Top 10 List: Why Program Word?

by Glen Gillmore
08/01/1999

Many VBA programmers and users of Microsoft Word don't realize the extensive opportunities that exist when Word's Object Model is accessed using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). We've come up with a "Top 10 List" that might spark some ideas of your own.

1. Use the spell checking abilities of Word in your own application.

2. Update Word tables using data from an Access database (or visa versa).

3. Automatically append one document onto the end (or beginning) of another.

4. Prompt users to enter a document's control information, such as tracking, revision, or approval information.

5. Establish format standards -- create filters to prevent undesired keystrokes or to keep users from straying away from pre-determined styles.

6. Convert a document to HTML database format automatically (great for online shopping carts that mirror a printed catalog).

7. Create a toggle switch to change a document from draft to final copy by adding or removing a watermark in the header.

8. Routinely use Word to generate reports using data from other applications.

9. Automate mail merges.

10. Create a table of contents automatically.

This is by no means a definitive list. Maybe you have made a Word Macro or accessed Word's Object Model to do some things that really get you excited. Maybe you wish there was a way to automate Word or make it easier.

Also, take a look at Writing Word Macros, a no-nonsense book that delves into VBA programming and tells how you can use VBA to automate all the tedious, repetitive jobs you never thought you could do in Microsoft Word. It takes the reader step-by-step through writing VBA macros and programs, illustrating how to generate tables of a particular format, manage shortcut keys, create fax cover sheets, and reformat documents.