Open Method

Opens a workbook.

expression.Open(FileName, UpdateLinks, ReadOnly, Format, Password, WriteResPassword, IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended, Origin, Delimiter, Editable, Notify, Converter, AddToMru, Local, CorruptLoad)

expression Required. An expression that returns the Workbooks object.

FileName Required String. The file name of the workbook to be opened.

UpdateLinks Optional Variant. Specifies the way links in the file are updated. If this argument is omitted, the user is prompted to specify how links will be updated. Otherwise, this argument is one of the values listed in the following table.

Value	Meaning
0	Doesn't update any references
1	Updates external references but not remote references
2	Updates remote references but not external references
3	Updates both remote and external references

If Microsoft Excel is opening a file in the WKS, WK1, or WK3 format and the UpdateLinks argument is 2, Microsoft Excel generates charts from the graphs attached to the file. If the argument is 0, no charts are created.

ReadOnly Optional Variant. True to open the workbook in read-only mode.

Format Optional Variant. If Microsoft Excel is opening a text file, this argument specifies the delimiter character, as shown in the following table. If this argument is omitted, the current delimiter is used.

Value	Delimiter
1	Tabs
2	Commas
3	Spaces
4	Semicolons
5	Nothing
6	Custom character (see the *Delimiter* argument)

Password Optional Variant. A string that contains the password required to open a protected workbook. If this argument is omitted and the workbook requires a password, the user is prompted for the password.

WriteResPassword Optional Variant. A string that contains the password required to write to a write-reserved workbook. If this argument is omitted and the workbook requires a password, the user will be prompted for the password.

IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended Optional Variant. True to have Microsoft Excel not display the read-only recommended message (if the workbook was saved with the Read-Only Recommended option).

Origin Optional Variant. If the file is a text file, this argument indicates where it originated (so that code pages and Carriage Return/Line Feed (CR/LF) can be mapped correctly). Can be one of the following XlPlatform constants: xlMacintosh, xlWindows, or xlMSDOS. If this argument is omitted, the current operating system is used.

Delimiter Optional Variant. If the file is a text file and the Format argument is 6, this argument is a string that specifies the character to be used as the delimiter. For example, use Chr(9) for tabs, use "," for commas, use ";" for semicolons, or use a custom character. Only the first character of the string is used.

Editable Optional Variant. If the file is a Microsoft Excel 4.0 add-in, this argument is True to open the add-in so that it’s a visible window. If this argument is False or omitted, the add-in is opened as hidden, and it cannot be unhidden. This option doesn't apply to add-ins created in Microsoft Excel 5.0 or later. If the file is an Excel template, True to open the specified template for editing. False to open a new workbook based on the specified template. The default value is False.

Notify Optional Variant. If the file cannot be opened in read/write mode, this argument is True to add the file to the file notification list. Microsoft Excel will open the file as read-only, poll the file notification list, and then notify the user when the file becomes available. If this argument is False or omitted, no notification is requested, and any attempts to open an unavailable file will fail.

Converter Optional Variant. The index of the first file converter to try when opening the file. The specified file converter is tried first; if this converter doesn’t recognize the file, all other converters are tried. The converter index consists of the row numbers of the converters returned by the FileConverters property.

AddToMru Optional Variant. True to add this workbook to the list of recently used files. The default value is False.

Local Optional Variant. True saves files against the language of Microsoft Excel (including control panel settings). False (default) saves files against the language of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) (which is typically US English unless the VBA project where Workbooks.Open is run from is an old internationalized XL5/95 VBA project).

CorruptLoad Optional Variant. Can be one of the following constants: xlNormalLoad, xlRepairFile and xlExtractData. The Default behavior if no value is specified is usually normal but may be safe load or data recovery, if Excel has already attempted to open the file.The first attempt is normal. If Excel stops operating while opening the file the second attempt is safe load.If Excel again stops operating the next attempt is data recovery.

Open Method

Example