HOW To manipulate an ALREADY open word document from excel vba - vba

Question

I am new to VBA and obviously I am missing something. My code works for opening a word doc and sending data to it BUT does NOT for an ALREADY OPEN word doc. I keep searching for an answer on how to send info from Excel to an OPEN Word doc/Bookmark and nothing works.
I hope it is okay that I added all the code and the functions called. I really appreciate your help!
What I have so far
Sub ExcelNamesToWordBookmarks()
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Dim wrdApp As Object 'Word.Application
Dim wrdDoc As Object 'Word.Document
Dim xlName As Excel.Name
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim str As String 'cell/name value
Dim cell As Range
Dim celldata As Variant 'added to use in the test
Dim theformat As Variant 'added
Dim BMRange As Object
Dim strPath As String
Dim strFile As String
Dim strPathFile As String
Set wb = ActiveWorkbook
strPath = wb.Path
If strPath = "" Then
MsgBox "Please save your Excel Spreadsheet & try again."
GoTo ErrorExit
End If
'GET FILE & path of Word Doc/Dot
strPathFile = strOpenFilePath 'call a function in MOD1
If strPathFile = "" Then
MsgBox "Please choose a Word Document (DOC*) or Template (DOT*) & try again." 'strPath = Application.TemplatesPath
GoTo ErrorExit
End If
If FileLocked(strPathFile) Then 'Err.Number = 70 if open
'read / write file in use 'do something
'NONE OF THESE WORK
Set wrdApp = GetObject(strPathFile, "Word.Application")
'Set wrdApp = Word.Documents("This is a test doc 2.docx")
'Set wrdApp = GetObject(strPathFile).Application
Else
'all ok 'Create a new Word Session
Set wrdApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
wrdApp.Visible = True
wrdApp.Activate 'bring word visiable so erros do not get hidden.
'Open document in word
Set wrdDoc = wrdApp.Documents.Open(Filename:=strPathFile) 'Open vs wrdApp.Documents.Add(strPathFile)<=>create new Document1 doc
End If
'Loop through names in the activeworkbook
For Each xlName In wb.Names
If Range(xlName).Cells.Count = 1 Then
celldata = Range(xlName.Value)
'do nothing
Else
For Each cell In Range(xlName)
If str = "" Then
str = cell.Value
Else
str = str & vbCrLf & cell.Value
End If
Next cell
'MsgBox str
celldata = str
End If
'Get format and strip away the spacing, negative color etc etc
'I know this is not right... it works but not best
theformat = Application.Range(xlName).DisplayFormat.NumberFormat
If Len(theformat) > 8 Then
theformat = Left(theformat, 5) 'was 8 but dont need cents
Else
'do nothing for now
End If
If wrdDoc.Bookmarks.Exists(xlName.Name) Then
'Copy the Bookmark's Range.
Set BMRange = wrdDoc.Bookmarks(xlName.Name).Range.Duplicate
BMRange.Text = Format(celldata, theformat)
'Re-insert the bookmark
wrdDoc.Bookmarks.Add xlName.Name, BMRange
End If
Next xlName
'Activate word and display document
With wrdApp
.Selection.Goto What:=1, Which:=2, Name:=1 'PageNumber
.Visible = True
.ActiveWindow.WindowState = wdWindowStateMaximize 'WAS 0 is this needed???
.Activate
End With
GoTo WeAreDone
'Release the Word object to save memory and exit macro
ErrorExit:
MsgBox "Thank you! Bye."
Set wrdDoc = Nothing
Set wrdApp = Nothing
Exit Sub
'Error Handling routine
ErrorHandler:
If Err Then
MsgBox "Error No: " & Err.Number & "; There is a problem"
If Not wrdApp Is Nothing Then
wrdApp.Quit False
End If
Resume ErrorExit
End If
WeAreDone:
Set wrdDoc = Nothing
Set wrdApp = Nothing
End Sub
file picking:
Function strOpenFilePath() As String
Dim intChoice As Integer
Dim iFileSelect As FileDialog 'B
Set iFileSelect = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogOpen)
With iFileSelect
.AllowMultiSelect = False 'only allow the user to select one file
.Title = "Please... Select MS-WORD Doc*/Dot* Files"
.Filters.Clear
.Filters.Add "MS-WORD Doc*/Dot* Files", "*.do*"
.InitialView = msoFileDialogViewDetails
End With
'make the file dialog visible to the user
intChoice = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogOpen).Show
'determine what choice the user made
If intChoice <> 0 Then
'get the file path selected by the user
strOpenFilePath = Application.FileDialog( _
msoFileDialogOpen).SelectedItems(1)
Else
'nothing yet
End If
End Function
checking if file is open...
Function FileLocked(strFileName As String) As Boolean
On Error Resume Next
' If the file is already opened by another process,
' and the specified type of access is not allowed,
' the Open operation fails and an error occurs.
Open strFileName For Binary Access Read Write Lock Read Write As #1
Close #1
' If an error occurs, the document is currently open.
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
' Display the error number and description.
MsgBox "Function FileLocked Error #" & str(Err.Number) & " - " & Err.Description
FileLocked = True
Err.Clear
End If
End Function

Answer 1

ANSWER BELOW. Backstory... So, after input from you guys and more research I discovered that I needed to set the active word document by using the file selection the user picked and that is then passed via late binding to the sub as an object to process. NOW it works if the word file is not in word OR if it is currently loaded into word AND not even the active document. The below code replaces the code in my original question.
Set Object app as word.
grab the file name.
Make the word doc selected active to manipulate.
Set the word object to the active doc.
THANK YOU EVERYONE!
If FileLocked(strPathFile) Then 'Err.Number = 70 if open
'read / write file in use 'do something
Set wrdApp = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
strPathFile = Right(strPathFile, Len(strPathFile) - InStrRev(strPathFile, "\"))
wrdApp.Documents(strPathFile).Activate ' need to set picked doc as active
Set wrdDoc = wrdApp.ActiveDocument ' works!

Answer 2

This should get you the object you need.
Dim WRDFile As Word.Application
Set WRDFile = GetObject(strPathFile)

Answer 3

'Have Microsoft Word 16.0 Object Library selected in your references
Dim wordapp As Object
Set wordapp = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
wordapp.Documents("documentname").Select
'works if you only have one open word document. In my case, I'm trying to push updates to word links from excel.