Open Method [Word 2007 Developer Reference]

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Documents.Open Method

Opens the specified document and adds it to the Documents collection. Returns a Document object.

Syntax

expression.Open(FileName, ConfirmConversions, ReadOnly, AddToRecentFiles, PasswordDocument, PasswordTemplate, Revert, WritePasswordDocument, WritePasswordTemplate, Format, Encoding, Visible, OpenConflictDocument, OpenAndRepair, DocumentDirection, NoEncodingDialog)

expression Required. A variable that represents a Documents collection.

Parameters

Name	Required/Optional	Data Type	Description
FileName	Required	Variant	The name of the document (paths are accepted).
ConfirmConversions	Optional	Variant	True to display the Convert File dialog box if the file isn't in Microsoft Word format.
ReadOnly	Optional	Variant	True to open the document as read-only. This argument doesn't override the read-only recommended setting on a saved document. For example, if a document has been saved with read-only recommended turned on, setting the ReadOnly argument to False will not cause the file to be opened as read/write.
AddToRecentFiles	Optional	Variant	True to add the file name to the list of recently used files at the bottom of the File menu.
PasswordDocument	Optional	Variant	The password for opening the document.
PasswordTemplate	Optional	Variant	The password for opening the template.
Revert	Optional	Variant	Controls what happens if FileName is the name of an open document. True to discard any unsaved changes to the open document and reopen the file. False to activate the open document.
WritePasswordDocument	Optional	Variant	The password for saving changes to the document.
WritePasswordTemplate	Optional	Variant	The password for saving changes to the template.
Format	Optional	Variant	The file converter to be used to open the document. Can be one of the WdOpenFormat constants. The default value is wdOpenFormatAuto.
Format	Required	Variant	The file converter to be used to open the document. Can be one of the following WdOpenFormat constants. To specify an external file format, apply the OpenFormat property to a FileConverter object to determine the value to use with this argument.
Encoding	Optional	Variant	The document encoding (code page or character set) to be used by Microsoft Word when you view the saved document. Can be any valid MsoEncoding constant. For the list of valid MsoEncoding constants, see the Object Browser in the Visual Basic Editor. The default value is the system code page.
Visible	Optional	Variant	True if the document is opened in a visible window. The default value is True.
OpenConflictDocument	Optional	Variant	Specifies whether to open the conflict file for a document with an offline conflict.
OpenAndRepair	Optional	Variant	True to repair the document to prevent document corruption.
DocumentDirection	Optional	WdDocumentDirection	Indicates the horizontal flow of text in a document. The default value is wdLeftToRight.
NoEncodingDialog	Optional	Variant	True to skip displaying the Encoding dialog box that Word displays if the text encoding cannot be recognized. The default value is False.

Return Value
Document

Security

Avoid using hard-coded passwords in your applications. If a password is required in a procedure, request the password from the user, store it in a variable, and then use the variable in your code. For recommended best practices on how to do this, see Security Notes for Microsoft Office Solution Developers.

Example

This example opens MyDoc.doc as a read-only document.

Visual Basic for Applications
`Sub OpenDoc() Documents.Open FileName:="C:\MyFiles\MyDoc.doc", ReadOnly:=True End Sub`

This example opens Test.wp using the WordPerfect 6.x file converter.

Visual Basic for Applications
`Sub OpenDoc2() Dim fmt As Variant fmt = Application.FileConverters("WordPerfect6x").OpenFormat Documents.Open FileName:="C:\MyFiles\Test.wp", Format:=fmt End Sub`

See Also

Community Content

Thomas Lee

Format is incorrectly listed twice

Format is shown twice here, once as optional and once as required:

FormatOptional - Variant - The file converter to be used to open the document. Can be one of the WdOpenFormat constants. The default value is wdOpenFormatAuto.
FormatRequired - Variant - The file converter to be used to open the document. Can be one of the following WdOpenFormat constants. To specify an external file format, apply the OpenFormat property to a FileConverter object to determine the value to use with this argument.

Nilpo

VBScript Example

  blnOpenReadOnly = True

Documents.Open("C:\MyFiles\MyDoc.doc",, blnOpenReadOnly)

RWatson

C# implementation

Can anyone explain why this method requires "ref object" for every parameter? Similar actions in Excel are not done this way. This needlessly complicates any coding and significantly reduces reusability.

C# would go something like this:

using Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
using System.Reflection;

...

object objMissing = Missing.Value;
object objFilename = @"C:\YourFile.doc";
object objConfirmConversions = false;
object objReadOnly = false;
object objAddToRecentFiles = false;
object objPasswordDocument = Missing.Value;

... [Insert object creations for every used parameter and probably an objMissing = Missing.value as a generic ] ...

Word.Application wTemp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();
Word.Document dInstructions = wTemp.Documents.Open(objFilename, objConfirmConversions, objReadOnly, 
	objAddToRecentFiles, objPasswordDocument, objPasswordTemplate, objRevert, 
	objWritePasswordDocument, objWritePasswordTemplate, objFormat, objENcoding, 
	objVisible, objOpenAndRepair, objDocumentDirection, objNoEncodingDialog, objXMLTransform);

Why is this needed? Excel's open is not all ref. Clearly I'm not going to check to see if my password was changed. This is needlessly over complicated.

Is this a hold over from a super old version? If so, can we get an Open2 that is clean?