Question

Printing to PDF using an Excel Template

Asked by: FlooringPro

Hi all, here's my problem:

I have an excel template thats stored on a server and used by multiple users on different machines.  Inside the template, I have a button setup to print specific worksheets.  The following code works fine on my machine (the machine it was created on), however, this same code does not work on another machine.   I believe its because of the line "Application.ActivePrinter = "Adobe PDF on Neo7:".  I need to be able to print to PDF on any machine this code is run on.  Can anyone help me with this?

Sub PrintBaseBidProposal()
'
' PrintBaseBidProposal Macro
' Print Base bid proposal in PDF format
'
 
'
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
 
    Sheets("Base Bid Proposal").Select
    Application.ActivePrinter = "Adobe PDF on Neo7:"
    ExecuteExcel4Macro "PRINT(1,,,1,,,,,,,,2,""Adobe PDF on Ne07:"",,TRUE,,FALSE)"
    Sheets("Menu").Select
    
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
 
End Sub

                                  
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Asked On
2009-09-26 at 09:42:48ID24764102
Tags

Excel

,

VBA

,

Template

,

PDF

Topics

Spreadsheet Software

,

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

,

Microsoft Office Suite

Participating Experts
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: harr22Posted on 2009-09-26 at 17:29:12ID: 25432204

That will only work if the machine running it has the adobe print driver installed.  Printing or saving to PDF is not native to excel.  you would have to have a print driver set up on each machine that needs to do run this.

An alternative would be to have your code test if that line fails and if it does then prompt them to go install the driver.  

I use this one b/c its free... http://www.primopdf.com/  Not sure if the Adobe option is available with their free reader version or if you would need the writer to use that.

 

by: FlooringProPosted on 2009-09-26 at 18:14:54ID: 25432335

Thanks for the reply,

All of the machines have Adove 6 or better installed on them.  They all have the print driver installed.

 

by: FlooringProPosted on 2009-09-26 at 19:09:31ID: 25432478

I found my own solution.


The example macros below shows how to get the full network printer name (useful when the network printer name can change) and print a worksheet to this printer:


Sub PrintToNetworkPrinterExample()
Dim strCurrentPrinter As String, strNetworkPrinter As String
   strNetworkPrinter = GetFullNetworkPrinterName("HP LaserJet 8100 Series PCL")
   If Len(strNetworkPrinter) > 0 Then ' found the network printer
       strCurrentPrinter = Application.ActivePrinter
       ' change to the network printer
       Application.ActivePrinter = strNetworkPrinter
       Worksheets(1).PrintOut ' print something
       ' change back to the previously active printer
       Application.ActivePrinter = strCurrentPrinter
   End If
End Sub

Function GetFullNetworkPrinterName(strNetworkPrinterName As String) As String
' returns the full network printer name
' returns an empty string if the printer is not found
' e.g. GetFullNetworkPrinterName("HP LaserJet 8100 Series PCL")
' might return "HP LaserJet 8100 Series PCL on Ne04:"
Dim strCurrentPrinterName As String, strTempPrinterName As String, i As Long
   strCurrentPrinterName = Application.ActivePrinter
   i = 0
   Do While i < 100
       strTempPrinterName = strNetworkPrinterName & " on Ne" & Format(i, "00") & ":"
       On Error Resume Next ' try to change to the network printer
       Application.ActivePrinter = strTempPrinterName
       On Error GoTo 0
       If Application.ActivePrinter = strTempPrinterName Then
           ' the network printer was found
           GetFullNetworkPrinterName = strTempPrinterName
           i = 100 ' makes the loop end
       End If
       i = i + 1
   Loop
   ' remove the line below if you want the function to change the active printer
   Application.ActivePrinter = strCurrentPrinterName ' change back to the original printer
End Function
 

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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