Appending to a Non-Document Text File

Summary: Your macros can easily add information to the end of an existing text file. This is done by opening the target file in Append mode, as described in this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

When working with text files, you may want to add information to an existing file, rather than creating a new text file from scratch. To do this, all you need to do is open the file for Append rather than Output. The following code shows this process:

Open "MyFile.Dat" For Append As #1
For J = 1 to NewValues
    Print #1, UserVals(OrigVals + J)
Next J
Close #1

When the file is opened for Append mode, any new information is added to the end of the file, without disturbing the existing contents.

Make sure you use this only on non-document text files, however. If you attempt this on a document file (meaning you change "MyFile.Dat" to something like "MyFile.Doc", and that is an existing document file), then there is a very real chance that the document will be corrupted and you will not be able to read it in Word any more.

Tip #1865 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Appending to a Non-Document Text File