Opening embedded PDF file in Excel

[ColinCoady]

I can't find a way to allow a pdf file I open within Excel to open in the foreground in front of Excel. It always opens in the background behind excel workbook. Is there a way around this either by making PDF open in foreground or excel go to background when the pdf opens. I'm not sure if it's a Adobe Reader fix or an excel fix.
Anyone help?

 

[DanteAmor]

Try:

Sub OpenPdf
    ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink "C:\files\pdf\" & "bill.pdf"
End Sub

 

[ColinCoady]

My embedded pdf files are put on a sheet as an icon (object icon) and saved with the workbook. If I open the workbook and double click on the icon the pdf opens but behind excel. I add and delete these objects as time goes on and the object number is different each time I add a new one. The sheet may only have 3 or icons on it but the object numbers could be anything and not in sequence. I don't think a formula would work here. Am I wrong?
-Colin

 

[DanteAmor]

You can select an icon (object icon) and execute the following macro

Sub [COLOR=#0000ff]Macro1[/COLOR]()
    Selection.Verb Verb:=xlOpen
End Sub

create a short-cut:
Press Alt-F11 to open the VBA editor. From the menu select Insert > Module. On the sheet that opens, paste the code previous.
Close the editor (press Alt-Q).
Press Alt + F8
Select Macro Macro1
Press Options
Type a letter, for example: g
Press OK
Press Ok


Now press Control + g

 

[ColinCoady]

Thank you DanteAmor - that works perfectly.
-Colin

 

[DanteAmor]

You're welcome and thanks for the feedback.

 

[ColinCoady]

What would cause this solution to not work when the workbook is copied onto another computer.
When the macro runs on another computer it opens the selected PDF but in behind excel and then gives a run-time error.
-Colin

 

[DanteAmor]

Versions, excel, pdf, windows

 

[ColinCoady]

Excel for Office 365 on both PC's
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC - Ver 2019 on both PC's
Win 7 Pro 32 bit on both PC's

When I run the macro it opens the pdf file and places it in the foreground but the Run-time error '1004' "Cannot start the source application for this object" window also shows up. The Debug shows the single line of code is in yellow.
Works on one PC but not the other. Strange.

I tried it on a Win 10 Pro PC with same versions of Excel & Adobe Reader with different results - the pdf opened in the background with the taskbar shortcut flashing. When I closed out the PDF file, the Excel taskbar icon flashes but no error box shows up. Workbook remained fully functional and flashing stopped when clicked on any sheet.

Any ideas?

-Colin

 

[DanteAmor]

Unfortunately I do not have the versions to perform tests.