Extract Data from Word Document to an Excel SpreadSheet - excel

Question

I have a requirement to extract a value from a word document on a daily basis and write it to an excel workbook. I currently do this manually and it is border line regarding the most efficient method for me
Using Excel file create a vba script and add any word document references.
2 Using the word navigate to the table “9. STOCKS...” (extracted example below – Appendix A) and read the Diesel (ltrs) daily usage highlighted in red.
3.Write this value to a spreadsheet cell.
The date for this value is also key but it held in another part of the word document (Appendix B). Dates are also in the file name but we trust the internal value more than the word document name. With knowledge from points 3 and 4 extract the associated date to an adjacent spreadsheet cell.
The table is displayed below, because of the formatting I'm not able to send you the exact table but I will be able to send the values of it.
9.STOCKS (As of 00:01 hrs on Day of report issue).
Stock Held
Daily Usage
Minimum Stock
Diesel (ltrs)
390436
15012
25000
Nitrogen (mm)
35
1
19
Champion 1033 (totes)
15
1
4
Nexguard (Boilers)
4
0.25
4 x 200 ltrs
Appendix B:
Beatrice Period of Report:
00:01 – 24:00 10th August 2010
If you have any doubts regarding my question please get back to me, I appreciate your efforts and wanted to thanks in advance

Answer 1

here's some code making use of late binding (declare objects rather than word.application etc). From Excel 2003, it
opens a WORD document
searches for string "minimum stock"
moves the cursor some lines/words further
expands/selects the WORD cursor
pastes this WORD selection into EXCEL
steps 2-5 are repeated for "Period of report:" (note that the ":" is a word boundary, so we need to jump 8 words to the right to arrive at the date)
For WORD I copied the text from your Q just as is (no table, just plain text). If you use tables instead, you may need to play with the units of the various Move statements (e.g. for cells unit:=12); the strategy remains the same: find a constant text, move cursor to final destination, expand selection, create a word range and transfer.
Both items are placed into the current cell in Excel and its right neighbor.
Sub GrabUsage()
Dim FName As String, FD As FileDialog
Dim WApp As Object, WDoc As Object, WDR As Object
Dim ExR As Range
Set ExR = Selection ' current location in Excel Sheet
'let's select the WORD doc
Set FD = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogOpen)
FD.Show
If FD.SelectedItems.Count <> 0 Then
FName = FD.SelectedItems(1)
Else
Exit Sub
End If
' open Word application and load doc
Set WApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
' WApp.Visible = True
Set WDoc = WApp.Documents.Open(FName)
' go home and search
WApp.Selection.HomeKey Unit:=6
WApp.Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
WApp.Selection.Find.Execute "Minimum Stock"
' move cursor from find to final data item
WApp.Selection.MoveDown Unit:=5, Count:=1
WApp.Selection.MoveRight Unit:=2, Count:=2
' the miracle happens here
WApp.Selection.MoveRight Unit:=2, Count:=1, Extend:=1
' grab and put into excel
Set WDR = WApp.Selection
ExR(1, 1) = WDR ' place at Excel cursor
'repeat
WApp.Selection.HomeKey Unit:=6
WApp.Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
WApp.Selection.Find.Execute "Period of Report:"
WApp.Selection.MoveRight Unit:=2, Count:=8
WApp.Selection.MoveRight Unit:=2, Count:=3, Extend:=1
Set WDR = WApp.Selection
ExR(1, 2) = WDR ' place in cell right of Excel cursor
WDoc.Close
WApp.Quit
End Sub
You can create a button and call that sub from there, or link GrabUsage() to a function key.
I commented out the WApp.Visible = True because in production you don't want WORD even to show up, but you will need it for debugging and playing with the cursor movements.
The disadvantage of late binding (and not using references to the Word library) is the hardcoding of units (6=story, 5=line, 2=word) instead of using Word enumerations, but I sometimes get OS crashes with early binding .... not very sexy but it seems to work.
The FileDialog object needs a reference to the MS Office Office Library. AFAIK this is standard in Excel 2003, but better to check than to crash.
And I didn't include code to check if the items are really found; I leave this to your creativity.
Hope that helps.