Compatibility in docx, not in dotx

Bertus · #1 09-30-2022, 06:03 AM

Hi all,

in O365, I've made a small Excel-Word app for a customer. Installed it on customer's computer which still runs O/2016

Excel VBA opens Word, the adds a document based on a template I also made in 365.

Then my Excel code performs some actions on the document. On my sytem all works fine. On customer's not: one of the actions is to insert a BuildingBlock containing a table, then change that table's title in order to refer to it later on. This does not work on customer's system, throwing an error (just don't know the err.number)

If I open the document-template on customer's computer, it opens normally, and I could (manually) change the table's title. However if I add a new document based on that template, it opens in compatibility-mode, and the table's title property is greyed-out (in code it seems read-only.

I don't understand what is going on here. Any wise words as to solving the issue?

spillerbd · #2 09-30-2022, 11:49 AM

Are the necessary VBA libraries available?
If you record the steps on the clients system, is the recorded VBA code the same/similiar?

Guessed · #3 10-01-2022, 01:36 AM

Is the building block in the template you gave to the client or is somewhere on your machine (eg Normal.dotm or Building Blocks.dotx).

In older versions of Word - pre 2010 (and in some older compatibility modes) the Title property wasn't available. So you could ensure that the document is not in Compatibility Mode or more recent that 2007 before working with the table title.

Code:

ActiveDocument.SetCompatibilityMode wdWord2010
Selection.Tables(1).Title = "Hi Mum"  'this works
ActiveDocument.SetCompatibilityMode wdWord2007
Selection.Tables(1).Title = "Hi Mum"  'this throws 445 error
ActiveDocument.SetCompatibilityMode Application.Version 'set version to match Word version

Bertus · #4 10-01-2022, 03:05 AM

Thank you both! I'll go over and try your suggestions on Monday. (No missing libraries btw)

Regards
Bart

Charles Kenyon · #5 10-01-2022, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bertus

Hi all,

***

If I open the document-template on customer's computer, it opens normally, and I could (manually) change the table's title. However if I add a new document based on that template, it opens in compatibility-mode, and the table's title property is greyed-out (in code it seems read-only.

I don't understand what is going on here. Any wise words as to solving the issue?

If the new document based on the template opens in compatibility mode, the template, itself is likely in compatibility mode.

Bertus · #6 10-05-2022, 09:59 AM

OK, I (well, with a lot of help) seem to have solved it, though it may not be an elegant solution:

changing a table's title works in O16, but as far as I can see not in O07. Word on user's computer says it's 2016 but if I ask for

Code:

ActiveDocument.CompatibilityMode

it returns 12 (weird or not?)

So I run

Code:

doc.SetCompatibilityMode 15

but for some reason that line resets all custom shape-names to their default, obviously causing problems referring to those in code later on (like setting a picture to a shape).
Editing the table's title at least works now.

Luckily I could reorder my subs to set CompatibilityMode to 15 after looping through all the shapes.

So, all in all, thank you guys for pointing me in this direction

Stefan Blom · #7 10-12-2022, 04:34 PM

For future reference, Word VBA Help includes a description of the constants you can use with the SetCompatibilityMode method:

WdCompatibilityMode enumeration (Word) | Microsoft Learn

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