Prevent users from saving a file which has been opened via Application.Followhyperlink method

Dale

The only way I can think of doing that would be to change the attributes of the file to make it read-only before it's opened.

You could do that using SetAttr.

DIm strPath As String

strPath = "pathname\filename"

SetAttr strPath, vbReadOnly

Application.FollowHyperlink strPath

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Of course the user would still be able to save the file under a different name and at some point you would need to reset the file attributes.

<< I only want them to be able to view and then close these documents.>>

 You would have to build your own utility/program to display them.

 For example, a form with a unbound OLE control which only displays the document.

 But with just FollowHyperLink alone, no.

Jim.

Jim,

Had not thought about using an OLE control, that might work.

Thanks

You "might" be able to do something with fluent UI customisation but only for Office applications with an extensible backstage and ribbon interface. In the example below, I've hidden the Save and Save As button/tab in the backstage and also repurposed the Save command in the UI so that if the user presses the Save button or hits Ctrl+S, they see the restriction message.


Repurposed Save command:


Here's the XML for this UI modification:

<customUI onLoad="OnLoad" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2009/07/customui">
	<commands>
		<command idMso="FileSave" onAction="RepurposeFileSave"/>
	</commands>
	<backstage>
		<button idMso="FileSave" visible="false"/>
		<tab idMso="TabSave" visible="false"/>
	</backstage>
</customUI>

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And the callback VBA code:

Option Explicit

Public myRibbon As IRibbonUI

Sub OnLoad(ribbon As IRibbonUI)
  Set myRibbon = ribbon
End Sub

Sub RefreshRibbon()
  myRibbon.Invalidate
End Sub

Sub RepurposeFileSave(control As IRibbonControl, ByRef cancelDefault)
  MsgBox "You can't save this file.", vbInformation + vbOKOnly, "Viewing Mode Only"
  cancelDefault = True
End Sub

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Another approach could be to programmatically add a read only password and write password to files and have an add-in pass only the read only password to the hosting application to allow it to be opened but not modified.