Joel,

A literal interpretation of the OP's question suggests your modification of
my proposal as the solution the OP was after. However, my hunch is that the
best solution for what the OP really wanted to accomplish is your earlier
post. I offered my solution with Shell launching explorer.exe, just in case
the OP wanted the user to be able to navigate to the correct folder and file
within that folder.

In addition to presenting the user with the ability to navigate the file
system, explorer.exe will read file association information from the
registry and employ the appropriate executable file to launch the selected
file. However, the same could be accomplished creating an instance of the
"WScript.Shell" object and using its 'Run' method. The negative to using
explorer.exe is that you then oblige the user to shut down the process, or
you kill the process using code, or the worst option where you leave a rogue
process running to burden the system until the next reboot. I think the
primary reason for wanting to launch an application using explorer is to
offer the user the interface.

As I pointed out in my earlier post, if the ability to navigate to the file
is what the OP wanted to offer the end user, I think a better choice than
explorer.exe would be something like:
Set fd = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)


Steve Yandl



"Joel" wrote in message
...
Steve: I think you gave a great answer but only half the real answer.

Try this instead

retValue = Shell("C:\Windows\explorer.exe c:\temp\test.pdf",
vbNormalFocus)

I included the file name to open in the command line and it opens the
application in the explorer window.





I can do it manually and it will open the file, but not sure how to do it
from VBA. If yo udon't know let me know so I can do some futher
reasearch.
either send

I think we want to put the file name

"Steve Yandl" wrote:

The two lines,
Dim retValue
retValue = Shell("C:\Windows\explorer.exe", vbNormalFocus)

will open an instance of Windows Explorer and allow you to navigate the
file
system and open or run files as usual but you won't be able to return
information from or control any files that you launch from the Explorer
window (the user can work with them but your VBA routine can't).

Both Office VBA and the Shell.Application make available 'Explorer like'
windows that can be used much like Explorer so your user can select a
folder
or file. In these cases, you can return the path and file name and then
use
the Shell function or some other means to launch or execute the file in a
way that gives you a bit more control.

Steve Yandl



"Philosophaie" wrote in message
...
Tell me if this is possible. From Excel Windows API can you open
Windows
Explorer, open a select folder, select a file and execute it.