Formatting outputted Excel files from Access using VBA?

Question

Here I have some VBA code that outputs a ton of files into Excel files. My question is, from this, is there anyway for it to Format the excel file a bit? What I would like t

Answer 1

I have come across this problem a couple of times as well. As @Remou said, you will need to open excel to format xls files, this modification of your code silently opens Excel and that should get you in the right direction. Remember to add a reference to the Microsoft Excel Object Library in your VBA project.

Sub OutPutXL()
Dim qdf As QueryDef
Dim rs As DAO.Recordset
Dim xl as Excel.Application
Dim wb as Object
Dim strFile as string

Set qdf = CurrentDb.QueryDefs("OutputStudents")
Set rs = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset("Teachers")
Set xl = New Excel.Application
xl.DisplayAlerts = False

Do While Not rs.EOF
    qdf.SQL = "SELECT * FROM Students WHERE contact='" & rs!contact & "'"

    'Output to Excel
    strFile = "C:\Users\chrisjones\Documents\ProjectionsFY14\Teachers\" & rs!contact & ".xls"
    DoCmd.TransferSpreadsheet acExport, acSpreadsheetTypeExcel8, qdf.Name, strFile, True

    'Start formatting'
    Set wb = xl.Workbooks.Open(strFile)
    With wb.Sheets(qdf.name)
        'Starting with a blank excel file, turn on the record macro function'
        'Format away to hearts delight and save macro'
        'Past code here and resolve references'
    End With
    wb.save
    wb.close
    set wb = Nothing
    rs.MoveNext
Loop
xl.quit
set xl = Nothing
End Sub