Changing Directories in a Macro

Summary: Macros can do all sorts of manipulations of files and directories. One command you can use is the ChDir command, which allows you to change from one disk directory to another. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

VBA provides a very rich programming environment. You can do many things with macro code that you cannot necessarily do using the menus of Excel. For instance, you may want to change the current directory in the middle of a macro. This may be necessary in order to find a particular file or to do some other file-oriented task. VBA provides the ChDir command to change directories. The syntax is as follows:

ChDir DirName

where DirName is the full pathname of the directory to which you want to change. If you do not use a string variable to specify the directory name, then DirName must be enclosed in quotes. If the directory name you supply does not exist, the command fails with an error.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2472) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Changing Directories in a Macro