Symptoms
When you try to use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to change the properties of a document, you may receive one of the following error messages:
Run-time error '4248':
This command is not available because no document is open.
Run-time error '4605':
This method or property is not available because a document window is not active.
Run-time error '5941':
The requested member of the collection does not exist.
Cause
This problem may occur if you do not have a document open, or if the document that you are referencing is not open. Word can only change the properties of an open (or visible) document.
Note These error messages may also appear if you open the document with the Visible property set to
False.
Workaround
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs.
If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:
Microsoft Certified Partners - https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104
Microsoft Advisory Services - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice
For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS
For additional information about how to use the sample code that is included in this article, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
290140 OFFXP: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles
The following sample VBA macros demonstrate how to change the value of the Title field in the
Properties dialog box. The following sample also includes code to trap the error, in case there are no documents open, and to display a message:
Sub ChangeDocProperties()
On Error GoTo ErrHandler
ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Title") = "My Title"
Exit Sub
ErrHandler:
If Err <> 0 Then
'
' Display an error message.
'
MsgBox Err.Description
'
' Clear the error.
'
Err.Clear
Resume Next
End If
End Sub
The following sample macro includes code that will do the following:
-
Trap the error, in case there are no documents open.
-
In the error trap, create a new document.
-
Resume execution at the line that caused the error.
Sub ChangeDocProperties()
On Error GoTo ErrHandler
ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Title") = "My Title"
Exit Sub
ErrHandler:
If Err <> 0 Then
'
' Add a document.
'
Documents.Add
'
' Clear the error.
'
Err.Clear
'
' Run the code that caused the error.
'
Resume
End If
End Sub
References
For additional information about how to get help with VBA, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
305326 OFFXP: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications
