XL97: Macro to Open the Most Recently Used File

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel 97, if you select the "Recently Used File List" check box on the General tab of the Options dialog box in Microsoft Excel 97, the files you used most recently are listed on the File menu. This article contains a sample macro that you can use to programmatically open the file you used last.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic for Applications procedures for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. The Visual Basic procedures in this article are provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in all situations. While Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular macro, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality, nor will they help you construct macros to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to consult one of the Microsoft Solution Providers. Solution Providers offer a wide range of fee-based services, including creating custom macros. For more information about Microsoft Solution Providers, call Microsoft Customer Information Service at (800) 426-9400.

Sample Macro

Sub Open_Last_Used_File()

    Dim S as String

    'Set the variable S to the path and file name of the most recently used
    'file.
    S = Application.RecentFiles(1).Name

    'Open the file.
    Workbooks.Open S

End Sub

Using the Sample Macro

NOTE: If you do not select the "Recently Used File List" check box and you run a macro that uses the RecentFiles property of the Application object, the following error message appears:

   Run-time error '9':
   Subscript out of range

To use the sample macro, use the following steps:

1. Create a new workbook in Microsoft Excel 97.

2. Press ALT+F11 to activate the Visual Basic Editor.

3. On the Insert menu, click Module.

4. Type the sample macro code in the module.

5. Press ALT+Q to return to Microsoft Excel.

6. On the Tools menu, point to Macro and click Macros. Click the macro "Open_Last_Used_File" and click Run to run the macro.

REFERENCES

For information about creating a macro that opens files from the recently used file list in Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 7.0, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q109113
   TITLE     : XL: Macro to Open the Most Recently Used File