Export discontinuous range of pages to PDF - vba

Question

I am trying to save a Word template in .pdf format. I need to print the following range (1-3,18). The problem is that using "ExportAsFixedFormat2" does not allow me to select that range or at least I dont know how:
wdapp.ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat2 OutputFileName:=savenamepdf, ExportFormat:=wdExportFormatPDF, Range:=wdExportFromTo, From:=1, To:=3
If I use "printout" I can select the range and create the pdf file, but when I try to open it I get an error message like it is broken or corrupted:
wdapp.ActiveDocument.PrintOut OutputFileName:=savenamepdf,_ Range:=wdPrintRangeOfPages, Copies:=1, Pages:="1-3,18"
Anyone knows how to print that range?
here is the whole code block
Select Case cell
Case 100
With wdApp
.ActiveDocument.SaveAs2Filename:=savenameword,ReadOnlyRecommended:=False
.ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat2OutputFileName:=savenamepdf,ExportFormat:=wdExportFormatPDF,Range:=wdExportFromTo, From:=1, To:=4
.ActiveDocument.Close
End With
Case 189
With wdApp
.ActiveDocument.SaveAs2 savenameword
.ActiveDocument.PrintOut OutputFileName:=savenamepdf,Range:=wdPrintRangeOfPages, Copies:=1, Pages:="1-3,18"
.ActiveDocument.Close
End With
End Select

Answer 1

What you want is not supported. The only way around it would be to bring together the content into a different/new document, then save that to PDF.
Or, a copy of the document can be opened in Word, the material that's no wanted deleted, then save the document as PDF.
The PrintOut method to a file generates a text file that can later be sent to the printer. It's in a special format and the Word content is in a binary format. It's not a converter to other file formats, even if you append a pdf extension to the file name, the content won't be PDF.
For more information about what printing to a file is used for:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-windows_programs/what-does-print-to-file-mean/2e73491c-634f-4067-8b7e-c158f647129d
https://word.tips.net/T000462_Printing_to_a_File.html
http://ask-leo.com/what_is_print_to_file_used_for.html

Answer 2

I have experienced similar issues.
Before calling PrintOut set the wdApp.ActivePrinter to "Microsoft Print to PDF".
wdApp.ActivePrinter = "Microsoft Print to PDF"
If your default/application printer is some other printer (even cutepdf or 7-pdf, etc) the resulting pdf is likely to be corrupted.

Answer 3

I tried the same, and couldn't find a way based on word alone.
What I do now is to save the whole document to a pdf file, then extract the pages I need with pdftk. Of course you mast have pdftk installed.
It can be automated in a VBA macro, thus:
ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat OutputFileName:="tempfile.pdf", _
ExportFormat:=wdExportFormatPDF, _
OpenAfterExport:=False, OptimizeFor:=wdExportOptimizeForPrint, _
Range:=wdExportFromTo, From:=page1, To:=99999, _
Item:=wdExportDocumentContent, _
IncludeDocProps:=True, KeepIRM:=True, _
CreateBookmarks:=wdExportCreateNoBookmarks, _
DocStructureTags:=True, _
BitmapMissingFonts:=True, UseISO19005_1:=True
With ActiveWindow.View
.MarkupMode = wdInLineRevisions
.RevisionsFilter.Markup = wdRevisionsMarkupAll
.RevisionsFilter.View = wdRevisionsViewFinal
End With
commandstring = "pdftk tempfile.pdf cat " & pagerange & " output outfile.pdf"
StatusBar = commandstring
SynchronousShell (commandstring)
Kill "tempfile.pdf"
the variable "pagerange" contains the desired page range following pdftk conventions.
"Item" can be set to 'wdExportDocumentWithMarkup' if you want. ( I often need to do that )
The code works for me but may not be suitable for production. For one thing, it does not check contention on the temporary file.