The following example creates a new document and immediately saves it as "1996 Sales.doc." The example then uses the new name to index the document in the Documents collection and adds a table to the document.

To save changes to an existing document, use the Save method with a Document object. The following instruction saves the document named "Sales.doc."

If you use the Save method with an unsaved document or template, the Save As dialog box will prompt the user for a file name. To save all open documents, apply the Save method to the Documents collection. The following example saves all open documents without prompting the user for their file names.

To make a different document the active document, apply the Activate method to a Document object. The following example activates the open document (MyDocument.doc).

The following example opens two documents and then activates the first one (Sample.doc).

To print a document, apply the PrintOut method to a Document object, as shown in the following example.

To programmatically set print options that you'd otherwise set in the Print dialog box (File menu), use the arguments of the PrintOut method. You can use properties of the Options object to set print options that you'd otherwise set on the Print tab in the Options dialog box (Tools menu). The following example sets the active document to print hidden text and then prints the first three pages.

To close a document, apply the Close method to a Document object. The following example closes the document named "Sales.doc."

If there are changes in the document, Word displays a message asking whether the user wants to save changes. You can prevent this prompt from appearing by using the wdDoNotSaveChanges or wdSaveChanges constant with the SaveChanges argument. The following example saves and closes Sales.doc.

To close all open documents, apply the Close method to the Documents collection. The following example closes all documents without saving changes.

From the Document object, you have access to a number of properties and methods that return objects. To view a graphical representation of the objects available from the Document object, see "Microsoft Word Objects (Documents)" in Help. For example, the Tables property, which returns a collection of Table objects, is available from the Document object. Use the Count property with a collection object to determine how many items there are in the collection. The following example displays a message that indicates how many tables there are in the active document.

Information about returning a particular object is available in the object topic itself (for example, "Table Object") and in the corresponding collection object topic (for example, "Tables Collection Object") in Help.

For a list of collection objects that support the Add method, see "Add Method" in Help.

A common task when using Visual Basic is to specify an area in a document and then do something with it, such as insert text or apply formatting. For example, you may want to write a macro that locates a word or phrase within a portion of a document. You can use a Range object to represent the portion of the document you want to search for the specified word or phrase. After you identify the Range object, you can apply methods and properties of this object to modify the contents of the range.

A Range object represents a contiguous area in a document. Each Range object is defined by a starting character position and an ending character position. Similar to the way you use bookmarks in a document, you use Range objects in Visual Basic procedures to identify specific portions of a document. A Range object can be as small as the insertion point or as large as the entire document. However, unlike a bookmark, a Range object exists only while the procedure that defined it is running.

Range objects are independent of the selection; that is, you can define and modify a range without changing the selection. You can also define multiple ranges in a document, while there is only one selection per document pane.

The macro recorder will often create a macro that uses the Selection property to manipulate the Selection object. However, you can usually accomplish the same task with fewer instructions by using one or more Range objects. The following example was created using the macro recorder. This macro applies bold formatting to the first two words in the document.

The following example accomplishes the same task without using the Selection object.

The following example applies bold formatting to the first two words in the document, and then it inserts a new paragraph.

The following example accomplishes the same task as the preceding example without using the Selection object.

Both of the preceding examples change the formatting in the active document without changing the selection. In most cases, Range objects are preferred over the Selection object for the following reasons:

When you need to refer to a Range object multiple times, you can use the Set statement to set a variable equal to the Range object. However, if you need to perform only a single action on a Range object, there's no need to store the object in a variable. You can achieve the same results by using just one instruction that identifies the range and changes the Bold property, as in the following example.

Like a bookmark, a range can span a group of characters or mark a location in a document. In the following example, the starting and ending points of the Range object are the same, and the range doesn't include any text. The example inserts text at the beginning of the active document.

You can define the beginning and ending points of a range by using the character position numbers as shown in the preceding example, or by using the Start and End properties with the Selection, Bookmark, or Range object. The following example creates a Range object that refers to the third and fourth sentences in the active document.

The Range property is available from multiple objects — for instance, Paragraph, Bookmark, Endnote, and Cell — and is used to return a Range object. The following example returns a Range object that refers to the first paragraph in the active document.

After you've created a reference to a Range object, you can use any of its properties or methods to modify the range. The following example copies the first paragraph in the active document.

This following example copies the first row in table one in the active document.

The following example displays the text marked by the first bookmark in the active document. The Range property is available from the Bookmark object.

If you need to apply numerous properties or methods to the same Range object, you can use the With…End With statement. The following example formats the text in the first paragraph in the active document.

For additional examples of returning Range objects, see "Range Property" in Help.

Visual Basic includes objects you can use to modify the following types of document elements: characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and sections. The following table includes the properties that correspond to these document elements and the objects they return.

The items in the Paragraphs and Sections collections are Paragraph and Section objects, respectively, rather than Range objects. However, the Range property (which returns a Range object) is available from both the Paragraph and Section objects. The following example copies the first paragraph in the active document to the Clipboard.

All the document element properties in the preceding table are available from the Document, Selection, and Range objects, as shown in the following three examples.

This example sets the case of the first word in the active document.

This example sets the bottom margin of the first selected section to 0.5 inch.

This example double­spaces the text in the active document (the Content property returns a Range object that represents the main document story).

The following example creates a Range object beginning at the start of the second paragraph and ending after the fourth paragraph.

Use the Text property to return or set the contents of a Range object. The following example returns the first word in the active document.

The following example changes the first word in the active document to "Hello."

Use the InsertAfter or InsertBefore method to insert text before or after a range. The following example inserts text at the beginning of the second paragraph in the active document.

After you use either the InsertAfter or InsertBefore method, the range expands to include the new text. You can, however, collapse the range to its beginning or ending point by using the Collapse method. The following example inserts the word "Hello" before the existing text and then collapses the range to its beginning (before the word "Hello").

Use the Font property to get to character­formatting properties and methods, and use the ParagraphFormat property to get to paragraph­formatting properties and methods. The following example sets character and paragraph formatting for the text in the first paragraph in the active document.

For additional information about and examples of redefining a Range object, see "SetRange Method" in Help.

There are several different ways to loop through the paragraphs in a range. This section includes examples of using the For Each...Next statement and the Next property and method to loop through a range of paragraphs. You can use these same techniques to loop through characters, words, or sentences in a range.

The recommended way to loop through the paragraphs in a range is to use the For Each...Next statement, which is also the recommended way to loop on the elements in a collection. The following example loops through the first five paragraphs in the active document, adding text before each paragraph.

Suppose that you want to modify this code to loop through a range of paragraphs that a user selected. You can use the Selection property to refer to the paragraphs in the selection. The following example loops through the paragraphs in the selection, removing bold formatting.

A story is a document area that contains a range of text distinct from other areas of text in that document. For example, if a document includes body text, footnotes, and headers, it contains a main text story, a footnotes story, and a headers story. There are 11 different types of stories you can have in a document, corresponding to the following WdStoryType constants: wdCommentsStory, wdEndnotesStory, wdEvenPagesFooterStory, wdEvenPagesHeaderStory, wdFirstPageFooterStory, wdFirstPageHeaderStory, wdFootnotesStory, wdMainTextStory, wdPrimaryFooterStory, wdPrimaryHeaderStory, and wdTextFrameStory.

Use the StoryType property to return the story type for the specified range, selection, or bookmark. The following example closes the footnote pane in the active window if the selection is contained in the footnote story.

The StoryRanges collection contains the first story range for each story type available in a document. Use the NextStoryRange method to return subsequent stories. The following example searches each story in the active document for the text "Microsoft Word." The example also applies italic formatting to any instances of this text that it finds.

When you work on a document in Word, you usually select text and then perform an action, such as formatting existing text or typing new text. In Visual Basic, it's usually not necessary to select text before modifying it; instead, you create and manipulate a Range object that refers to a specific portion of the document. However, when you want your code to respond to or change the selection, you can do so with the Selection object.

Use the Selection property to return the Selection object. There can only be one Selection object per pane in a document window, and only one Selection object can be active at any given time. The selection can either encompass an area in the document or be collapsed to an insertion point. The following example changes the paragraph formatting of the paragraphs in the selection.

The Selection property is available from the Application, Window, and Pane objects. If you use the Selection property with the Application object, the Selection object refers to the active selection. The following example inserts text after the selection (because Selection is a global property, the Application property isn't included).

You can also use the Selection property with a Window or Pane object to return a Selection object in a particular window or window pane. The following example uses the Selection property with a Window object to insert text into the document window named "Document2."

The following example uses the Selection property with a Pane object to insert text into the primary header pane.

After you use the InsertAfter or InsertBefore method, the selection expands to include the new text. You can, however, collapse the selection to its beginning or ending point by using the Collapse method. The following example inserts the word "Hello" after the text in the selection and then collapses the selection to an insertion point after the word "Hello."

There are a number of methods you can use to move or extend the selection represented by the Selection object (for instance, Move and MoveEnd). The following example moves the selection to the beginning of the next paragraph.

You can also move or extend the selection by changing the values of the Start and End properties of the Selection object or by using the MoveStart and MoveEnd methods. The following example extends the selection by moving the ending position to the end of the paragraph.

Because there can be only one selection in a document window or pane, you can also move the selection by selecting another object. Use the Select method to select an item in a document. After using the Select method, you can use the Selection property to return a Selection object. The following example selects the first word in the active document and then changes the word to "Hello."

You can also move the selection by using the GoToNext, GoToPrevious, or GoTo method. The following example moves the selection to the fourth line in the document.

The following example moves the selection just before the next field in the active document.

Many of the objects available from the Range and Document objects are also available from the Selection object, making it possible for you to manipulate the objects within a selection. For a complete list of the objects available from the Selection object, see "Microsoft Word Objects (Selection)" or "Selection Object" in Help.

The following example updates the results of the fields in the selection.

The following example indents the paragraphs in the selection by 0.5 inch.

Instead of manipulating all the objects in the collection, you can use For Each...Next to loop through the individual objects in the selection. The following example loops through each paragraph in the selection and left aligns any paragraphs it finds that are centered.

The following example displays the name of each bookmark in the selection.

This section highlights some of the commonly used properties and methods of the Selection object.

Use the Text property to return or set the contents of a Selection object. The following example returns the selected text.

The following example changes the selected text to "Hello World."

Use the InsertBefore or InsertAfter method to insert text before or after the selection. The following example inserts text at the beginning of the selection.

Use the Font property to gain access to character­formatting properties and methods, and use the ParagraphFormat property to gain access to paragraph­formatting properties and methods. The following example sets character and paragraph formatting for the selection.

If a method or property is available from the Range object but not from the Selection object (the CheckSpelling method, for example), use the Range property to return a Range object from the Selection object. The following example checks the spelling of the selected words.

Use the Information property to return information about the selection. For example, you can determine the current page number, the total number of pages in a document, or whether or not the selection is in a header or footer. The Information property accepts 35 different constants (wdActiveEndPageNumber, wdNumberOfPagesInDocument, and wdInHeaderFooter, to name just a few) that you can use to return different types of information about the selection. If the selection is in a table, for instance, the following example displays the number or rows and columns in the table.

For a complete list and description of the constants you can use with the Information property, see "Information Property" in Help.

Use the Type property to set or return the way you want the selection to be indicated in your document. For instance, you can use the wdSelectionBlock constant to determine whether a block of text is selected. The following example selects the paragraph that contains the insertion point if the selection is an insertion point.

Use the Find and Replacement objects to find and replace specified ranges of text in your documents. The Find object is available from either the Selection or Range object (the find action differs slightly depending on whether you return the Find object from the Selection object or the Range object).

If you return the Find object from the Selection object, the selection is changed when the find criteria are found. The following example selects the next occurrence of the word "Hello." If the end of the document is reached before the word "Hello" is found, the search is stopped.

The Find object includes properties that relate to the options in the Find and Replace dialog box (Edit menu). You can set the individual properties of the Find object, or you can use arguments with the Execute method, as shown in the following example.

If you return the Find object from a Range object, the selection isn't changed but the range is redefined when the find criteria are found. The following example locates the first occurrence of the word "blue" in the active document. If the find operation is successful, the range is redefined and bold formatting is applied to the word "blue."

The following example performs the same action as the preceding example, using arguments of the Execute method.

The Replacement object represents the replace criteria for a find and replace operation. The properties and methods of the Replacement object correspond to the options in the Find and Replace dialog box (Edit menu).

The Replacement object is available from the Find object. The following example replaces all occurrences of the word "hi" with "hello." The selection changes when the find criteria are found because the code returns the Find object from the Selection object.

The Word object model includes an object for tables as well as objects for the various elements of a table. Use the Tables property with the Document, Range, or Selection object to return the Tables collection. Use Tables(index), where index is the table's index number, to return a single Table object. The index number represents the position of the table in the selection, range, or document. The following example converts the first table in the selection to text.

Use the Columns property with the Table, Range, or Selection object to return the Columns collection. Use Columns(index), where index is the index number, to return a single Column object. The following example selects the first column in table one.

Use the Rows property with the Table, Range, or Selection object to return the Rows collection. Use Rows(index), where index is the index number, to return a single Row object. The following example applies shading to the first row in table one.

When you try to work with an individual row or column in a drawn table (or any table where two or more adjacent cells have been merged, leaving the rows and columns not uniform), a run­time error may occur. The following example generates an error if the first table in the active document doesn't have the same number of rows in each column.

You can avoid this error by first using the SelectColumn or SelectRow method to select the cells in a particular column or row. After you've selected the column or row you want, use the Cells property with the Selection object. The following example selects the first row in table one in the active document. The example uses the Cells property to return the selected cells (all the cells in the first row) so that borders can be removed.

The following example selects the first column in table one. The example uses a For Each...Next loop to add text to each cell in the selection (all the cells in the first column).

This section provides information and tips about working the some common Word objects.

The HeaderFooter object can represent either a header or a footer. The HeaderFooter object is a member of the HeadersFooters collection, which is available from the Section object. Use the Headers(index) or Footers(index) property, where index is one of the WdHeaderFooterIndex constants, to return a single HeaderFooter object.

The Styles collection is available from the Document object. The following example changes the formatting of the Heading 1 style in the active document.

The Styles collection isn't available from the Template object. If you want to modify styles in a template, use the OpenAsDocument method to open a template as a document so that you can modify styles. The following example changes the formatting of the Heading 1 style in the template attached to the active document.

Before using the CommandBars collection (which represents menus and toolbars), use the CustomizationContext property to set the Template or Document object in which changes to menus and toolbars are stored. The following example adds the Double Underline command to the Formatting toolbar. Because the customization change is stored in the Normal template, all documents are affected.

Use the MailMerge property of the Document object to return a MailMerge object. The MailMerge object is available regardless of whether or not the specified document is a mail­merge document. Use the State property to determine the state of the mail­merge operation before you execute the merge by using the Execute method. The following example executes a mail merge if the active document is a main document with an attached data source.

Use the Envelope property of the Document object to return an Envelope object. The Envelope object is available regardless of whether or not you've added an envelope to the specified document. However, an error occurs if you use one of the following properties and you haven't added an envelope to the document: Address, AddressFromLeft, AddressFromTop, FeedSource, ReturnAddress, ReturnAddressFromLeft, ReturnAddressFromTop, or UpdateDocument.

The following example uses the On Error GoTo statement to trap the error that occurs if you haven't added an envelope to the active document. If, however, you've added an envelope to the document, the recipient address is displayed.

You can add fields to a document by applying the Add method to the Fields collection. The following example adds a DATE field in place of the selection.

After you've added a field, you can return or set the field result and field code by using the Result or Code property, either of which returns a Range object. The following example changes the first field code in the selection, updates the field, and then displays the field result.

An InlineShape object represents an object in the text layer of a document. An inline shape can be a picture, an OLE object, or an ActiveX control. InlineShape objects are treated like characters and are positioned as characters within a line of text. For information about InlineShape objects, see "InlineShapes Collection Object" or "InlineShape Object" in Help.

You can create an Word online form that includes check boxes, text boxes, and drop­down list boxes. These form elements can be inserted using the Forms toolbar. The corresponding Visual Basic objects are CheckBox, TextInput, and DropDown. All these objects can be returned from any FormField object in the FormFields collection; however, you should return the object that corresponds to the type of the form field. For example, the following instruction selects the check box form field named "Check1" in the active document.

You can avoid many run­time errors in your code by including statements that determine whether a particular object returned by an expression or an object referenced by a variable is valid. This section discusses some techniques for checking the validity of a value returned by an expression or stored in a variable.

You can modify most Word commands by turning them into macros. For example, you can modify the Open command on the File menu so that instead of displaying a list of Word document files (in Windows, files ending with the .doc file name extension), Word displays every file in the current folder.

To display the list of built­in Word commands in the Macro dialog box (Tools menu), click Word commands in the Macros in box. Every available menu, toolbar, and shortcut key command is listed in this box. Each menu command begins with the menu name associated with that command. For example, the Save command on the File menu is listed as FileSave.

You can replace a Word command with a macro by giving a macro the same name as the Word command. For example, if you create a macro named "FileSave," Word runs this macro when you do any of the following: click Save on the File menu, click the Save button on the Standard toolbar, or press the shortcut key assigned to FileSave.

The Visual Basic Editor opens with a module displayed that contains a new procedure whose name is the same as the command you clicked. If you clicked the FileSave command, the FileSave macro appears as shown in the following example.

For more information about working with Word events, see the following Help topics: "Using Events with the Document Object," "Using Events with ActiveX Controls," and "Using Events with the Application Object."

Document events occur when the user opens or closes an existing document or creates a new document, as shown in the following table.

The scope of a document event procedure depends on where it is stored. If you store a Open or Close event procedure in a document, the procedure will run only when the user closes or opens that document; if you store a Open or Close event procedure in a template, the procedure will run when a document based on the template or the template itself is opened or closed. A New event procedure must be stored in a template; a New event procedure stored in a document will never run, because new documents can only be based on templates.

The following example maximizes the Word application window when the document is opened.

Word implements the LostFocus and GotFocus events for ActiveX controls in a Word document.

The following example leaves CommandButton1 disabled until the user enters a value in TextBox1.

Application events occur when the user quits the application or the focus is shifted to another document. However, unlike document and ActiveX control events, the Application object doesn't have events enabled by default. Before you can use events with the Application object, you must create a new class module and declare an object of type Application with events. You use the Class Module command (Insert menu) in the Visual Basic Editor to create a new class module.

To enable the events of the Application object, you'd add the following declaration to the class module.

After the new object has been declared with events, it appears in the Object box in the class module, and you can write event procedures for the new object. (When you select the new object in the Object box, the valid events for that object are listed in the Procedure box.)

Before the procedures will run, however, you must connect the declared object in the class module to the Application object. You can do this from any module by using the following declaration (where "EventClass" is the name of the class module you created to enable events).

After you run the InitializeApp procedure, the App object in the EventClass class module points to the Word Application object, and the event procedures in the class module will run whenever the events occur.

After you've enabled events for the Application object, you can create event procedures for the events described in the following table.

The following example ensures that the Standard and Formatting toolbars are visible before the user quits Word. As a result, when Word is started again, these toolbars won't be visible.

For more information about using auto macros, see "Auto Macros" in Help.

In addition to working with Word data, you may want your application to exchange data with other applications, such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, or Microsoft Access. You can communicate with other applications by using Automation (formerly OLE Automation).

Automation allows you to return, edit, and export data by referencing another application's objects, properties, and methods. Application objects that you can reference in another application are called Automation objects. The first step toward making Word available to another application for Automation is to create a reference to the Word type library. To create a reference to the Word type library, click References on the Tools menu in the Visual Basic Editor, and then select the check box next to Microsoft Word 8.0 Object Library.

Next, declare an object variable that will refer to the Word Application object, as in the following example.

Use the Visual Basic CreateObject or GetObject function with the Word OLE Programmatic Identifier (Word.Application.8 or Word.Document.8), as shown in the following example. If you want to see the Word session, set the Visible property to True.

The CreateObject function starts a Word session that Automation won't close when the object variable that references the Application object expires. Setting the object reference to the Nothing keyword won't close Word either. Instead, use the Quit method to close Word. The following Microsoft Excel example inserts data from cells A1:B10 on Sheet1 into a new Word document and then arranges the data in a table. The example uses the Quit method to close the new instance of Word if the CreateObject function was used. If the GetObject function returns error 429, the example uses the CreateObject function to start a new session of Word.

To exchange data with another application by using Automation from Word, you must first set a reference to the other application's type library in the References dialog box (Tools menu). After you've done this, the other application's objects, properties, and methods will show up in the Object Browser and the syntax will be automatically checked at compile time. You can also get context­sensitive Help on these objects, properties, and methods.

Next, declare object variables that will refer to the objects in the other application as specific types. The following example declares a variable that will point to the Microsoft Excel Application object.

You obtain a reference to the Automation object by using the CreateObject or GetObject function. Then, using the objects, properties, and methods of the other application, you add, change, or delete information. When you finish making your changes, close the application. The following Word example determines whether Microsoft Excel is currently running. If the specified Microsoft Excel task exists, the example uses the GetObject function; otherwise, it uses the CreateObject function. The example then sends the selected text to cell A1 on Sheet1 in the active Microsoft Excel workbook. Use the Set statement with the Nothing keyword to clear the Automation object variable after the task has been completed.

The following Word example determines whether PowerPoint is currently running. If the PowerPoint task exists, the example uses the GetObject function; otherwise, it uses the CreateObject function. The example then creates a new presentation, with the first text box including the name of the active Word document and the second text box including the text from the first paragraph in the active document. Use the Set statement with the Nothing keyword to clear the automation object variable after the task has been completed.

You can use the Application property of any Word object to return the Word Application object. This is useful for returning the Word Application object from a Word document embedded in another application. The following example, run from Microsoft Excel, sets an object variable to the Word Application object. (For this example to work, shape one on the active worksheet must be an embedded Word document.) The final instruction in the example adds text at the beginning of the embedded Word document.

The following example, run from PowerPoint, sets an object variable to the Word Application object. (For this example to work, shape one on slide one in the presentation must be an embedded Word document.) The final instruction in the example displays the text in the embedded Word document.