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Displaying Built-in Word Dialog Boxes

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Word Developer Reference

This topic contains the following information and examples:

  • Showing a built-in dialog box
  • Returning and changing dialog box settings
  • Checking how a dialog box was closed

Showing a built-in dialog box

You can display a built-in dialog box to get user input or to control Microsoft Office Word by using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The Show method of the Dialog object displays and executes any action taken in a built-in Word dialog box. To access a particular built-in Word dialog box, you specify a WdWordDialog constant with the Dialogs property. For example, the following macro instruction displays the Open dialog box (wdDialogFileOpen).

  Sub ShowOpenDialog()
    Dialogs(wdDialogFileOpen).Show
End Sub

If a file is selected and OK is clicked, the file is opened (the action is executed). The following example displays the Print dialog box (wdDialogFilePrint).

  Sub ShowPrintDialog()
    Dialogs(wdDialogFilePrint).Show
End Sub

Set the DefaultTab property to access a particular tab in a Word dialog box. The following example displays the Page Border tab in the Borders and Shading dialog box (Format menu).

  Sub ShowBorderDialog()
    With Dialogs(wdDialogFormatBordersAndShading)
        .DefaultTab = wdDialogFormatBordersAndShadingTabPageBorder
        .Show
    End With
End Sub
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You can also use the VBA properties in Word to display the user information without displaying the dialog box. The following example uses the UserName property for the Application object to display the user name for the application without displaying the User Information dialog box. 
  Sub DisplayUserInfo()
    MsgBox Application.UserName
End Sub

If the user name is changed in the previous example, the change is not set in the dialog box. Use the Execute method to execute the settings in a dialog box without displaying the dialog box. The following example displays the User Information dialog box, and if the name is not an empty string, the settings are set in the dialog box by using the Execute method.

  Sub ShowAndSetUserInfoDialogBox()
    With Dialogs(wdDialogToolsOptionsUserInfo)
        .Display
        If .Name <> "" Then .Execute
    End With
End Sub
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Use the VBA properties and methods in Word to set the user information without displaying the dialog box. The following code example changes the user name through the UserName property of the Application object, and then it displays the User Information dialog box to show that the change has been made. Note that displaying the dialog box is not necessary to change the value of a dialog box. 
  Sub SetUserName()
    Application.UserName = "Jeff Smith"
    Dialogs(wdDialogToolsOptionsUserInfo).Display
End Sub

Returning and changing dialog box settings

It is not very efficient to use a Dialog object to return or change a value for a dialog box when you can return or change it using a property or method. Also, in most, if not all, cases, when VBA code is used in place of accessing the Dialog object, code is simpler and shorter. Therefore, the following examples also include examples that use corresponding VBA properties to perform the same tasks.

Prior to returning or changing a dialog box setting using the Dialog object, you need to identify the individual dialog box. This is done by using the Dialogs property with a WdWordDialog constant. After you have instantiated a Dialog object, you can return or set options in the dialog box. The following example displays the right indent from the Paragraphs dialog box.

  Sub ShowRightIndent()
    Dim dlgParagraph As Dialog
    Set dlgParagraph = Dialogs(wdDialogFormatParagraph)
    MsgBox "Right indent = " & dlgParagraph.RightIndent
End Sub
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You can use the VBA properties and methods of Word to display the right indent setting for the paragraph. The following example uses the RightIndent property of the ParagraphFormat object to display the right indent for the paragraph at the insertion point position. 
  Sub ShowRightIndexForSelectedParagraph()
    MsgBox Selection.ParagraphFormat.RightIndent
End Sub

Just as you can return dialog box settings, you can also set dialog box settings. The following example marks the Keep with next check box in the Paragraph dialog box.

  Sub SetKeepWithNext()
    With Dialogs(wdDialogFormatParagraph)
        .KeepWithNext = 1
        .Execute
    End With
End Sub
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You can also use the VBA properties and methods to change the right indent for the paragraph. The following example uses the KeepWithNext property of the ParagraphFormat object to keep the selected paragraph with the following paragraph. 
  Sub SetKeepWithNextForSelectedParagraph()
    Selection.ParagraphFormat.KeepWithNext = True
End Sub
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Use the Update method to ensure that the dialog box values reflect the current values. It may be necessary to use the Update method if you define a dialog box variable early in your macro and later want to return or change the current settings.

Checking how a dialog box was closed

The value returned by the Show and Display methods indicates which button was clicked to close the dialog box. The following example displays the Break dialog box, and if OK is clicked, a message is displayed on the status bar.

  Sub DialogBoxButtons()
    If Dialogs(wdDialogInsertBreak).Show = -1 Then
        StatusBar = "Break inserted"
    End If
End Sub

The following table describes the return values associated with buttons in dialogs boxes.

Return value Description
-2 The Close button.
-1 The OK button.
0 (zero) The Cancel button.
> 0 (zero) A command button: 1 is the first button, 2 is the second button, and so on.