WD97: Document Must Be Open to Change Properties by Macro

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

If you attempt to use Visual Basic for Applications to change the properties of a document, you may receive one of the following error messages:

   Run-time error '4248':

   This command is not available because a document window is not active.

 -or-

   Run-time error '4605':

   Bad File Name

 -or-

   Run-time error '5941':

   The requested member of the collection does not exist.

CAUSE

This error message occurs when no documents are currently open or the document you are referencing is not open.

Word can only change the properties of an open document.

NOTE: In earlier versions of Word, no error message is displayed, and no document properties are changed.

WORKAROUND

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   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/default.asp

This following sample includes code to trap the error, in case there are no documents open, and display a message:

   Sub ChangeDocProperties()
      On Error GoTo ErrHandler
      ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Title") = "My Title"
   ErrHandler:
      If Err <> 0 Then
         ' Display an error message.
         MsgBox Err.Description
      End If
   End Sub

1. Trap the error, in case there are no documents open.

2. Within the error trap, create a new document.

3. Resume execution at the line that caused the error.

      Sub ChangeDocProperties()
         On Error GoTo ErrHandler
         ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Title") = "My Title"
      ErrHandler:
         If Err <> 0 Then
            Documents.Add
            Resume
         End If
      End Sub
   
   

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q173707
   TITLE     : OFF97: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for 
               Applications