exe file won't run from within excel

[freudje]

Hi,

I have a workbook in which users are supposed to give in a lot of data, which then can be exported as a .csv and turned into a nice-looking pdf report including graphs etc. The pdf is generated via a .exe file that a colleague of mine programmed using Processing. When I open this exe file by double clicking on it on my computer, everything is working fine: he asks to locate the csv, and then produces the pdf.

However, when I try to open this exe file from within excel using a macro, nothing happens at all. I tried different types of code, among them

Call Shell("C:\address\USSGraph39.exe", vbNormalFocus)
RetVal = Shell("C:\address\USSGraph39.exe", 1)
Shell ("C:\address\USSGraph39.exe")

But in each case, nothing seems to happen (not even an error message). The same is also happening when I write the address of the file in the command bar of Windows Explorer - nothing is executed.
I think the problem lies within the exe file, but I don't know what should be changed there / what I have to tell my colleague to change. However, maybe there is also a way to open the file via excel with another command?

Thanks a lot for any comments!

(edit: I'm using Excel 2010 on a Windows 7 computer)

 

[mole999]

excel can PDF on its own, it dosen't need an external exe, just file SAVE AS

 

[freudje]

It's not just a print from the sheet, it's a whole report including graphs that Excel is not able to generate...