I have an excel document that I sometimes work on manually, and
sometimes have outlook alter via:

Dim xl As New Excel.Application
Dim xlwbook As Excel.Workbook
Set xlwbook = xl.Workbooks.Open("C:\...\spreadsheet.xls")
.... etc

The problem:
This works fine, but currently, when I have outlook edit the
spreadsheet, I have to close it so that there aren't two instances
open (to create conflicts, forget to save work, etc).

The question:
Is there a way of editing the open spreadsheet if it is currently
open, and otherwise, open a new instance (as I'm currently doing)?

so:

Dim xl As New Excel.Application
Dim xlwbook As Excel.Workbook
if workbookIsCurrentlyOpen("C:\...\spreadsheet.xls") then '
pseudocode
Set xlwbook = referenceExistingInstanceOf("C:\...
\spreadsheet.xls") ' pseudocode
else
Set xlwbook = xl.Workbooks.Open("C:\...\spreadsheet.xls")
end if
.... etc

Thanks,
Eric

Maybe try using GetObject .

NickHK

"umop" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have an excel document that I sometimes work on manually, and
> sometimes have outlook alter via:
>
> Dim xl As New Excel.Application
> Dim xlwbook As Excel.Workbook
> Set xlwbook = xl.Workbooks.Open("C:\...\spreadsheet.xls")
> ... etc
>
> The problem:
> This works fine, but currently, when I have outlook edit the
> spreadsheet, I have to close it so that there aren't two instances
> open (to create conflicts, forget to save work, etc).
>
> The question:
> Is there a way of editing the open spreadsheet if it is currently
> open, and otherwise, open a new instance (as I'm currently doing)?
>
> so:
>
> Dim xl As New Excel.Application
> Dim xlwbook As Excel.Workbook
> if workbookIsCurrentlyOpen("C:\...\spreadsheet.xls") then '
> pseudocode
> Set xlwbook = referenceExistingInstanceOf("C:\...
> \spreadsheet.xls") ' pseudocode
> else
> Set xlwbook = xl.Workbooks.Open("C:\...\spreadsheet.xls")
> end if
> ... etc
>
> Thanks,
> Eric
>