Copying a File in VBA

Summary: Need to have your macro copy a file from one place to another? It's easy to do using the FileCopy command, described in this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

Word uses a macro programming language known as Visual Basic for Applications, or VBA. Many of the tasks you can perform in regular Visual Basic you can also perform in VBA. One such task is to copy files. You can do so by using the FileCopy command, as follows:

FileCopy source, target

Of course, you need to provide the appropriate specifications for both the source and target designations. For instance, if you wanted to copy a file named MyFile.Doc from the current directory to the F: drive (perhaps where you have a thumb drive) you could do so:

FileCopy myfile.doc, f:

If you try to copy a file that is currently open (either by Word or through a different program), VBA generates an error.

Tip #821 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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