Excel VBA, "Print" secured pdf to another pdf file using Shell - vba

Question

I have searched inside a folder in outlook, found all emails with a defined title, and downloaded their attachments into a folder via Excel VBA.
I now need to print those to new pdfs via Adobe Reader XI through VBA - as they are password protected- to be able to convert to RFT (I use VBA to get data from the PDF converted to RFT).
Somehow the correct RF layout is only created if the already saved pdf file is printed to a secondary pdf- Saving doesn't work - whether by explorer pdf viewer, Nitro or Adobe makes no difference.
I have tried Attachment.Printout but get error that the object does not support, am not able to find the option within a Shellexecute that will allow printing to file, as the main advice online allows printing via:
Call apiShellExecute(Application.hwnd, "print", strPathAndFilename, vbNullString, vbNullString, 0)
with options /p and /h for printing. any help on how to accomplish this with or without shell (or directly convert secured pdf to rft is appreciated).
The code I use ( borrowed and edited from VBA to loop through email attachments and save based on given criteria) for automatically downloading the files is listed bellow:
Sub email234()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim sPSFileName As String
Dim sPDFFileName As String
Dim olApp As Object
Dim ns As Namespace
Set olApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set ns = olApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Dim oItem As Object
Dim olMailItem As Outlook.MailItem
Dim olNameSpace As Object
Dim olFolder As Object
Dim olFolderName As String
Dim olAtt As Outlook.Attachments
Dim strName As String
Dim sPath As String
Dim i As Long
Dim j As Integer
Dim olSubject As String
Dim olSender As String
Dim sh As Worksheet
Dim LastRow As Integer
olFolderName = "\\Subscriptions\Inbox" 'ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Control").Range("D10")
olSender = "Argus Alerts" 'ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Control").Range("D16")
sPath = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker).Show
sPathstr = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker).SelectedItems(1)
Set olNameSpace = olApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
'check if folder is subfolder or not and choose olFolder accordingly
Set olFolder = ns.Folders("Subscriptions").Folders("Inbox")
strName = "Argus Ammonia"
h = 2
For i = 1 To olFolder.Items.Count
If olFolder.Items(i).Class <> olMail Then
Else
Set olMailItem = olFolder.Items(i)
'check if the search name is in the email subject
'If (InStr(1, olMailItem.Subject, olSubject, vbTextCompare) <> 0) Then
If (InStr(1, olMailItem.Sender, olSender, vbTextCompare) <> 0) Then
With olMailItem
For j = 1 To .Attachments.Count
strName = .Attachments.Item(j).DisplayName
'check if file already exists
If Not Dir(sPathstr & "\" & strName) = vbNullString Then
strName = "(1)" & strName
Else
End If
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
Else
.Attachments(j).SaveAsFile sPathstr & "\" & strName
End If
Err.Clear
Set sh = Nothing
'wB.Close
On Error GoTo 0
h = h + 1
Next j
End With
End If
End If
Next i
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
MsgBox "Download complete!", vbInformation + vbOKOnly, "Done"
End Sub

Answer 1

You can hard code the path to your EXE, please refer to the below code:
Declare Function FindExecutable Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "FindExecutableA" _
(ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal lpResult As String) As Long
Sub Test_Printpdf()
Dim fn$
fn = "C:\Users\Ken\Dropbox\Excel\pdf\p1.pdf"
PrintPDf fn
End Sub
Sub PrintPDf(fn$)
Dim pdfEXE$, q$
pdfEXE = ExePath(fn)
If pdfEXE = "" Then
MsgBox "No path found to pdf's associated EXE.", vbCritical, "Macro Ending"
Exit Sub
End If
q = """"
'http://help.adobe.com/livedocs/acrobat_sdk/10/Acrobat10_HTMLHelp/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=Acrobat10_SDK_HTMLHelp&file=DevFAQ_UnderstandingSDK.22.31.html
'/s/o/h/p/t
Shell q & pdfEXE & q & " /s /o /h /t " & q & fn & q, vbHide
End Sub
Function ExePath(lpFile As String) As String
Dim lpDirectory As String, sExePath As String, rc As Long
lpDirectory = "\"
sExePath = Space(255)
rc = FindExecutable(lpFile, lpDirectory, sExePath)
sExePath = Left$(sExePath, InStr(sExePath, Chr$(0)) - 1)
ExePath = sExePath
End Function
Sub Test_ExePath()
MsgBox ExePath(ThisWorkbook.FullName)
End Sub
Added an API method to find the path, the command line parameters don't work as well with the newer Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
For more information, please refer to these links:
Printing a file using VBA code
Print a PDF file using VBA