Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Word Link to Create a New Excel Workbook.

Word Link to Create a New Excel Workbook

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 1, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016


Word allows you to create hyperlinks to other documents, to Web pages, and even to other programs, such as Excel. When you click on a correctly created link, the target of the link is opened and you can work with it.

The important thing to remember here is that the target itself is opened, and such action (if you are linking to a file) is not the same as if you double-clicked the file in Windows. For instance, if you have a hyperlink to an Excel template, clicking the link opens the template itself, not a new workbook based on the template. (If you double-clicked the Excel template file in Windows, then a new workbook is opened, not the template itself.)

There is no way to tell the hyperlink itself that you want to create a file based on the target of the link. Instead, you may need to rethink how you do the linking. Instead of using a hyperlink, you could create a macro that is linked to a Macrobutton field. Click the button, and the macro is executed. The macro can then take care of creating the new workbook, as demonstrated in the following macro:

Sub OpenXLTemplateFromWord()
    Dim xlApp As Excel.Application
    Dim xlWbk As Excel.Workbook
    Dim sTPath As String

    'Specify template's path
    sTPath = "c:\MyPath\MyTemplate.xlt"

    Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
    Set xlWbk = xlApp.workbooks.Add(Template:=sTPath)

    xlWbk.Application.Visible = True

    Set xlApp = Nothing
    Set xlWbk = Nothing
End Sub

In order for this macro to work, you'll need to make sure that you enable the Microsoft Excel Object Library in the VBA Editor. (Choose Tools | References and make sure a check mark is next to the proper library.)

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8440) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Word Link to Create a New Excel Workbook.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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