Excel VBA code to work on Mac, Create PDF Function - excel

Question

I have coded the following function. However, I cannot get it to work on office Mac. I am not sure of the procedure to find the EXP_PDF.DLL mac equivalent
Function Create_PDF(Myvar As Object, FixedFilePathName As String, _
OverwriteIfFileExist As Boolean, OpenPDFAfterPublish As Boolean) As String
Dim FileFormatstr As String
Dim FName As Variant
'Test If the Microsoft Add-in is installed
If Dir(Environ("commonprogramfiles") & "\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE" _& Format(Val(Application.Version), "00") & "\EXP_PDF.DLL") <> "" Then
If FixedFilePathName = "" Then
'Open the GetSaveAsFilename dialog to enter a file name for the pdf
FileFormatstr = "PDF Files (*.pdf), *.pdf"
FName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename("", filefilter:=FileFormatstr, _ Title:="Create PDF")
'If you cancel this dialog Exit the function
If FName = False Then Exit Function
Else
FName = FixedFilePathName
End If
'If OverwriteIfFileExist = False we test if the PDF
'already exist in the folder and Exit the function if that is True
If OverwriteIfFileExist = False Then
If Dir(FName) <> "" Then Exit Function
End If
'Now the file name is correct we Publish to PDF
On Error Resume Next
Myvar.ExportAsFixedFormat _
Type:=xlTypePDF, _
FileName:=FName, _
Quality:=xlQualityStandard, _
IncludeDocProperties:=True, _
IgnorePrintAreas:=False, _
OpenAfterPublish:=OpenPDFAfterPublish
On Error GoTo 0
'If Publish is Ok the function will return the file name
If Dir(FName) <> "" Then Create_PDF = FName
End If
End Function

Answer 1

There is no need to check for the existence of that specific DLL, because under MacOS, PDF export support is native. Your code simply works if you remove the Add-in check and remove the FileFilter string:
Function Create_PDF(Myvar As Object, FixedFilePathName As String, _
OverwriteIfFileExist As Boolean, OpenPDFAfterPublish As Boolean) As String
Dim FileFormatstr As String
Dim FName As Variant
If FixedFilePathName = "" Then
'Open the GetSaveAsFilename dialog to enter a file name for the pdf
FName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename("", Title:="Create PDF")
'If you cancel this dialog Exit the function
If FName = False Then Exit Function
Else
FName = FixedFilePathName
End If
'If OverwriteIfFileExist = False we test if the PDF
'already exist in the folder and Exit the function if that is True
If OverwriteIfFileExist = False Then
If Dir(FName) <> "" Then Exit Function
End If
'Now the file name is correct we Publish to PDF
On Error Resume Next
Myvar.ExportAsFixedFormat _
Type:=xlTypePDF, _
Filename:=FName, _
Quality:=xlQualityStandard, _
IncludeDocProperties:=True, _
IgnorePrintAreas:=False, _
OpenAfterPublish:=OpenPDFAfterPublish
On Error GoTo 0
'If Publish is Ok the function will return the file name
If Dir(FName) <> "" Then Create_PDF = FName
End Function
But GetSaveAsFilename is crippled on MacOS and does not allow filtering files by filetype. If you need to restrict users to a certain filetype, you can resort to AppleScript and do the following:
Function Create_PDF_Mac(Myvar As Object, FixedFilePathName As String, _
OverwriteIfFileExist As Boolean, OpenPDFAfterPublish As Boolean) As String
Dim FileFormatstr As String
Dim FName As Variant
If FixedFilePathName = "" Then
'Open the GetSaveAsFilename dialog to enter a file name for the pdf
'FName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename("", ".PDF", Title:="Create PDF")
On Error Resume Next
ThePath = MacScript("return (path to documents folder) as String")
TheScript = _
"set applescript's text item delimiters to "","" " & vbNewLine & _
"set theFile to (choose file name with prompt ""Save As File"" " & _
"default name ""untitled.pdf"" default location alias """ & _
ThePath & """ ) as string" & vbNewLine & _
"if theFile does not end with "".pdf"" then set theFile to theFile & "".pdf"" " & vbNewLine & _
"set applescript's text item delimiters to """" " & vbNewLine & _
"return theFile"
FName = MacScript(TheScript)
On Error GoTo 0
'If you cancel this dialog Exit the function
If FName = False Then Exit Function
Else
FName = FixedFilePathName
End If
'If OverwriteIfFileExist = False we test if the PDF
'already exist in the folder and Exit the function if that is True
If OverwriteIfFileExist = False Then
If Dir(FName) <> "" Then Exit Function
End If
'Now the file name is correct we Publish to PDF
On Error Resume Next
Myvar.ExportAsFixedFormat _
Type:=xlTypePDF, _
Filename:=FName, _
Quality:=xlQualityStandard, _
IncludeDocProperties:=True, _
IgnorePrintAreas:=False, _
OpenAfterPublish:=OpenPDFAfterPublish
On Error GoTo 0
'If Publish is Ok the function will return the file name
If Dir(FName) <> "" Then Create_PDF = FName
End Function
The you can use an OS selector switch to run the appropriate function for each OS:
#If Mac Then
savedFileName = Create_PDF_Mac(...)
#Else
savedFileName = Create_PDF_PC(...)
#End If
Given the limitations of default VB functions in MacOS, this is Microsof't suggested method as well.

Answer 2

Here is a guide on how you can do it in newer versions of Mac Excel: https://www.rondebruin.nl/mac/mac034.htm
What's important is that you can't save your file to a location that is selected by you.
It has to be saved to the folder Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office under the current user's home dir, so /Users/[current user]/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office in most of the cases. If the folder is not there, you have to create it. (See the code example on the page linked above)
Kudos to Ron!
Please vote for this to be fixed by MS here: https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304933-excel-for-mac/suggestions/36531559-fix-exportasfixedformat-method