Convert multiple PDF to Excel - unable to initiate APP? - vba

Question

I have a few thousand similar PDF files that I would like to convert to Excel workbooks.
I'm not super familiar with VBA and even less with Adobe API, but I got this code from this website which seems to be exactly what I need.
However, every time I try to run the code (I downloaded the 2nd version btw where it's a zip folder) by clicking Convert Files, my Excel crashes instantly with the pop-up box of "Microsoft Excel has stopped working..."
So I decided to look into the code to check where exactly it's hiccuping.
First of all, I've followed the directions, went into tools -> references and checked Adobe Acrobat 10.0 Type Library. I have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC installed, and all previous version of Adobe Reader uninstalled. I'm using Excel 2010, so I don't necessarily think there are any compatibility issues...
The code is in two pieces. The outer piece is completely fine - it checks whether you have the file path in there and whether everything is in the correct format, and then it calls the sub "SavePDFAs". By adding in random MsgBox "tests", I can tell that the code passes through this part perfectly fine.
The error occurs in the Sub SavePDFAs where the code initializes Acrobat by creating the APP Object. It seems like Excel is unable to create an APP Object... Can somebody help me debug this? At this point, I'm not even sure where to start to look for a solution since Excel just crashes...
I've attached the code below.
Private Sub SavePDFAs(PDFPath As String, FileExtension As String)
'Saves a PDF file as other format using Adobe Professional.
'In order to use the macro you must enable the Acrobat library from VBA editor:
'Go to Tools -> References -> Adobe Acrobat xx.0 Type Library, where xx depends
'on your Acrobat Professional version (i.e. 9.0 or 10.0) you have installed to your PC.
'Alternatively you can find it Tools -> References -> Browse and check for the path
'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat xx.0\Acrobat\acrobat.tlb
'where xx is your Acrobat version (i.e. 9.0 or 10.0 etc.).
'By Christos Samaras
'Date: 30/03/2013
'http://www.myengineeringworld.net
'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dim objAcroApp As Acrobat.AcroApp
Dim objAcroAVDoc As Acrobat.AcroAVDoc
Dim objAcroPDDoc As Acrobat.AcroPDDoc
Dim objJSO As Object
Dim boResult As Boolean
Dim ExportFormat As String
Dim NewFilePath As String
'Initialize Acrobat by creating App object.
Set objAcroApp = CreateObject("AcroExch.App")
'Set AVDoc object.
Set objAcroAVDoc = CreateObject("AcroExch.AVDoc")
'Open the PDF file.
boResult = objAcroAVDoc.Open(PDFPath, "")
'Set the PDDoc object.
Set objAcroPDDoc = objAcroAVDoc.GetPDDoc
'Set the JS Object - Java Script Object.
Set objJSO = objAcroPDDoc.GetJSObject
'Check the type of conversion.
Select Case LCase(FileExtension)
Case "eps": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.eps"
Case "html", "htm": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.html"
Case "jpeg", "jpg", "jpe": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.jpeg"
Case "jpf", "jpx", "jp2", "j2k", "j2c", "jpc": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.jp2k"
Case "docx": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.docx"
Case "doc": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.doc"
Case "png": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.png"
Case "ps": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.ps"
Case "rft": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.rft"
Case "xlsx": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.xlsx"
Case "xls": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.spreadsheet"
Case "txt": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.accesstext"
Case "tiff", "tif": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.tiff"
Case "xml": ExportFormat = "com.adobe.acrobat.xml-1-00"
Case Else: ExportFormat = "Wrong Input"
End Select
'Check if the format is correct and there are no errors.
If ExportFormat <> "Wrong Input" And Err.Number = 0 Then
'Format is correct and no errors.
'Set the path of the new file. Note that Adobe instead of xls uses xml files.
'That's why here the xls extension changes to xml.
If LCase(FileExtension) <> "xls" Then
NewFilePath = WorksheetFunction.Substitute(PDFPath, ".pdf", "." & LCase(FileExtension))
Else
NewFilePath = WorksheetFunction.Substitute(PDFPath, ".pdf", ".xml")
End If
'Save PDF file to the new format.
boResult = objJSO.SaveAs(NewFilePath, ExportFormat)
'Close the PDF file without saving the changes.
boResult = objAcroAVDoc.Close(True)
'Close the Acrobat application.
boResult = objAcroApp.Exit
Else
'Something went wrong, so close the PDF file and the application.
'Close the PDF file without saving the changes.
boResult = objAcroAVDoc.Close(True)
'Close the Acrobat application.
boResult = objAcroApp.Exit
End If
'Release the objects.
Set objAcroPDDoc = Nothing
Set objAcroAVDoc = Nothing
Set objAcroApp = Nothing
End Sub
----EDIT-----
It's been pointed out that the code actually works, and it's just my Excel that's malfunctioning. Any thoughts on what's wrong with what settings I need to change for my Excel?
---EDIT 2---
I've called a help desk, and the answer I got is that every Adobe version has some really weird quirks that's not compatible with previous versions. My coworker's Adobe license was 10 while mine is DC, hence it doesn't work on my machine. Not necessarily the answer I wanted to hear...

Answer 1

The reason why error was thrown at Set objAcroApp = CreateObject("AcroExch.App") may be:
You can only create Adobe App once in your whole script, which means you can't use this Sub SavePDFAs() in a loop because in which App will be created at every iteration.
Try pass an array contains all PDF paths (which you want to convert) into this Sub, and:
Only Set objAcroApp = CreateObject("AcroExch.App") once;
Loop boResult = objJSO.SaveAs(NewFilePath, ExportFormat) to convert all PDFs.

Answer 2

I had a similar issue and after researching found a suggestion to do an installation repair on the Adobe. After that my code worked fine. Don't know why!

Answer 3

try deleting the following codes, I had similar problem and I let MS Excel decide the Dim.
Dim objAcroApp As Acrobat.AcroApp
Dim objAcroAVDoc As Acrobat.AcroAVDoc
Dim objAcroPDDoc As Acrobat.AcroPDDoc