Get the Windows Download folder's path

Question

I have some Excel VBA code that requires knowing the Downloads folder path. How could I do it?

Since you can move around the Downloads folder (and

Answer 1

The supported way to read such paths is to use the SHGetKnownFolderPath function.

I wrote this VBA code to do that. It has been tested in Excel 2000.

It won't work in any 64-bit version of Office. I don't know if its Unicode shenanigans will work in versions of Office more recent than 2000. It's not pretty.

Option Explicit

Private Type GuidType
  data1 As Long
  data2 As Long
  data3 As Long
  data4 As Long
End Type

Declare Function SHGetKnownFolderPath Lib "shell32.dll" (ByRef guid As GuidType, ByVal flags As Long, ByVal token As Long, ByRef hPath As Long) As Long
Declare Function lstrlenW Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal hString As Long) As Long
Declare Sub CoTaskMemFree Lib "ole32.dll" (ByVal hMemory As Long)
Declare Sub RtlMoveMemory Lib "ntdll.dll" (ByVal dest As String, ByVal source As Long, ByVal count As Long)

'Read the location of the user's "Downloads" folder
Function DownloadsFolder() As String

' {374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}
Dim FOLDERID_Downloads As GuidType
    FOLDERID_Downloads.data1 = &H374DE290
    FOLDERID_Downloads.data2 = &H4565123F
    FOLDERID_Downloads.data3 = &HC4396491
    FOLDERID_Downloads.data4 = &H7B465E92
Dim result As Long
Dim hPath As Long
Dim converted As String
Dim length As Long
    'A buffer for the string
    converted = String$(260, "*")
    'Convert it to UNICODE
    converted = StrConv(converted, vbUnicode)
    'Get the path
    result = SHGetKnownFolderPath(FOLDERID_Downloads, 0, 0, hPath)
    If result = 0 Then
        'Get its length
        length = lstrlenW(hPath)
        'Copy the allocated string over the VB string
        RtlMoveMemory converted, hPath, (length + 1) * 2
        'Truncate it
        converted = Mid$(converted, 1, length * 2)
        'Convert it to ANSI
        converted = StrConv(converted, vbFromUnicode)
        'Free the memory
        CoTaskMemFree hPath
        'Return the value
        DownloadsFolder = converted
    Else
        Error 1
    End If
End Function