Running a Microsoft Access Macro from Microsoft Excel (131921)

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This example starts Microsoft Access, loads a database and then runs a macro in the Microsoft Access database.

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1. In Microsoft Excel, choose New from the File menu.
2. From the Insert menu, choose Macro, and then choose Module.
3. Enter the following information into the Module sheet (you will need to alter the macro to specify the appropriate locations for the files on your computer):

         Sub Run_Access_Macro()
   
            'Opens Microsoft Access and the file nwind.mdb
               Shell("c:\access\msaccess.exe c:\access\sampapps\nwind.mdb")
            'Initiates a DDE channel to Microsoft Access
               Chan = DDEInitiate("MSACCESS", "system")
            'Activates Microsoft Access
                Application.ActivateMicrosoftApp xlMicrosoftAccess
            'Runs the macro "Sample AutoExec" from the NWIND.MDB file
                Application.DDEExecute Chan, "Sample AutoExec"
            'Terminates the DDE channel
             Application.DDETerminate Chan
   
         End Sub
   						

4. To run the macro, choose Macro from the Tools menu. Select the appropriate macro name and then click the Run button.

The macro shown above will also work between Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access for Windows 95 if you change the initial Shell command so that it includes the correct path to the Microsoft Access executable (MSACCESS.EXE).

For additional information on communicating between Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel using Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: