Quick fix for saving Excel files as PDF files - VB.NET

[johndoyle]

I've seen a few posts on other sites discussing how to save an excel file, word file, or other office doc as a pdf document.

In general, seems the solutions have been pretty complicated or involved trying unsuccessfully to use the undocumented AdobePDFMakerForOffice class.

One quick fix that could save time for others, and is not too difficult, is to use the Execute() method of the Excel.Application.CommandBars class. It's definitely a work-around and has some limitations, but can be useful:

<your excel object>.Application.CommandBars(<excel command bar index - usually 1>).Controls(<adobepdfmaker menu index within excel>).Controls(<convert to adobe pdf option indexwithin menu>).Execute()

Using this, it's a one line solution, although just be sure to take limitations into account:
- Have the PDF Maker installed in your office apps and as a menu bar item
- Be sure the setting to "prompt for filename" is unchecked
- Remember to reference the proper command bar and command bar items
- Have to save the doc at least once before executing PDF in order to avoid a prompt/need for PDF Maker to request a filename

Hope this helps others.

[rblaettler]

Don't have any affiliation with Aspose, but their Components are great if it comes to Office functionality on the server. They have an Excel Component too.