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pawana11571596
Inspiring
February 26, 2021
Answered

Automating printing existing PDF documents using VBA

  • February 26, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 6008 views

Hi,

 

I have a mixture of Word/PDF documents which I would like to print in the right sequence using MS Word VBA. Everything works fine. My code for printing PDF documents using DDE is as follows:

Dim RetVal
Dim chanNo
'Open Adobe Acrobat
RetVal = Shell("C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe", vbHide)

chanNo = DDEInitiate("AcroViewA21", "Control")

'File is opened and displayed with DocOpen
DDEExecute chanNo, "[DocOpen(""" & myDoc & """)]"

'Print the file
DDEExecute chanNo, "[FilePrintTo(""" & myDoc & """,""" & myPrinter & ""","""")]"

'Close PDF file
DDEExecute chanNo, "[DocClose(""" & myDoc & """)]"

'Close Acrobat
DDEExecute chanNo, "[AppExit( )]"

 

Where myDoc and myPrinter need to be defined.

 

I have read that DDE is now old technology and is only available for backwards compatibility and that OLE should be used instead. I am not a programmer, so I'm not sure how important this is.

 

Can someone please provide an OLE solution to do the same task, just to ensure this is futureproof. In particular, it is important to be able set the printer.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer pawana11571596

Thank you. I hope someone can help!


I've managed to answer my own problem. Here's the code I've cobbled together by referring to various sources:

 

Dim AcroApp As AcroApp
Dim AcroAVDoc As AcroAVDoc
Dim AcroPDDoc As AcroPDDoc

Dim myDoc As String
Dim myPrinter As String

Dim RetVal


CreateObject("WScript.Network").SetDefaultPrinter myPrinter

Set AcroApp = CreateObject("AcroExch.App")
Set AcroAVDoc = CreateObject("AcroExch.AVDoc")
If AcroAVDoc.Open(myDoc, "") Then

Set AcroPDDoc = AcroAVDoc.GetPDDoc
NumOfPages = AcroPDDoc.GetNumPages - 1
Set AcroPDDoc = CreateObject("AcroExch.PDDoc")
RetVal = AcroAVDoc.PrintPagesSilent(0, NumOfPages, 2, False, False)
AcroApp.CloseAllDocs
End If

AcroApp.Exit
Set AcroPDDoc = Nothing
Set AcroAVDoc = Nothing
Set AcroApp = Nothing

 

Where myDoc and myPrinter need to be defined.

 

This is all done in the background. If you need to see things happening, you can also add in:

 

AcroApp.Show

AcroAVDoc.BringToFront

 

The above is for a Windows 10 system and sets the main default printer of the Windows system. Can anyone please tell me how to set the printer within Acrobat. What would the VBA code be for that? Thanks!

1 reply

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Bernd AlheitCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 26, 2021

Try the forum for Acrobat SDK.

P
pawana11571596Author
Inspiring
February 26, 2021

Thank you. Is there an easy way to do that - to change my post to another forum?

BarlaeDC
Community Expert
BarlaeDCCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 26, 2021

Hi,

 

Moved for you.

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