How to make folder path universal?

Question

New to VBA and have an assignment to create a sub that pastes from one workbook into a new workbook. A requirement for saving the file is that "the folder path be universal so other people can create this folder too". What amendment would I make to the ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs method to fulfill this? Thanks

Sub pasteTable()

    Dim formatting As Variant 'create variable to hold formatting2 workbook path
    formatting = Application.GetOpenFilename()  'user is prompted and selects path to formatting2 workbook and assigns to formatting variable
    
    Workbooks.Open formatting  'formatting2 workbook is now active
    Worksheets("Formatting").Range("B3:R13").Copy  'copies table from formatting2 workbook
    Workbooks.Add  'add new workbook
    
    Worksheets(1).Range("B3:R13").Select  'selects range on worksheet of new workbook to paste table
    Selection.PasteSpecial xlPasteAll 'pastes table
    
    Columns("B:R").ColumnWidth = 20  'ensures table has proper row and column heights/widths
    Rows("3:13").RowHeight = 25
    
    Worksheets(1).Name = "Table Data"  'renames worksheet
        
    ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs "C:\Users\name\Desktop\names Excel Assessment VBA\names Excel Assessment VBA " & Format(Date, "dd/mmm/yyyy"), FileFormat:=xlOpenXMLWorkbookMacroEnabled
    'saves workbook according to desired specifications
End Sub

Welcome to SO, please edit your question and include your code and explain how is the code not working. You will also need to clarify what do you mean by *folder path universal*. Is there a logic in how the folder is created? — Raymond Wu, Nov 24 '21 at 03:49

braX · Answer 1 · 2021-11-24T06:52:45.947

Change your Save line to this:

ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs "C:\Users\" & Environ("Username") & "\Desktop\Excel Assessment VBA\Excel Assessment VBA " & Format(Date, "dd-mmm-yyyy") & ".xlsm", FileFormat:=xlOpenXMLWorkbookMacroEnabled

The Username system variable will adjust depending on the Windows account that is in use. Just make sure each user has those folders existing on their desktop too, or you will get an error. I also removed names from the folder names as i assume you were trying to do something with the username there as well. You can adjust that to your needs.

Your Date format needed to change too as it was including illegal characters.

You also forgot to include a file extension, so I added that as well.

There is a lot going on with that line, including a lot of mistakes, so you are going to have to play with it a bit until you get exactly what you need. You may want to simplify it a bit until you get the hang of all those things.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 24 '21 at 08:00

I think you have to add some more checks

The script expects the name of the tool-path-folder as constant ToolFolder.

Plus a second constant ToolBaseFolder that could be set to the parent-path `ToolFolder, e.g. a network path. If the const is empty, users desktop will be used.

If this path does not yet exist it will be created.

Option Explicit

Private Const ToolBaseFolder As String = "" 'if ToolBaseFolder is an empty string desktop will be used instead
Private Const ToolFolder As String = "MyNameForToolFolder"


Public Sub testWbToToolFolder()
'this is just for testing
Dim wb As Workbook: Set wb = ActiveWorkbook
saveWbToToolFolder wb, "test.xlsx"
End Sub


Public Sub saveWbToToolFolder(wb As Workbook, filename As String)
'you don't need this sub - but have the same code line in your main routine
wb.SaveAs getToolFolder & filename
End Sub



Public Function getToolFolder() As String
'this returns the toolfolder e.g. C:\Users\xyz\Desktop\MyNameForToolFolder

Dim basepath As String
basepath = ToolBaseFolder & "\"

If existsFolder(basepath) = False Then
    If LenB(ToolBaseFolder) > 0 Then
        MsgBox ToolBaseFolder & " does not exist." & vbCrLf & _
            "File will be saved to " & ToolFolder & " on desktop ", vbExclamation
    End If
    basepath = getDesktopFolderOfUser
End If

Dim fullpath As String
fullpath = basepath & ToolFolder & "\"

If existsFolder(fullpath) = False Then
    makeFolder fullpath
End If

getToolFolder = fullpath

End Function


Private Function existsFolder(path As String) As Boolean
If Len(path) < 2 Then Exit Function 'can't be a valid folder
existsFolder = LenB(Dir(path, vbDirectory)) > 0
End Function

Private Function getDesktopFolderOfUser() As String
getDesktopFolderOfUser = CreateObject("WScript.Shell").SpecialFolders("Desktop") & "\"
End Function

Private Function makeFolder(path As String)
'https://stackoverflow.com/a/26934834/16578424 plus comment from rayzinnz
CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Run "cmd /c mkdir """ & path & """", 0, True
End Function

How to make folder path universal?

2 Answers2